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Woman who credits hospital with saving her life will match Christmas appeal donations this month

By Shannon Coull
Executive Director, Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation

As we launched this year’s holiday campaign, we learned that Canada Post had gone on strike. Our Christmas appeal letter is waiting to be mailed, and it will likely take some time to reach mailboxes across Prince Edward County.

Yoniah Zeigler

This year’s letter features a testimonial from Yoniah Zeigler, who credits the Care Champions at Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital (PECMH) with saving her life last year. Thanks to Yoniah, gifts received before midnight on Dec. 31, 2024, will be matched 1:1 up to $10,000. Yoniah will donate a matching amount for every dollar raised, turning each dollar into two!

In July 2023, Yoniah was recovering from major abdominal surgery and was staying with a friend in Wellington when complications from her eight-hour operation started to set in.

They drove to the emergency department at PECMH around 9 a.m. During this time, a fever had started to develop and as it turned out, her liver was in actue distress, as she was too.

While in the waiting room, patients wwho were waiting before Yoniah stepped back and insisted she be seen ahead of them. The ER physician and hospital’s care champions attempted an abdominal x-ray. When the scan did not provide enough evidenced to determine what was unfolding, Yoniah was transferred to Belleville General Hospital for a CT scn that resulted in an urgent surgical procedure that gave her a liver drain for a month. The drain was inserted to prevent the protective sac in her liver from bursting. If it had burst, her survival could have been in question.

Upon returning to PECMH after receiving the scan, the seriousness of her condition was clearly defined. The ER physician said she was lucky she came to the hospital when she had. Yoniah waited in the ER until a bed became available at Kingston General Hospital. By 1:30 a.m. the following day, she was cozied up in a patient transport ambulance, zooming to Highway 401. She arrived at KGH and underwent surgery hours later.

Yoniah often reflects on her time at PECMH with awe, affection and gratitude.

“The service I received at PECMH was phenomenal. Within no time, my surgeons in Kingston had the information needed to determine whether an emergency admission was necessary. The PECMH Emergency staff saved my life.”

Yoniah was lucky. She was able to access the CT Scanner at BGH. When the doors to Prince Edward County’s new hospital open, people will no longer have to travel to another hospital for these emergency diagnostic scans.

That’s why we are reaching out to you today. The connection between donors and the tools our hospital’s care champions need to continue making a life-saving difference is undeniable. Medical equipment to diagnose and treat our patients is expensive, and has a short five to 10-year lifespan. Did you know medical equipment purchases and not government funded? Every piece of equipment at PECMH is purchased using funds donated.

If you traditionally mail a cheque to the hospital foundation, I hope you will consider other ways of giving this year, including:

1) Donating securely online at www.pecmhf.ca
2) Calling us at 613-476-1008 ext. 4507.
3) Sending an e-transfer to info@pecmhf.ca (please send a follow-up email with the password)
4) Visiting us at the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital at 403 Main Street in Picton (parking is free, and we’d love to see you). Please enter through the main entrance (across from Picton Clinic). While our new hospital is being constructed, we recommend you park at Picton Clinic. We are open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Any donations received will be processed as soon as possible; however, you may experience a delay in getting your tax receipt until the postal strike ends.

Thank you for your continued generosity and support. Your donations have strengthened our community’s access to quality care close to home and helps us get closer to realizing our dream of a new hospital in Prince Edward County.

For more information, click here to visit the PECMHF website.

Filed Under: News from Everywhere Else

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