NEWS in General – July 6

GGH News
Old Special Care Nursery now a blank canvas
With the demolition complete and the area cleaned out, our Special Care Nursery could be safely toured. Facilities Director, Dwayne Shelswell (below right) provided the hard hats and acted as guide to Kim Towes, Senior Director Patient Services and Karen Suk-Patrick, VP People and Support Services.
The empty space brought home the extent of the transformation. This isn’t a remodel but a complete reimaging of the space. In fact, if it weren’t for the wall of windows in one of the photos below which used to be one side of the hallway, it would be difficult to tell this space was once home to our Special Care Nursery.
The new layout (floor plan below) has been marked on the floor so work can begin on installing plumbing to connect to sanitary lines, says Dan Brzak, Director Redevelopment and Planning. “We are engaged in meetings with the contractor, our clinical teams and support teams like IT, Environmental and IPAC. Through this work we will establish a phasing plan and timelines to safely allow work to continue.”
The project’s floor plan below shows the new SCN layout. To give a sense of the scale of the change, highlighted in blue is where the old hallway was located. Click image to enlarge.

Funding for the project has come completely from donations to our Foundation’s successful “Together We Care” campaign.


Amazing ‘Kaleidoscope’ quilt being raffled in the Courtyard Boutique
Can you imagine giving away something that you spent 120 hours working on? Well, that is just what Cheryl MacDonald did. She has donated her queen-sized quilt titled ‘Kaleidoscope’ to The Foundation of Guelph General Hospital.
The Foundation immediately consulted with the Volunteer Association to see whether they would raffle it off in The Courtyard Boutique. Thankfully they agreed and obtained a raffle license. Tickets are available now for $5 but only until noon on August 2!
Cheryl hopes that at least $1,000 can be raised for the area of greatest need at the hospital. Currently, that is the replacement of three aging ultrasounds.
This is not the first time Cheryl has gifted us with one of her amazing works. For Canada’s 150th birthday on July 1, 2017, she donated a quilt to the first baby born at Guelph General that day. Cole Sanders was born just after 1:00 a.m. and his parents, Christina and Corey, were presented with the two-sided quilt with a map of Canada showing animals native to different areas of the country. The border included the names of past Prime Ministers and their dates in office, with seven living former Prime Minister’s autographs on a special patch. It took Cheryl ten months of planning and stitching to complete. Later, she embroidered Cole’s name and date of birth for the Sanders family. What a keepsake!
Don’t miss out on the chance to make Kaleidoscope YOUR newest family heirloom.