Rotary Club contributes $25,000 to hospital expansion
CLEARLAKE — The first official community pledge for St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake”s (SHC) $12.1 million emergency department expansion project was signed Wednesday. Rotary Club of Clearlake committed to a $25,000 contribution over the next five years.
SHC Administrator David Santos said that it is community involvement that makes this expansion project special. “Thanks so much for partnering with us for the expansion of the emergency department,” he said. “We are in this community to give and giving back is what we want to do.”
Adventist Healthcare Systems (AHS) has granted the majority of the funds for the project. Additionally, Redbud Healthcare District has granted $1 million toward the effort. Santos said that there is $1.8 million left to raise through community donations, not including the Rotary Club”s $25,000 pledge.
Rotary president Karen Karnatz said that the club considers SHC to be one of the south county”s greatest resources and that supporting its request for support was an easy decision. She said while members can speak to positive experiences at the hospital, they all recognize a need for change in the emergency department.
“Rotary”s goal is to use both our membership”s hard work and funds donated by club members and Rotary International to help better our community,” Karnatz said. “We now have the opportunity to help support our local hospital, an opportunity that will touch more people”s lives than anything else we have done as a club. This pledge is unprecedented as we are pledging $25,000 over the span of five years to the hospital”s emergency department.”
Rotary District Governor Maureen Merrill traveled from the Bay Area to attend the pledge signing at SHC. She commended the Clearlake club and said it is the most active club in her district.
When completed, the project will double the emergency department”s space, adding five patient monitoring rooms, bringing the total number of private rooms to 12 including two for trauma patients. The project will also improve the configuration of the emergency department, providing a private ambulance entrance, welcoming entrance for walk-in patients and visitors and a remodeled waiting area. In addition, the triage area will be redesigned so that patients can go directly from the emergency department lobby to a private bed when necessary.
The project is also expected to reduce waiting times, ensure the privacy of patients at all times, add negative pressure rooms for isolation of patients with transmittable diseases, enhance the ability of the emergency department nurses to have an unobstructed view of their patients, eliminate cross contamination in open areas and improve air conditioning capacity to better meet demand.
For more information regarding the project and/or how to contribute, contact the SHC Development Department at 995-5678. Project updates are viewable at www.newERforyou.com.
