A Weyburn son will be returning to the city today for the purpose of supporting the Weyburn and District Hospital Foundation, which has the ominous task of fundraising for a new acute-care hospital in Weyburn.
Graham DeLaet, who grew up learning to play golf at the Weyburn Golf Club, is now a card-carrying member of the PGA Tour, and will be lending his name and support to a charity golf tournament that will ultimately benefit the Hospital Foundation.
This event has much promise to be a good fundraiser for the foundation, and considering the ultimate goal of funding a new hospital, the hope is that this might become an annual event that will help greatly towards bringing funds in for the new hospital.
What residents should realize, however, is the importance of supporting the hospital foundation all year-round, as they have an ambitious goal to reach that could literally take some years to reach. While it is true the amount to be raised locally was reduced substantially, the community still has to pay about 20 per cent of the total cost; for a hospital that costs, for example, $60 million, that's around $12 million.
The need for the new hospital is evident to any person who has visited or been a patient in the Weyburn General Hospital. The staff in the facility are excellent, caring health care professionals, but the building they are working in leaves a great deal to be desired, and to give proper medical care it helps to have a facility that isn't falling apart or is in constant need of repairs. Many areas of the hospital are in such a state, or are just plain hazardous: witness the areas in the basement that are labelled as containing asbestos, or where the roof falls in, leaving gaping holes.
In addition, a major part of the expenses that are to be looked after locally is the cost to furnish and equip the hospital; some equipment, particularly if it's newer, can be transferred over, but to a large degree it has be bought brand-new and replaced.
Those who organized today's event are to be commended for enlisting the support of someone who's gone on to do well in his life as DeLaet has; let's take the momentum of the support that will be shown and carry it through the balance of the year.
