1986 - 87 Report to the North Shore Community | ANNUAL MEETING Wednesday, June 24, 1987 _ 4:30 P.M. Lions Gate Hospital The Annual General Meeting of the North and West Van- { couver Hospital Society will be held at Lions Gate Hospital, 115th and St. Georges, North Vancouver, B.C. on the 24th day of June, 1987. The Chairman will convene the meeting at 4:30 p.m. and will immediately declare a recess until 8:00 p.m, which will permit members to vote for candidates to the Board of Directors prior to recommencement of the meeting. Members must vote between 4:30 p.m. and 8:60 p.m. No ballots will be issued after 8:00 p.m. Nominees to the Board of Directors will not be speaking at the Annual General Meeting but may be heard on a special presentation by Shaw Cable on June 16, June 21 and June 23. 29 - Sunday, June 21, 1987 - North Shore News ae omy veces 1 MEE ee Or te toe soeaenry June 1987 I a aa ea ed ee aE ae | diene OC EO On PTSD OG The number of patients receiving chemotherapy at the LGH Medical Day Centre has increased by more than 50 percent in the last year. A hospital has a special relationship with the community it serves and that relationship is unique to each community. Lions Gate Hospital and the North Shore community are very fortunate in the supportive relationship that has evolved over the years. Even more than most hospitals, LGH plays a cen- tral role in the daily life of its coramunity. Health care is a people-dominated industry and most of LGH’s 1,800 employees are North Shore residents. In addition to the members of the community that come every day to work at the hospital, a great many people attend programs at the Medical Day Centre — there were 14,438 visits to the Day Centre last year by people participating in prograrns such as diabetic day care, neuro rehabilitation, back education, car- diac exercise, chronic lung obstruction disease, dietetic counselling and the chemotherapy, blood transfusion and iron infusion service. The day surgery performed 7,371 procedures on patients who retumed home the same day. This means that the hospital staff provides health care to many more peo- ple than those who occupy its 401 acute care beds and 319 discharge planning and extended care beds. The interest taken in the hospital as a part of the North Shore community's daily life is reflected in many ways, such as the high turnouts for public forums on health issues at the hospital and the frequent feature stories in the local newspaper. A very concrete demonstration of the community’s interest is the many groups and clubs who donate funds to purchase equipment and facilitate programs. Last year more than $180,000 from former patients, families of patients, bequests and groups such as the T.B. and Chest Veterans, Royal Cana- dian Legion, CP Air Employees, North Vancouver Lions Club, Auxiliary to the Eagles, Vancouver Shipyards and the Aux- iliary to Lions Gate Hospital helped make it possible for LGH to continue its high standard of health care for the communi- ty. Individuals and groups also donate many hours of time to programs and outings designed to help residents of Evergreen House remain part of the larger community. Working together for health care LGH carries its health care role beyond the hospital cam- pus. Information and understanding are among the most im- portant tools for achieving and maintaining good health and Lions Gate Hospital reaches out into the community to help promote this education. Since 1983, the hospital's Education Services has joined with Shaw Cable to present a weekly half- hour public health education program: a 15-minute video, en- titled Your Operation, describing what to expect when you are admitted to LGH, followed by Your Health, an informa- tional taped program on a particular health concem such as diabetes, rehabilitation, spina bifida or cancer. The hospital and the community Education Services, working with hospital care givers, pro- vided a palliative care workshop for staff and volunteers and a well-attended public program on arthritis during the past year. Public information is an extension of the responsibility of the department to provide hospital-wide education to assist staff in keeping skills and knowledge up to date. Director Eleanor Lawson was a pioneer in her position in B.C. when LGH established the department and its mandate in 1967. Education Services also worked with the hospital’s medica! education committee to share the experts brought in for the doctors’ Grand Rounds with the community. Three public forums, presented in the LGH Terrace Cafeteria, drew capacity audiences and were televised by Shaw Cable. The forums on the early detection of cancer, prevention of heart attack, and new advances in the treatment of balding featured both visiting medical experts and physicians from LGH and Vancouver. The Board of Directors of Lions Gate Hospital has always supported community-based programs, instigated both from within and outside the Board. The highly successful LGH public lecture/discussion series on Effective Parenting en- people to take responsibility for developing and main- taining physical, emotional and mental health. Video tapes of the programs are still available on loan from the hospital's Education Services. The Board continues to emphasize the hospital's role of con- tributing to “wellness” in the community, rather than the tradi- tional limited position of dealing with sickness and injury. LGH is one of the founding and most supporting members of the North Shore Seniors’ Services Providers Forum. Represen- tatives of groups and agencies that work with seniors came together to determine specific needs, concerns and gaps in ser- vices for seniors on the North Shore and to recommend priority actions. Population projections for the North Shore show that the number of residents 65 years of age and older will increase from the 1981 figure of 14,700 to 21,600 by 1991. Individuals over 65 are heavy users of health care and support services, so comprehensive and co-ordinated planning must begin now if the needs of this group are to be met in ways that are ac- ceptable to them and financially possible for the community. Successful care programs are the result of community participation. Approximately 4,000 copies of the Forum's informational Position Paper and proposed Action Plan with recommenda- tions for preventive services, housing, community and institu- tional care were distributed to the community for response and suggestions. A speakers bureau, a series of eight feature ar- ticles in the North Shore News, and a phone-in panel show on Shaw Cable helped heighten community awareness of the issues. The Forum has now moved onto the next stage of determining ways of stimulating action on the recommendations.