Foundation Lights it Up starting this week
By Nelson Daily Editor
During the Nelson and District Credit Union 60 year celebration last week, the local financial institution passed along the final installment on a major partnership on the CT Scanner campaign.
To hit the $1 million milestone in that campaign, the NDCU donated $60,000 with a promise to provide $2,000 more for every new mortgage up until the past week’s anniversary date.
That led to the maximum donation of another $40,000 that has now come to pass.
“(This gesture) was a very creative way to turn business opportunities into a community opportunity,” said Foundation director Brian May.
Creative donations from creative sources
Gravel parking lots, worn signs marking the entrance to an abandoned office, and paint pealing beneath an incandescent glow mark the source for the latest purchase of medical equipment for Kootenay Lake Hospital.
As Cold Rock Productions was firming up locations for its The Tall Man feature film, they came across the former Mount St Francis Hospital.
They approached Interior Health to see what could be done to use some Hollywood magic and turn the former residential site into an abandoned mine building that would serve as the backdrop for portions of the feature film.
A deal was struck and filming at Mount St. Francis took place this fall. Rather than use the rent to fund internal operations, Interior Health asked Cold Rock Productions to pass the arranged $22,000 rent directly to the Kootenay Lake Hospital Foundation.
Pat Dooley, the recently elected Chair of the local Foundation, explained that the Foundation and local KLH management negotiate a priority equipment list each year and will select an item for immediate purchase for one of the many departments at KLH.
Light Up the Hospital campaign kicks off
This Christmas season the Kootenay Lake Hospital Foundation hope to raise $90,000 to begin outfitting the hospital’s new Emergency Ward.
Foundation director Brian May explained that the new goal was considered an extension of the past year’s project.
“Providing improved emergency and diagnostic services requires major state-of-the-art equipment like computed tomography but it also requires the basics to provide the essential care everyone needs.”
Items on the group’s list include a transport ventilator, pediatric monitor, video laryngoscope, a cardiac probe for the ward’s portable ultrasound, and trauma and OB/gyn stretchers.
The portable ultrasound itself was purchased from the proceeds of the 2004 ‘Light Up’ campaign. The device has been used to detect everything from internal bleeding to obstetric concerns.
The addition of a cardiac probe will add a new level of emergency care by allowing a closer view of the cardiovascular system. It will help local ER specialists determine whether chest pain is related to tissue damage, valve diseases, or other abnormalities in the heart requiring immediate attention.
The other equipment chosen from the hospital’s priority list serve other common emergency situations. The laryngoscope provides a clear view of a patient’s airway to help during ventilator intubation, and the pediatric monitor allows medical staff to check essential vital signs on the youngest visitors to the ward.
The most expensive item on the list, at $31,000, is a transport ventilator. It will be used for patients with insufficient breathing faced with ambulance transports to receive higher level care.
In the last three ‘Light Up’ campaigns the Foundation raised $70,000 for a surgical table, $88,000 for digital eye equipment, and over $120,000 toward last years CT scanner project.
Note:
The Hospital Foundation will hold its annual Pledge Day at Chahko Mika Mall on Friday, Dec. 3 where they will raffle off a diamond necklace from Ted Allen Jewelers and accept pledges and challenges.
