Friends of Killarney Hospital have been fundraising to upgrade washrooms in the acute care portion of the Tri-Lake Health Centre in Killarney and the recent HyLife donation of $100,000 has brought them closer to their $300,000 goal.  Killarney Foundation has also contributed $150,000 towards this effort and members of 'Friends' are thrilled with this community support.

Laurie Campbell is a member with Friends of Killarney Hospital, as well as a Board member of the Killarney Foundation.

Campbell says the washroom facilities on the acute care side are currently not wheelchair or walker accessible.  "So, we're pretty excited about this.  We started on this project about a year and a half ago working with Prairie Mountain Health.  We've done one washroom and we've done the Proof of Concept with that one last year just to see what the needs are with plumbing and that sort of thing as our hospital was built in the '70's."

With the approval from Prairie Mountain Health, the 'Friends' committee pursued fundraising efforts.  "HyLife has stepped up in a very big way here!"

"Plus we've had individual families donate," explains Campbell.  "We had a very special family in Killarney that helped donate to our first Proof of Concept and then we've had a number of folks and families donate.  So, we're about $275,000 now with the donations from HyLife and from the Killarney Foundation."

Campbell says total costs should run them anywhere between $300,000-$350,000 to upgrade the remaining 15 washrooms.

"Until we get the RSP back [from PMH] we won't know exactly how much the bathrooms are but we have a pretty good idea because of the first one that we got done, so we're hoping for about $300,00."