Items filtered by date: January 2024

Kristy Carriere, Coordinator, Kemptville District Hospital Foundation, was delighted to recently welcome visitors to the office who were bearing gifts. Representatives from the Bishop’s Mills Women Involved and the Kemptville Men’s Choir brought donations from their two respective events - a “non-auction” and a Christmas concert. These donations will help the Foundation move towards the $2.2 million goal to purchase the CT Scanner for the Kemptville District Hospital (KDH).

Bishop’s Mills Women Involved member, Jeanne Lambert, explained that the group, presently with 10 members, has been around since 1985. It holds monthly meetings and helps build community in a variety of ways including a charity auction which has been held each December for decades. During the pandemic lockdowns, the group hosted a “non-auction” where members could make a financial donation rather than bring food or items for sale. From this effort, they chose to donate $419 to the CT Scanner Campaign. Jeanne, an RN, said, “the women all agreed that we will need - or have already needed - a CT Scanner closer to home.”

Kristy Carriere, KDH Foundation Coordinator, (middle) receives a cheque from the Kemptville Men’s Choir Christmas Concert for the CT Scanner Crossroads Campaign. At the Foundation office presentation, (l-r) Beverly McArthur, Choir Director, Kristy, and choir members, Chris Morgan, Howie Godwin and Don Krull

In a conversation with Chris Morgan, organizer of the Kemptville Men’s Choir, he explained that when his group considered where they would like to make a charitable donation, the need for a CT Scanner stood out to them as an important benefit for the entire Kemptville and North Grenville community.

“We are doing our little to help. Besides, we enjoyed performing (at the Christmas Concert) and it was a bonus to pass the basket around to the audience. We were surprised it brought in $1,025!”

Joanne Mavis, Foundation Executive Director, along with Kristy, were grateful to receive the donations.

Mavis said, “this is the hospital’s current crossroad to bring the CT Scanner to Kemptville. It really is an urgently needed diagnostic tool. It will bring better and faster patient care closer to home and will support patients today and tomorrow, including your family, friends and yourself.”

For more information, stories and events about the Crossroads CT Scanner $2.2 Million Campaign, including how you can donate, see: The Crossroads Campaign

For more information regarding Bishops Mills Women’s Women Involved please contact Jeanne: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and/or the Kemptville Men’s Choir, contact Chris: 613-258-7559. Both groups welcome new members.

First published in Manotick Messenger
February 23, 2024
By Ralph Tweedie, Manotick Kiwanis Club

Are you aware how convenient the Kemptville District Hospital (KDH) is? The KDH catchment area runs from the St. Lawrence River to parts of Barrhaven. Manotick is just 22 minutes from KDH. It’s closer than the Ottawa General campus, about the same time to the Civic, and a little farther than the Queensway Carleton but with less traffic problems and possibly quicker access to emergency services. In fact, the Manotick area is the 3rd largest user of emergency services at KDH.

KDH has been a community hospital since 1960, the same year the Kiwanis Club of Manotick was chartered. For some of the nurses it‘s a family affair. Their mothers were nurses at the KDH before them. Over the years, KDH developed many clinics to deal with specific health problems, including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Plastic surgery and Dermatology. Regional programs have grown to include Total Joint Replacement, specialist clinical programs, outpatient surgery, etc.  The most recent is the Heart Stress Test Clinic which opened one and a half years ago.  They also provide an expanding list of education and wellness programs for the community.

They do have an urgent need however. The Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. As the shortage of family physicians for primary care becomes more acute, communities turn to hospital ERs and clinics for basic medical needs and referrals. As a result, the problems presented to an ER department can be much more complex than in the past and often multiple issues are in play.

The requirement is for swift, accurate and detailed analysis of the health issues. The solution: computed topography scans (CT scans). CT scans are much more accurate than x-rays and have revolutionized how doctors approach cases. They are particularly useful in emergency situations where time is of the essence.

Currently if a patient at KDH requires a CT scan he is taken to an Ottawa hospital ER. This ties up ambulances which can be urgently required elsewhere as well as reducing the time advantage. A modern ER cannot function efficiently and as effectively without a CT scanner.

The KDH has taken steps to acquire a CT scanner. Funds have been secured to build the needed infrastructure and construction is scheduled to begin March 2024. The KDH Foundation has launched The Crossroads Campaign to raise $2.2 million dollars to acquire a CT Scanner. It has already collected over $800,000.

In the past 20 years the Kiwanis Club of Manotick has donated a total of $4,600 to the KDH. This year we are very proud to announce a donation of $10,000 to The Crossroads Campaign. KDH has made a $250,000 down payment and the scanner is on order.

We are not alone in our local support of the Kemptville hospital. Half of all donors to the hospital are from outside Kemptville. Of those, more than 60% are from Manotick, Osgoode, and the surrounding area, surely proof of how important this hospital is to our community health.

For more information, or to make a donation visit our donation platform or call 613 408 0086.

Towards the end of 2023, MNP LLP Ottawa (Accounting, Business Consulting and Tax Services) decided to create a Community Fund and asked its Partners to suggest causes of interest. One of the Partners, Shawn Mincoff - also a Kemptville District Hospital (KDH) Board Director - strongly suggested that they donate to the KDH CT Scanner Crossroads $2.2 million Campaign. He said, “I was very proud to get my Partners involved as the hospital is important to me.” To his surprise and making the donation perhaps even more compelling, one of his colleagues shared that he had his knee surgery done at KDH.

Mincoff added, “KDH offers great services and is always ready to take care of us.”

He believes that we cannot forget the needs of our community and hopes this $15,000 donation from the MNP LLP Community Fund will add momentum to the CT Scanner Campaign.

The cheque was presented by Mincoff along with MNP LLP Partners, Natalie Schuler and Kayla Seipp, to Margret Norenberg, KDH Foundation Chair, Frank Vassallo, KDH CEO and Kristy Carriere, KDH Foundation Coordinator.