Caritas Hospitals Foundation - Upcoming Priorities

(Photo courtesy of Grand River Hospital & Parkin Architects Limited)

Excellence in Family Care
2006/2007 Funding Priority

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
- Mahatma Gandi

COMPRU Patient

Before

After

Today

This year Caritas Health Group is seeking support to enhance service in very specialized and unique areas that would provide treatment and relief to many. As well, the establishment of a $10M Caritas Hospitals Foundation Board Endowment is an ongoing initiative.

Caritas Health Group

Grey Nuns Community Hospital

Excellence in Family Care (two year priority commencing 2006)
Request $250,000

Caritas Health Group is seeking support to fulfill its vision for excellence in family care at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital, which delivers over 4,300 babies annually and cares for 1,600 babies a year in its Intermediate Care Nursery.

Support is needed to move beyond a traditional, institutional hospital setting to create a space that pioneers the best approach to beginning-of-life care for the whole family—bringing together the safety and services of a hospital with the comforts of home. Funding is required to achieve technology enhancements in labour and delivery rooms, total re-conceptualization and design in common areas, and the creation of new spaces for family care. The best in child-friendly design will be used to create vibrant, engaging spaces for children to reduce anxiety and promote healing.

Furthermore, funds are required to create hostelling rooms and expanded and well-equipped breast-feeding areas for the Intermediate Care Nursery. The Grey Nuns wishes to create a more suitable environment to deal with situations of fetal demise. About 30 families per year at Caritas face the tragic loss of an expected or unexpected death of a baby. Our goal is to provide bereavement rooms for parents so that they can deliver and say their farewells in peace and privacy.

Through donor support, Caritas will provide expectant parents and families with an experience that embodies its mission from the moment they step onto the floor—from a vibrant, hopeful atmosphere to enhanced privacy and comfort measures to increased support for families.

Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre

Electric Bed Replacement Plan
Request: $100,000 each year for five years - 2004 to 2008

This request is based upon a multi year request over five years, of which this will be the third year. The Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre’s goal is to replace older beds and mattresses that were designed for short-term acute care needs.

Thanks to our donors generosity, 239 beds have now been replaced, leaving an additional 197 older beds to be replaced. The needs of continuing care residents are not met with the design of the existing older beds - resident mobility concerns, frail skin, chronic conditions, susceptibility to bed sores, wounds require a special design and material. Keeping the older beds in safe working condition requires an escalating amount of time and resources, and many of the beds are at the end of their life cycle.

New electric beds designed for continuing care residents, fitted with special mattresses, will make a significant improvement in the quality of life for our residents.

Misericordia Community Hospital

COMPRU (Craniofacial Osseointegration and Maxillofacial Prosthetic Rehabilitation Unit)

COMPRU is a highly specialized unit that reconstructs the features of the head and neck, providing reconstructive and rehabilitative treatment for patients born with parts of the face, jaw, or head missing, or who have lost some of these features through disease or an injury.

60% of all COMPRU patients have had a form of Cancer
20% of all COMPRU patients were born with congenital defects
20% of all COMPRU patients suffered trauma to the head and/or neck

Caritas Health Group has a long tradition of addressing unmet needs with care and compassion. This unit carries on this legacy through its world-class leadership in bringing together research, technology, quality standards and excellence in care that serve people with disfigurements of the head and neck. COMPRU is being recognized as a leading international reference centre for the use and development of sophisticated technologies like digital three-dimensional modeling.

The unit’s work combines surgery, implants with facial and oral prostheses and rehabilitation to patients who require replacement of absent or lost tissue. The unit maintains an active research and academic role in addition to clinical expertise within a quality system framework. COMPRU is purpose-designed to meet special needs, and its aim is to provide excellence in care, research and teaching. This care is provided for individuals from Alberta, the provinces and territories of Canada, and other countries around the world.

Read Amanda's story about receiving a prosthetic eye through COMPRU.

Caritas Hospitals Foundation

$10M Board Endowment Goal

In keeping with the Caritas Hospitals Foundation’s commitment to provide long-term sustainable funding, each year a portion of the Caritas Home Lottery proceeds goes toward the Foundation’s Board Endowment to create a lasting legacy for Caritas Health Group. To date this fund amounts to approximately $8.5 million.