The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 4, 2007 - 3 Expanded ICU fills critical need at OTMH By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The lifesaving work of the doctors, nurses and support staff at OakvilleTrafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) just became a little easier with the opening of the newly expanded Intensive Care Unit (ICU), on Monday. With six additional beds added to the ICU's existing 12 beds the expansion means that critical patients can finally be treated in one place as opposed to the hospital's previous situation. Hospital personnel had been running up and down stairwells to serve the ICU on the second floor and a temporary ICU that was set up on the fourth floor to deal with a shortage of beds. "With all this additional space we can continue to provide quality care to our critically ill patients in a much more optimal environment. It's much more comfortable with much greater privacy for our very sick patients as well as enhanced working conditions for the very hard working doctors and nurses," said Dr. Laurence Chau, Medical Director of the ICU. "We can bid farewell to the satellite unit upstairs on the fourth floor and I think it's safe to say that none of us will miss it. It was really a less than optimal environment for our very sick patients and also for the staff." The ICU expansion project has been years in the making and required administrative staff to relocate their offices to make room for the added bed space. This included Halton Healthcare Services (HHS) CEO, John Oliver, who noted, during the ribbon cutting ceremony, that the space his office occupied had to be sacrificed for the good of the hospital. "Until we get into the new hospital for Oakville every square foot of this existing building is going to have to be directed to patient care. We are continuing to look for anything we can move out of this building to make sure we maximize as much space as we can for patients," he said. "This was a good one to start with because the ICU is desperately needed." Carrying a price tag of $3.2 million the expansion and consolidation of the ICU did not come cheap with the hospital paying most of the cost itself. "This project was a bit unique because there was no Ministry of Health capital funding for this project," said Oliver. "We did it on our own funds. About $480,000 came from the Oakville Hospital Foundation through the Father's Day Run and the Candle Light Gala they held. Another $50,000 came from the Bank Bed Challenge that was held last year. The rest of the funds came from hospital working capital, some of the surpluses we've been able to generate over the last number of years." Oliver said the difficult situation the hospital's ICU was in demanded they fix the problem themselves, as government funding would not come quickly enough. "The need was so great and if we were queued for ministry funding we would probably still be in a queue to get this kind of infrastructure added on to the building," he said. Although empty of all but a mannequin used to show how the rooms will be set up during the opening ceremony, the newly expanded area was put to work almost immediately with patients being moved in yesterday. The new area will be filled to capacity with all four patients on the fourth floor moving in, while two patients taking up beds in the emergency room will be moved to fill the remaining spaces. This moving of critically ill patients will be a project in itself, as delicate medical equipment must also be moved with them. "We now have the monitoring capability down here. We're going to be moving the equipment from upstairs, moving two patients, moving the rest of the equipment, moving another two patients and opening this up tomorrow for full capacity," said Nabila Lowe, Program Leader for Medicine. "It requires coordination for sure especially when moving the equipment because you can't take the patient off the equipment when you're moving them." With the ICU running at full capacity OTMH staff are counting the days until 2013 when Oakville's new hospital, with its greater bed space, is expected to open. GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER TEST RUN: Checking out one of the new patients beds in one of the new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) rooms at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) are (l-r) John Oliver, president and CEO of OTMH, Dr. Laurence Chau , ICU medical director, and Nancy Merrill, ICU patient care manager. C O UP O N RE EP AR KIN G This Pass will allow your family FREE admission (2 adults and 2 children) to the CLIP & SAVE! PUT ON YOUR FRIDGE! CLIP & SAVE F FREE FAMILY PASS! The Oakville · Meet NHL Star Ron Ellis on Saturday 12 noon and 3 p.m. · On Friday night and Sunday afternoon enjoy a fashion show and makeover featuring Ross McCarry from Prelude Hair Design & Esthetics ENTER TO WIN One of four 2,000 lb bags of rich gardening soil. Delivered to your driveway courtesy of Ontario Sod Green Horizons Proudly produced by Jenkins Show Productions April 13, 14, 15 Glen Abbey Recreation Centre, 1415 Third Line (just north of Q.E.W..) ENTER TO WIN a $5,000 Landscaping Lighting Design courtesy of Ian McClelland & Associates - Landscape, Design, Build. You Will See: · hundreds of new products & services for your home · terrific, one time Home Show specials · lots of prizes & free draws · a great family outing! · local, reliable companies You Will See: sunrooms, decks, blinds, air conditions, garage doors, countertops, artwork, awnings, spas, replacement windows & doors, builders, renovators, deck refinishers, water purifiers, cookware, resorts, furniture, painters, flooring, plus much more! Children 12 & under FREE SHOW HOURS: Friday 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Specializing Exclusively in Cosmetic Surgery * Face * Breast * Abdomen * Liposuction Dr. Otto Weiglein BSc., MD., FRCSC Certified Plastic Surgeon Inspected Private Facility No Hospital stay CORRECTION NOTICE To our valued customers: We apologize for any inconvenience caused by an error in our flyer dated: March 23 - March 29. Product: City and Colour CD. On page 5 of the March 23rd flyer we advertised that this item comes with a bonus USB key for $25.99 when in fact it does not. Customers can purchase the regular version for $12.99. The street date for the sku number for the USB version, sku 2130697 has been moved to April 10, 2007. SKU: M2130561 CALL NOW! 905 634-5573 520 Locust Street, Burlington www.CosmedicaCanada.com OBA08 Regular Admission $3 Oakville Lifestyle Home Show, April 13, 14, 15 at the Glen Abbey Recreation Centre, 1415 Third Line just north of the Q.E.W.