submitted by Helen Porteous
The Vernon Women’s Institute held its regular meeting on October 17th. Special guests at the meeting were Kristen Casselman, Managing Director, Winchester & District Memorial Hospital (WDMH) Foundation and Cholly Boland, WDMH and Dundas Manor CEO. Cholly and Kristen gave an update on what is currently happening at WDMH including how they live up to their commitment statement of Compassionate Excellence and Closer to Home. Some programs that WDMH offers that Cholly highlighted as ‘closer to home’ include the surgery program, birthing program, dialysis and satellite chemotherapy programs, a sleep lab, and a cancer coach program. As well, it offers rehabilitation services for heart patients under the Ottawa Hospital. They insert PIC lines at the hospital and have a medically assisted dying program. They serve close to 80,000 patients per year and have a large diagnostic imaging department. WDMH is among the top 3 hospitals in Ontario for overall satisfaction. It also has a teaching program and hires about 70% of the students who have done a placement there. It also has a Research Program. It was very informative to hear all of this information and we thank Kristen and Cholly for attending our meeting, keeping us informed and answering the questions or concerns that we had.
WDMH is celebrating their 75th Anniversary in 2023. Congratulations! WDMH is an asset to our community, and the Vernon Women’s Institute donates funds each year to this worthwhile institution.
