The Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation has reached a fundraising goal to purchase a medical station used to examine tissue biopsies for suspected cases of cancer.
At a cost of about $160,000, a Mopec 400 medical grossing station has been on the foundation’s capital project list for about a decade. While the hospital already has access to two grossing stations in its pathology laboratory, foundation CEO Barney Ellis-Perry said the community’s need has reached a point where the hospital has had to hire a third pathologist. With that new pathologist comes the need for more equipment.
On June 27, the foundation announced it had not only met that goal, but surpassed it by $18,000.
“We asked our community to help bring cancer care closer to home, and they did exactly that," Ellis-Perry said in a press release. "Funding these two pieces of equipment is an incredible start to meet our collective goal of having comprehensive cancer care in our region."
With the excess money, the foundation will be purchasing a piece of equipment used in reconstructive surgery for people experiencing breast cancer. Both pieces have now been approved for purchase and will be implemented this year in the cancer department.
To make it happen, the foundation had 532 donors from across Central and North Vancouver Island, in addition to donations at four Save-on-Foods locations which supported the cancer care campaign with a recently concluded point-of-sale promotion. The promotion raised more than $20,000 during the campaign.
Up until June 2023, the foundation would only hold one fundraiser at a time, but following a change in its strategic plan, the foundation splits fundraising into six focus areas: cancer care, community and family health, critical care, heart and stroke care, innovation and mental health.
The success of the Mopec 400 fundraiser suggests to the foundation that cancer care is an area community members are passionate about, Ellis-Perry said.
"Cancer does affect everybody so we see people putting money where their emotions are," he said.
The foundation is also finding success with its fundraising for cardiac and maternity care. In a recent fundraiser with the Tom Harris Community Foundation, close to $400,000 was raised for heart health and diagnostic centre equipment. During a separate event on Saysutshun, the foundation raised enough to cover nine $20,000 birthing beds for the maternity department.
"We thought maybe we would get two or three so we were quite stunned when we got all nine funded on the spot within … minutes. That was a big win, and interesting because almost everyone in the room had either been born at NRGH or had a child at NRGH," Ellis-Perry said.
While those fundraisers were highly successful, on the opposite end the foundation struggled with a recent campaign for public long-term care home amenities. So far less than $3,000 has been raised of a $50,000 goal to pay for bus rentals for Dufferin Place, patio upgrades at Eagle Park care facility in Qualicum Beach and outdoor equipment and programming at Trillium Lodge in Parksville.
Ellis-Perry said that "it's about us figuring out what people want to get behind."
"In about five to six months we will launch a new campaign that will be our focus for next three years and we'll have major projects in each of the six areas."
The foundation is continuing to accept donations for the support of cancer equipment at NRGH, which can be done on the foundation's website at http://nanaimohospitalfoundation.com/donate.
