Patient needs at Okotoks Urgent Care are poised to be better served with the addition of much-needed equipment.
The Sheep River Health Trust is raising funds to equip the Okotoks Urgent Care Centre with a general-use aspirator and money donated through the Western Wheel Cares campaign will help them do just that.
“It really improves health for our patients to stay here at the urgent care, versus us having to call an ambulance and transfer someone into the city,” said Andrea Mitchell, executive director of Sheep River Health Trust, which works to fund projects for healthcare facilities in the Foothills.
The centre is a busy place these days – serving 70 patients a day and 2,000 per month, said Mitchell, and doctors have noticed a need for this piece of equipment.
She explained that – in simple terms – an aspirator is a large, high-powered suction machine. It is used in cases of intubation in both adult and pediatric patients, as well as in individuals suffering from severe allergic reactions or heartburn.
Larger facilities typically have a suction device installed in the wall, but this was not added to the urgent care centre during its construction in 2004. Mitchell said the facility currently has a portable machine that just isn’t sufficient for what the centre needs.
“Its suction only lasts about 20 minutes and then it needs a rest period between each patient, which is really where the problem is starting to happen,” she said.
Having a single machine also presents issues when more than one patient requires the aspirator at a time.
“Here in the urgent care centre, we’ve had two or three patients at once present (the need for an aspirator) and the aspirator we currently have does not function well enough to keep those patients safe,” said Mitchell. “For us it is an opportunity to fund some really important, needed projects."
The 2021 Western Wheel Cares campaign will benefit seven organizations: Foothills Advocacy in Motion Society, Foothills Country Hospice, Inclusion Foothills, Okotoks Food Bank, Pound Rescue, Rowan House Society and Sheep River Health Trust.
The 2020 campaign exceeded expectations with a record $71,379.65 raised, bringing the total raised over the nine years to $414,282.
Sheep River Health Trust put a portion of last year’s campaign funds toward their school meal program, Mitchell said. They were able to provide 18,000 meals to students across the Foothills thanks to the generosity of the community.
“It’s a really important piece for us to be able to complete some funding in important pieces in our neighbourhood that need to happen,” she said.
This year’s Wheel Cares campaign runs Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.
To donate to Western Wheel Cares: mail cheques to Box 150, Okotoks Ab. T1S 2A2 or click here for a Paypal donation link.
As well, you can drop by to the Wheel office at 9 McRae St., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch.)
