Morgan Sampson, echocardiogram technician, and Queens General Hospital Foundation trustees Kelly Whalen, Kerry Morash, Janice Reynolds and Al Doucet with the new echocardiogram at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool. (Queens General Hospital Foundation photo)

Queens County residents will be able to stay closer to home for vital testing, thanks to an investment by the Queens General Hospital Foundation.

The foundation recently invested almost $400,000 to install a new echocardiogram and cardiopulmonary exercise testing machine at Queens General in Liverpool.

Al Doucet, a retired physician who is chairman of the hospital foundation, said that means that cardiologists and internal medicine specialists can now see more people here.

“They’re significant because they bring to Liverpool testing that otherwise was not available anywhere else, people had to travel for this,” Doucet told QCCR.

“But also, people that are in hospital, that are hospital patients, this equipment, especially the echocardiogram, it’s movable so that it can go up to the floors where people are sick so they don’t even have to come out of their hospital rooms and we can also use it on people who are sick in the emergency department.”

Queens General already has stress-testing equipment that involves patients using a treadmill to measure the heart’s response to physical activity.

But the new equipment uses a stationary bike to measure the response of your lungs as well. Internal medicine specialist Dr. Jeff Ratushny, who is based in Bridgewater, has a special interest in pulmonary stress testing, Doucet said.

“So this is an upgrade on our stress-testing equipment to add the pulmonary component to it. And that was really because Dr. Rathushny has a special interest in that. For our health professionasl that we have here, we want to give them the equipment that they need and that they want to give them the ability to come here and stay.”

The echocardiogram cost $275,000, while the exercise testing equipment cost $93,000. Those were just two of the significant contributions to health care in Queens County made by the foundation in the past year.

It has donated more than $1 million for equipment, training and other things to help attract more health professionals to the area and to make health care more accessible locally. 

“Our mandate does not confine us to just the hospital. But everything that we look at it’s in the lens of how can we make this a better place to live for people, how can we make it the best place for care, how can we put the best equipment in that we can retain professionals that are coming to work here.”

The foundation is also contributing $725,000 toward the establishment of a new MRI machine at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater. 

And Doucet said they’re investing up to $3.5 million in a new CT scanner at Queens General. He said they’re working with Nova Scotia Health to recruit the technicians to staff that equipment properly.

The foundation relies on donations and investments to fund its work. Doucet said its volunteer board of trustees is concerned about financing projects big and small.

Whether that’s a new floor-cleaning machine, doing things to help staff morale or sprucing up the outside of the hospital with art and gardens, he said it’s all part of making Queens General a better place to work and visit.

“There’s very few hospitals that you’ll see flowers that are blooming at the front door. So we want to make the hospital not so clinical and not so sterile. We want it to be an inviting place so that it reduces the anxiety people have as they come in.”

Doucet said the foundation has helped recruit six physicians to the area in the past two years. And thanks to things like their online presence, they’re also attracting other professionals like nurses to the area.

But he said there’s more to do. That’s why they continue to recruit with the goal of having the Queens General ER return to being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“The way it used to be when I was practising and the way it is now, things have definitely changed and we have to adapt to it. So having the foundation makes it at least easier for us to do that.”

For more information on the Queens General Hospital Foundation, visit their website at qghfoundation.ca, or their medical recruitment site at doctors-wanted.ca.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Kristopher Snarby, president of the Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows, says volunteers and the community have helped revitalize the community centre. (Rick Conrad)

Volunteers in the Beach Meadows area have revitalized their local community centre, bringing it back from the brink just two and a half years ago.

When a new board of directors took over the Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows in November 2021, many in the community feared it would close.

But in the time since, the centre has reclaimed its integral place in the community. 

Kristopher Snarby is president of the Seaside Centre. He was one of those new board members. 

“We came into a situation where people were tired and they just couldn’t keep going with the way things were. And we had a group of energetic people step in. The community made it clear they wanted to keep the building. We had a huge turnout at that meeting. It was evident from that that people wanted to make sure that we kept this facility in the community.”

Over the past couple of years, board members and other volunteers have raised thousands of dollars to renovate the centre. It’s now holding more regular community events and even has a couple of regular tenants renting space to help pay the bills.

They have installed new insulation and heat pumps throughout the facility to make it more energy efficient. And they plan this year to install a new metal roof and metal siding to help it withstand the harsher weather conditions on the coast.

They also invested $80,000 in a new generator to make the building a comfort centre during periods like hurricanes or power outages.

“These projects are huge capital projects that in theory should take a long time to achieve and we’ve done a lot in the short term. … That’s almost $300,000 in capital improvements to the centre in two or three years. So it’s been busy and we’re investing in the centre to ensure it keeps on going for a long time and it’s really positive.”

The centre held its annual general meeting this week, where the board highlighted some of the successes of the past year. The facility recorded a $28,842 surplus last year.

Snarby says the Seaside Centre wouldn’t have been able to do it without its group of about 100 volunteers and the community’s support. More than half of its revenue comes from fundraising and individual donations.

“We’ve had huge amounts of support both in terms of volunteer hours but also donations. We’ve gotten donations anywhere from $20 to $1,000 or $5,000. So we’ve had big donations, small donations. It all goes into the pot to make that happen. Without that, none of this would have been achievable. All of our grants have required 20 to 25 per cent contribution from the community. Every event we’ve had people are super generous with donations and coming out to support the centre.”

“The community support it’s allowing to push through and really get this done.”

He said after the work on the exterior of the building this year, the next long-term project may be to update their kitchen facilities. 

“And then also just continuing to put on events and to be a place where people can come and gather. We have weekly groups that get together for yoga, for crafting, quilting. We’d like to expand that into some other weekly groups that attend here and just have more events for the community.”

Snarby says they’re always looking for more volunteers or for people to put on more events at the centre. You can find more information at their website at seasidecentre.ca or by joining their Facebook group.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Shelly Panczyk is the chairwoman of the Queens County Food Bank in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

More people are using the Queens County Food Bank at the same time as donations are dropping.

Shelly Panczyk, chairwoman of the food bank on Main Street in Liverpool, says the charity saw 4,993 people last year. Of those, 1,494 were children. 

That’s up markedly from when she started at the charity four years ago. She said back then, they’d see 40 families a week. Now, it’s closer to 55 families a week.

“I just want people to realize that this is a very, very busy place. I call this the third grocery store in Queens County.”

“This situation (our clients are) in, they can’t help it. We’ve seen people in here, husband and wife, each of them working. This is going to get worse before it ever gets better.”

Clients can go to the food bank every 21 days to stock up on food and household items. The food bank also operates a thrift store on Main Street, about a block away.

Last year, revenue at the food bank alone was down by $107,000. But expenses climbed by $17,000. The thrift store, though, generated $82,000 in net income for the food bank. 

Panczyk and the board reported those figures at the charity’s recent annual general meeting. She clarified that part of the reason for the revenue drop in 2023 was that they didn’t receive any large grants like they did the year before.

Panczyk said the food bank does have savings in the bank. But she said in an interview that without the income from the thrift store, they would be in trouble.

“Without that store, this food bank would not be running,” she said.

Both the food bank and the thrift store are run entirely by volunteers. They have as many as 50 through the year. There are no paid staff.

“It costs $140,000 a year to run this food bank, just this building. And we don’t get that in donations. That store … is our little gold mine.”

Panczyk said that older people and churches used to be among their biggest donors. 

“The donors were the people that are in their 80s and 90s and now have died. Churches were always a good donation, because churches were the ones that started most food banks. Churches are closing, their parishioners are down.”

A study released in February by food rescue organization Second Harvest showed that demand for food charity in Canada is expected to rise by 18 per cent this year. The study found that on average, each charity needs an extra $76,000 to meet that increased demand.

Panczyk says monetary and food donations have dropped, though she says that the local Sobeys and Superstore are still major food donors. And they receive regular shipments from Feed Nova Scotia.

But she said she still has to buy a lot of food to serve their clients. 

“My grocery bill here for a month is anywhere from $4-6,000.”

She said four years ago, the food bank would buy 200 pounds of hamburger to distribute over three months.

“I’m buying 500 pounds. They used to pay $2.99 (a pound) and I have to wait until it goes on sale and I pay almost $5 a pound. And I give out 200 pounds of that a month now.”

The food bank is also required to stock 14 staple food items such as peanut butter, crackers, pasta sauce and spaghetti. They have to buy many of those items. 

And Panczyk says she has to make sure she can cater to more diverse food needs, as more families of various backgrounds move to Queens County.

She has applied for grants to begin to stock more food variety, such as halal meats or basmati rice.

“So this is a whole new scenario for food banks, especially in these smaller communities that we never had before.”

Panczyk said she’s grateful for the donors they do have and for the community support of the thrift store. 

But she said they need more cash donations so that they can continue to serve a growing and more diverse clientele.

“I don’t think I  want to be starting out again not what these people are going through. I think this is almost as bad as the Depression, trying to fight your way through.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Liverpool Regional High School. Photo credit Ed Halverson

The annual Liverpool Regional High School scholarship fundraiser is marking 25 years of providing money for graduates to attend post-secondary school.

What started as a dinner and auction moved online during the pandemic and has been breaking donation records ever since.

Last year, organizers raised over $33,000, smashing through their $22,000 goal.

This year they’re challenging themselves and the community to come up with $35,000.

Fundraising committee member Pierre Losier says organizers considered returning to an in-person format but decided staying online offered benefits that couldn’t be ignored.

“What we found is with the online auction format it provides more than just a one-day event. It provides more opportunities for folks to participate in the auction,” said Losier. “We start in the first of May and go through the month into June until we’ve gone through the different lots of auction. So, it’s a different format but it increases our participation and as a result also increases the funding.”

The committee is composed of parents, teachers and most importantly, students.

“They are broken down in smaller groups with a mentor committee parent and they will go and canvas the community for donations of either items to be sold at auction or some financial donations to the committee,” said Losier.

The auction is held on the LRHS 2023 Scholarship Fundraiser Facebook page.

Items up for auction are displayed as posts and bids can be made in the comments.

Losier says given the generosity of the community they could surpass the set goal of $35,000.

“Our community, year after year, just shows amazing support for this program and we’re confident that will continue on.”

Each year, about a third of the graduating class receive $1,000 awards from the scholarship fund to support their post-secondary schooling.

In the 25 years the auction has been running, over 400 students have received around $500,000 towards their continuing education from the LRHS Foundation.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Queens County Food Bank shelves have lots of space for more donations. Photo Ed Halverson

Queens County Food Bank Staff are hoping as the leaves fall, donations go up.

Executive Director of the Queens County Food Bank Shelly Panczyk and her staff of 20 volunteers supply 350 people in Queens with food every month.

Panczyk says warmer weather means a significant drop in donations.

“There’s not a lot of groups getting together saying, okay, we’re going to do this for the food bank, we’re going to run this, this week for the food bank or this month for the food bank. We don’t have any of that in June, July, and August,” said Panczyk.

The Queens County Food Bank has been relying on a shipment of food it receives each Monday from Feed Nova Scotia.

But Panczyk says even that source is drying up since pandemic restrictions have lifted and people have started to return to their normal routines.

“People were donating to the food bank like crazy during this all, they were loaded. Feed Nova Scotia was loaded. Now they’re getting down, they have nothing,” said Panczyk. “I probably was getting 1,200 kilograms and we’re down now to eight (800kg). And each week it’s going down and down, what supplies are coming in from them.”

Shelly Panczyk at Queens County Food Bank. Photo Ed Halverson

Donations from Sobeys and Superstore account for the rest of the supplies currently lining the shelves at their Main Street, Liverpool location.

Panczyk says the decline in donations come as the food bank is seeing an increase in the number of people using their services since the pandemic.

She says what’s needed to ensure they can continue to serve the community is a regular stream of donations either through the drop boxes at local grocery stores or by monthly donation to Feed Nova Scotia.

To learn how to donate to the Queens County Food Bank you can head to their Facebook Page.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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