Skip to content

Postcard campaign under way to raise needed funds for enhanced services and patient care

Enhanced services and patient care at Rimbey Hospital and Care Centre is the target of a donation campaign now underway.

Enhanced services and patient care at Rimbey Hospital and Care Centre is the target of a donation campaign now underway.

The Rimbey Health Services Donation Committee is holding a postcard campaign this month as a way to raise funds for overhead patient lifts and a new physical therapy pool.

Presently, 4,000 postcards have been mailed to residents and businesses in Rimbey, Bentley, Bluffton, Buck Lake, Winfield and Eckville.

Overhead patient lifts are needed as they help move vulnerable care centre residents with less risk and less stress.

Ashlee Hamblin, development officer for David Thompson Health Trust said 37 lifts are needed which will cost about $300,000.

“Some are already installed,” she said, noting Rimbey Co-op donated $8,000 last year to purchase a lift.

Another priority of the donation campaign is a new physical therapy pool to help rehab patients strengthen muscles, while decreasing stress on their joints and providing a higher quality of life while undergoing treatment.

The cost of the pool is $300,000.

Rimbey Hospital did have a physical therapy pool, but it has not been in operation for the last two years, due to wear and tear and a leakage.

Hamblin said Rimbey was the only hospital in rural central Alberta that had a therapy pool and it is a service that is missed.

“It is great for physio patients,” she said.

Postcards provide information about the process of making a donation as well as information about the two projects.

The Rimbey Hospital & Care Centre has identified the overhead patient lifts and the physical therapy pool as priorities this year, but donors may make a donation to the department or program that is most meaningful to them.

A current wish list of items throughout the facility is available at www.rimbneyhealthdonations.com/wishlist.

The Rimbey Health Services donation committee works with the David Thompson Health Trust, which provides services to communities in Central Alberta to support their efforts to raise funds for enhanced health care. Donations can be made online for health care in Rimbey at https://donate.dthealthtrust.com/Rimbey.