FAYETTEVILLE – Cape Fear Valley Medical Center has been awarded a $375,350 grant to help upgrade its emergency water pump system.
The funding was awarded through the Golden LEAF Foundation Disaster Recovery Grant Program. It will be used to build two additional on-campus water wells, bringing the total to four. The wells would pump groundwater into large storage tanks that could be used during natural disasters.
Cape Fear Valley Medical Center has experienced three major breaks in the past decade. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew forced the hospital to manually pump water from its two existing wells and to flush toilets and power massive heating and air conditioning units on campus. Patients and staff had to drink bottled water while the main water main breaks were repaired.
“The damage from Hurricane Matthew threatened the life, safety and health of North Carolinians,” said Dan Gerlach, Golden LEAF Foundation President. “The award of these funds to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center helps repair and improve the infrastructure needed to serve the hospital. We are grateful for the confidence that our state leaders placed in Golden LEAF to deploy these funds rapidly and responsibly.”
When complete, the upgraded system will provide enough flowing well water to keep the hospital campus functional during emergencies, according to James Bullard, Cape Fear Valley Health’s Emergency Management Coordinator.
“We’d like to provide running water, at least for handwashing at sinks, with the new upgrades,” Bullard said.
The project is in the initial planning stages with construction set to start later this month. Planners hope to have the upgrades complete by the end of the year.
The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit established to handle a portion of North Carolina’s funding from a 1998 settlement with cigarette manufacturers. Part of the settlement money is used to help fund community projects in traditionally tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and rural parts of the state.
To learn more about the Golden LEAF Foundation and its impact, visit www.goldenleaf.org.
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