Message from our President Throughout my healthcare fundraising career, I’ve talked to thousands of donors and patients about care environments and how they support health outcomes. So I’m excited that this issue highlights how plans for new care spaces will improve the experience of patients at our KGH site. When Jack Shore (see story page 1) had time in the KHSC Emergency Department, it didn’t take him long to realize that absorbing “the suffering going on around [him]” was unavoidable due to the lack of privacy in the busy space.
, Denise Cumming, UHKF President and CEO
Damiano Loricchio (see story page 4) tells the care team side of this story. With 39 stretcher bays and as many as 70 patients in active emergency care, hallways are inevitably turned into care spaces. Do we want better care environments that allow our staff to deliver the best care experience? The answer is a resounding “yes,” but sometimes they point to a work-in-progress. Works-in-progress can be discouraging. Building KHSC’s new patient tower and Providence Care’s new long-term care home will take time. But I never lose hope. I’ve seen countless examples of how the spirit of generosity moves through this community. Whatever must be built will be built because of donors like you who believe in the inherent worth of those who need care, the excellence of those who provide it, and the positive difference nurturing, person-centred environments can make.
How to Fight a Superbug and Win! Rene St. James spent his career working on the railroad as a Conductor but within a year of retirement, his life took a turn on a different kind of track. At 66 years of age, he began an exhausting journey with cancer. From prostate to throat to bladder to lungs, Rene’s multiple cancer surgeries and radiation treatments have kept him on a 15-year, stop-and-go struggle from diagnosis to recovery and back. “My wife tells everybody that I’m very strong,” says Rene. That strength was put to the test in the summer of 2017. A life-threatening infection landed him in the Intensive Care Unit at Kingston Health Science’s Centre’s (KHSC). Rene’s diary from his 13-day battle tells the behind-thescenes story of KHSC’s clinical laboratories working around the clock. Day by day, and
2 | WINTER 2018
UHKF’s annual Benefit Dinner
UNLEASH YOUR INNER ROCK STAR!
Join us on March 23, 2019 at Ban Righ Hall for UHKF’s annual Benefit Dinner. Live entertainment will feature the greatest music throughout history. Don’t miss this fun opportunity to dress as your favourite music legend. For more information, visit uhkf.ca.
