Covenant Dreamlife Lottery kicks off
Prizes include cash, cars and $2M home
Casey Lane says the relationships she made with staff at the Misericordia Community Hospital helped her through a difficult time after her son was born six weeks prematurely.
At roughly four pounds, Lane’s first child, Lorcan, arrived ahead of schedule on Nov. 5, 2018. Over the course of three weeks, she and her husband spent most of their days at the hospital, which gave them plenty of time to get to know the nurses and doctors.
“You just want to be reassured as a parent, especially with the first one,” she said. “(We) built up a pretty good relationship with them. We kind of got involved in the morning rounds. We would be (in the room) when they came in and we would talk about how (Lorcan’s) night was and how much he’s grown. They even showed us how to give him a bath and feed him.”
Lane said when she was still in recovery, the hospital provided her with an ipad that was connected to where Lorcan was. The ipad system was brought in using funds from the Covenant Dreamlife Lottery, which kicked off on Thursday.
“It’s so essential to see your baby,” she said. “The baby knows and hears your voice. I was singing through the ipad (when he) was crying and he actually calmed down.”
Over the past 28 years, the lottery has raised more than $22 million, which goes toward supporting Covenant Health facilities. This year’s grand prize is a $2-million 5,000-square-foot home in Edmonton’s south side. Other prizes include $100,000 cash, an early-bird prize worth $225,000 as well as chances to win vehicles, vacation vouchers and a Split 50 pot with a possible maximum payout of up to $625,815.
Dr. Owen Heisler, chief medical officer of Covenant Health, said funds raised will go toward supporting a number of projects, including a new emergency department at the Misericordia.
The community hospital has been dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 since early July and has been closed off to the public. As of Wednesday, there have been no new patient cases reported at the hospital since July 13. There are currently 11 active cases among patients and 11 deaths connected to the outbreak.
“The earliest it could open would be this Friday because there haven’t been any new cases for 28 days,” said Heisler. “It needs to be a phased opening.”
Those wishing to participate in the lottery can do so by visiting dreamlifelottery.win or calling 780-944-2774 in Edmonton, or the toll-free line at 1-888-9442774. The final deadline to enter is Oct. 22. The early bird deadline is Sept. 30.