The 17th annual 800 CHAB Family First Radiothon is in its final hours and the Moose Jaw Health Foundation hopes residents will continue opening their hearts and wallets to support the initiative.
The event kicked off on May 4 at the Town ‘n’ Country Mall and runs until 5:30 p.m. today, May 5. The health foundation (MJHF) wants to raise $150,000 to purchase a critical care bed, a glidescope to help patients breathe, a continuous wave (CW) Pedoff ultrasound probe to detect cardiac blockages and damages, patient beds and a quick-thaw blood plasma system.
Every dollar raised during the radiothon stays in Moose Jaw to help patients at the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital.
As of 10:45 a.m., the radiothon had raised $73,645.
Some donations the event has received include $2,000 from Brandt Construction, Forestry and Material Handling; $5,000 from the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 59’s poppy fund; and $20,000 from Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway.
The MJHF and its fundraisers keep the regional hospital’s equipment at a state-of-the-art level.
The organization pointed out that new technology is crucial to saving the lives of critical care patients, while dramatic advances in medical technologies are rapidly transforming the delivery of critical care and the hospital needs the next generation of medical technology to help patients.
The hospital receives more than 29,000 ER visits each year. Moreover, the ICU and ER never close, while the hospital provides care to more than 1,200 people from the region daily.
The Family First Radiothon has raised more than $4.6 million to purchase hospital equipment since its inception in 2006.
For more information and to donate, visit www.mjhf.org/page.aspx?pid=375. Also check out the foundation's Facebook page for updates.
