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Hay River Hospital celebrates 50 years of care giving 14 Tuesday June 30 2015 HEALTH WELLNESS HOSPITALS building your community workforce Are you looking for ways to bring training and work experience opportunities into your community Do you need funding to employ youth in your community this summer ECE can help. The Small Community Employment Support Program provides assistance to both youth and adults to gain work experience and secure jobs in eligible small communities. Two program streams develop workplace capacity and youth employment Youth Employment Training-on-the-Job provides a wage subsidy for employers in small and remote communities and Community Initiatives provides project based funding for training delivered through partnerships. Contact us today to talk about how our programs and services can support capacity building in your community. Applications submitted before July 1 2015 are given priority. For more information www.ece.gov.nt.caece-service-centres By DALI CARMICHAEL Retired nurse and former matron Ruth Webb remembers the day Hay Rivers health care team moved into the current H.H. Wil- liams Memorial Hospital building. We all did the packing we all did the labour Webb said. We were excited to move in here. I drove an old truck that was standard that I didnt really know how to drive and the door wouldnt stay closed. I transported a patient Joe Landry Id like to find his family and apologize for the bumpy ride. Local history buffs and former hospital employees came together on June 27 to cel- ebrate the 50th anniversary of the original H.H. Williams Memorial hospital which opened its doors on June 28 1965. We want to respect the history of health care in Hay River because its a solid history said Erin Grifths executive assistant with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority. Its a pretty phenomenal and rich history of health in Hay River. Grifths spent months curating memora- bilia for the anniversary event. Tables set up in the old wing of the hospital spilled over with archival footage original blueprints and nancial documents old medical equip- ment and newspaper articles following the chronology of the facilitys history. Some of the items were donated by former staff mem- bers while others were dug out of the hos- pital basement. It was wonderful working here Webb said looking down at a navy-blue nurses cape she donated to the collection. It was great for new nurses and medical students because in the small community we got to do a bit of everything. A rich history of health care Before the 1950s health care in Hay River was delivered by a small Anglican mission that had arrived in town in the late 19th century made up of mostly nurses. They worked out of a miniscule building sometimes traveling to residents homes to provide care. A nursing station with three beds was opened on Vale Island in 1953 by the Sub- Arctic Mission Association founded by Rev. Ken Gaetz of the Pentecostal church. Gaetz became a prominent name in the community shaping Hay Rivers health care as the hospitals administrator for several decades. In 1957 Hay Rivers rst small hospital opened a six-bed operation with a hand- ful of nurses on staff. Funds for the facility were donated by the late H.H. Williams a former trustee on the board of the Toronto Sick Childrens Hospital who left his estate to the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada to be used specically for health care. In 1962 that hospital was expanded to t 12 beds. A tight-knit team of about 10 nurses and one doctor ran the show until a devastat- ing ood hit Vale Island in 1963. It was decided a new hospital was needed in an area less prone to natural disaster. Soon development of new town began and the new H.H. Williams Memorial hospital was established. The building held accommoda- tions for about 22 people and was staffed with a rotation of mission nurses relocated from southern Canada. At that time the Hay River hospital pro- vided services to people all over the South Slave from Pine Point mine to Fort Simpson. As the largest and most centrally-located hospital in the region employees were trained to handle a host of emergency situations from medevacs in the eld to maternity services in the hospital. In 1976 an extension made room for about 40 acute care patients and for the rst time provided room for a 10-person chronic care unit. As new technology and a wide array of specialty services were introduced H.H. Williams grew into a sophisticated operation. Eventually the GNWT took over the hos- pital from the church in 1995 opening up the doors for more non-mission staff to come aboard. Its amazing the history of health care in this little community said public adminis- trator Mike Mahar who started working in the hospital in 1972. Its gone from a little shack to what our new facility is across the street its just crazy. All of the artifacts that tell the story of Hay Rivers health care history will be on dis- play at the hospital for the next week. When the new health facility opens later this year Hay Rivers rich history of health care will be captured in a memorial wall while some of the artifacts will remain on display at the Hay River Museum. As part of the weekend celebration dig- nitaries and out-of-town visitors like Webb - who now calls Stony Plain Alta. home - were invited to walk through the new health centre. Its beautiful and amazing its exactly what I would have wanted as a nurse Webb said with a wide smile. It makes me think about joining the practice again at the age of 72. Retired matron Ruth Webb shows off her nurses cape at the 50th anniversary celebration of the H.H. Williams Hospital held on June 27. Webb donated the cape which will eventually be displayed along with other memorabilia at the community museum. These original blueprints of the 1965 hospital were just one of the archives on display for the public last weekend. Other artifacts included photographs news clippings old medical equipment and nancial papers. PhotosDaliCarmichael