A Timmins-area mining company is continuing its support for the local hospital.
Timmins and District Hospital Foundation has received a $350,000 boost from Detour Gold and Franco Nevada Corporation, their business partner at the Detour Lake Mine.
Detour Gold’s portion is $250,000, with the 2019 cheque marking the fifth consecutive year the company has donated. To date, they’ve contributed more than $1.8 million. The remaining $100,000 of this year's presentation is from Franco-Nevada.
Detour Gold owns and operates Detour Lake Mine about 300 kilometres northeast of the city. It has about 1,000 employees and 350 contractors, many from the Timmins area.
“We know that they all use Timmins and District Hospital, and their families as well. It’s a cornerstone of the community and so we’re just happy to continue our support and very pleased to hear all the good places that the contribution’s going,” said Ruben Wallin, VP of environment and sustainability at Detour Gold.
At Detour, the hope is to expand the mine with the West Detour Project, which includes two new open pits and allow the production to continue into 2040.
“The Detour Lake Mine’s continued growth and prosperity couldn’t become a reality without the support of local communities, our Indigenous partners and a strong and healthy workforce,” said Wallin in a news release.
At the hospital, the cash is going towards a sensory cart for the emergency department, a pulmonary function test machine, Northern Ontario School of Medicine Suite, and emergency department renovations.
The sensory cart is for patients with sensory issues and will help calm people with auditory or tactile needs in the emergency department.
“Some of the sensory items that we would have on that cart would be things like a weighted blanket, which is a heavy blanket that provides support for children who may be presenting with anxiety, we also have noise-cancelling headphones,” said director of clinical services Natalie Carle.
She said the ideal option would be to have a sensory room. With a lack of space in the department, she said sensory cart is the next best thing.
The donation will allow for some renovations in the emergency department, though.
Kim Bazinet, the manager of the emergency department and critical care unit, said the volume of visits has increased over the years and the department has outgrown its location.
She said they are trying to do some renovations in the existing department that will help with the staffing model, and give patients more privacy.
“And then we have to create a few more safe rooms with the increase of the mental health population that we’re seeing, as well as the patients that present with issues from the opioid crisis,” she said.
Detour Gold’s donation also allowed the hospital to buy a pulmonary function machine, as well as two portable units.
The main machine has been in use for more than a month and replaced a system that was 10 years old, explained Susan Boisvert, cardiopulmonary department co-ordinator. It’s used about 750 times a year.
“As you can well imagine the technology has moved on in 10 years and the equipment ages and doesn’t function quite as well as we’d like it to sometimes,” she said.
“There’s certain tasks where we would have had to calibrate the machine, perform the test, wait for analysis. That test is now done in real-time, so it’s a little bit quicker for the patients.”
The portable units are used for about 700 tests a year, she said.
“It is something that we use a great deal. It allows us to determine for physicians whether there is lung disease present or if there isn’t, the extent of it. It determines whether the treatment that they’re on is working, things like that. So it’s really helpful in that respect,” said Boisvert.
With Timmins and District Hospital being a teaching facility, the residents have also been given their own space.
The library at the hospital was cut in half and renovated to give the students a place to study and relax.
