ALBERTON
As a Western Hospital staff member, Gail Gallant says she recognizes time spent in a hospital can seem long for a patient.
Gallant’s late husband, Doug, recognized that, too. He had spent periods of time in hospitals while fighting cancer.
She said her husband was concerned for patients who didn’t have a television to provide entertainment for passing the time. “It’s very boring for patients, when they’re sitting here with nothing to do all day,” she reflected.
When Doug Gallant passed away on Feb. 1, 2017, his family asked that memorial donations be made to the Western Hospital Foundation for the purchase of televisions for patient rooms.
Foundation member Krystyna Pottier said the Gallant wake generated the foundation’s largest ever contribution from a single wake, $4,200. All the donations from the wake were put towards the purchase of 24-inch televisions and wall-mounting hardware.
Gallant said the family appreciates all of the support shown for the hospital in her husband’s memory.
Pottier said the contribution allowed for 19 new units to be purchased, resulting in one wall-mounted television set for each of the hospital’s 27 beds.
“He would have been very humbled but very proud,” Gallant said when she was asked what she thought her husband would think about the memorial donations. She thinks it means a lot to other patients, too. “I got cards from people who donated,” she said. “A lot of them had family in here.”
Having the TVs set up and ready for use, said Pottier, takes some pressure off hospital maintenance staff who, previously, had to hook-up or disconnect television sets according to individual patients’ requests. There is no service charge associated with having the television set up. “It’s very nice (to have) even if it’s just music playing,” Gallant commented.
