Where to park at PRH

It’s really a sidewalk superintendent’s dream come true. It’s quite amazing to watch how quickly construction is progressing on the new six-storey patient care tower at Penticton Regional Hospital. Work on the second floor is now well underway.

The building’s exterior shell is due to be completed before the end of this year, but with all the extensive interior work to be carried out, the tower won’t be ready for patients until early 2019.

In the meantime, why not check out Interior Health’s webcam on the home page of the SOS Medical Foundation’s website (sosmedicalfoundation.com). It’s updated every 60 seconds and provides a bird’s eye view of the construction activity.

Don’t forget, the main public parking area for PRH is now located off Industrial Avenue until the new sixstorey parkade is built immediately south of the new tower. A public entrance to the hospital’s basement floor is available on the south side of the building (the main lobby/Emergency Department entrance off Carmi Avenue remains open). Just beware - finding your way through the hospital’s hallways can be confusing. Feel free to ask any of the volunteers for directions.

Community support for the SOS Medical Foundation’s $20-million fundraising campaign continues to bowl us over. The Penticton & District Stamp Club, which has pledged to donate $30,000 towards medical equipment required for the PRH expansion, was an active participant in the Okanagan Historical Society’s display last week at the Cherry Lane Shopping Centre. Sales of commemorative “covers” of artist Randy Manuel’s rendering of Penticton’s first mailbox in 1938 and a series of stamps from 1974, generated a few more hundred dollars in donations.

Thanks to the Stamp Club members and kudos to the Historical Society for organizing such interesting displays marking this year’s Canada 150 celebrations and National Heritage Week.

Thanks too, to Save On Foods for hosting another Spin the Wheel for More Rewords Points promotion at the Feb. 17 Penticton Vees game at the SOEC.

Fans donated $2 each to spin the wheel to win bonus More Rewards points. Customers can also donate their Save On Foods points for PRH. For every 1,000 More Rewards points a customer donates to the Foundation (with a value of $1), the store will match by donating $1. The Penticton Save On Foods store is aiming for 20 million points over the next few years – for a total donation of $40,000. We truly appreciate this incredible support.

The regional scope of Penticton Regional Hospital couldn’t have been better reflected than by the Princeton Rotary Club’s annual wine festival on Feb. 18. Princeton Rotary has pledged to donate $30,000 to the SOS Medical Foundation’s PRH campaign. The club has already contributed $15,000 and hopes to raise the remainder with proceeds from last Saturday’s winefest. Kudos to the Rotary members and all those who attended the popular event which included samples from wineries throughout the Similkameen and South Okanagan.

The PRH expansion has opened up dozens of clinic and room-naming opportunities for major donors to the Medical Foundation’s equipment campaign. Naming opportunities range from $30,000 for one of the 84 new single-patient rooms, up to millions of dollars to name the entire tower. In addition to patient rooms, other areas available include diagnostic imaging (X-Ray), presurgical and other clinics, operating rooms, cystoscopy (bladder and prostate) clinic, pre-and post-operating rooms and more. Each naming application must be approved by Interior Health and the provincial government. For more details, contact the Foundation office.

John Moorhouse is the development and communications officer for the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation. For information on donating, please call 250-492-9027 or visit: sosmedicalfoundation.com. This column appears monthly.