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Hospital Report
By Illustrious Sir Don Thomson, P. P.,
Khartum Hospital Chairman
am honored to have been appointed Hospital Chairman for Khartum
Shriners. As you are aware, Noble Craig Houston has decided to retire
Ifrom this position after dedicating more than nineteen years of service
to our children. I did not realize the amount of paperwork needed to track
our patient visitations, to ensure we are paying for charges incurred on
behalf of our patients, and, at the end of each month, to ensure that everything
balances.
This is my first try at informing you of the state of our patient transportation
and hospital visitations. Since the start of this year, Khartum has
provided for fifty patient visitations to our various temples of mercy, broken
down as follows:
Thunder Bay to Minneapolis:
Thunder Bay to Montreal:
Dryden to Montreal:
Kenora (LOW) to Minneapolis:
Winnipeg to Minneapolis:
Winnipeg to Montreal:
Winnipeg to Toronto Sick
Children’s (Montreal patient):
Winnipeg to Chicago:
Dauphin to Minneapolis:
Brandon to Minneapolis:
nine
one
one
three
ten
seventeen
two
two
three
two
In addition to coordinating patient visitations, I have been busy learning
how to make sure all paperwork is completed, including patients’ and
parents’ availability to attend the appointments and travel. Accommodations
and meals are coordinated and confirmed with both the patients and
hospital. Changes are made as required when appointments have been
changed due to postponements or cancellations, some of which are last
minute.
I have by no means learned everything I
need to know to do the job as efficiently as
Craig has. However, I am lucky enough to be
able to have had him as a mentor during my
transition and will be relying on his expertise
as I move forward.
WestJet has again been generous to
Khartum Shriners by providing travel vouchers
for patient/family return trips to Montreal.
While Khartum receives these on behalf of the
Shriners in Canada, we, in turn, distributed
these between Khartum, Wa Wa, Luxor,
Philae, Mazol, Al Ahzhar, Al Shamal, and
Gizeh Shriners. Discussions are underway
with Tampa to set a date for recognizing
WestJet for the services they provide to Shriners
in Canada.
I am pleased to report that Illustrious Sir
Fraser (Woody) Woodward, P. P., has graciously
volunteered and been appointed to the
board of governors for the Twin Cities Hospital
in Minneapolis. As you can see, Montreal
and Minneapolis are the hospitals most used
by Khartum’s patients. In the first three
months of 2013, 54 percent of our patients
attended the Twin Cities Hospital and 42 percent
the Canadian Hospital in Montreal.
In 1925, the Shriners built the current
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HAMISH BARRIT
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