€21,195 raised by hospital ball for MRI presented

THE fantastic €21,195 proceeds of the Wexford Hospital Ball, which was held raise funds for a new MRI scanner at the town’s General Hospital, were handed over last week.

The big cheque was presented to ‘Friends of Wexford MRI Now’ and was almost €2,000 over the target figure to kick-start the project.

The hospital ball, a popular fixture in the mid1990s, was brought back to life and proved a very good choice of fund raiser, attended by more than 400 people.

Friends of Wexford General Hospital, hospital manager Lily Byrnes and Professor Colm Quigley, and a number of Wexford General Hospital staff members joined forces to ensure the successful return of the event which was held at Clayton Whites Hotel last November.

Corporate table sponsors included Wexford County Council, Sam McCauleys, AIB and many other supporting local businesses, GPs, and council representatives all of whom made donations.

County Wexford does not have an MRI Scanner and getting one put into Wexford Hospital is a must.

Ciaran Sheridan, Chairman of the Friends of Wexford General Hospital said that without an MRI, Wexford Hospital risked becoming a second grade Hospital and ‘we cannot allow this to happen’.

The ‘MRI-Now’ project will be the major focus of the Friends for the next two years.

Catriona Murphy (Hospital Ball), Dora Kent (Danone Nutricial), Ali O’Brien (McCauley’s Pharmacy), Mayor Cllr Frank Staples, Prof Colm Quigley, Joe O’Brien (Clayton Whites Hotel), Colette Gilligan (Danone Nutricia), Tina Carley (AIB) and Eliot Norval (McCauley’s). Front; Peter Murphy, Roisin Ffrench, Hospital) and Lily Burns (all Wexford Hospital), Edel Fitzmaurice (Friend’s of WGH), Gina Monahan (Wexford Hospital) and Brian McGrath.