Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation continues to keep healthcare strong in the Southwest
Healthcare in the Ssouthwest continues to experience major improvements, thanks to donations facilitated through the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation.
The first procedures by the Urology department’s newly-purchased 100-watt Holmium Laser have been completed, and the Health Region and Foundation are hearing rave reviews from benefitting patients. Funds raised for the Holmium Laser were raised chiefly through the “Your Family’s Health” Radiothon last fall explained Sean Finell, Special Events Coordinator with the Dr. Irwin Foundation.
“We actually got a deal on the Holmium Laser. The company that made it, it was a demo model, which means it was hardly used at all. It cost about $150,000, the total purchase price for the unit. There were additional costs as well that came up – you have to have shielding on the windows, you have to have different power sources, they had to re-wire the power source for the unit so that it fit within the operating room, but all together, it cost about $150,000. We raised $125,900 through Radiothon last fall, and Radiothon is one of those programs where, for the next two or three weeks to a month afterward, there were still donations from people coming in who didn’t make it in during Radiothon, but they still wanted to give. So the total raised was between $131,000 to $132,000 through Radiothon. The rest was money that came into the Foundation. Not all donations are specialized toward one thing, you have that option when you donate to say, ‘I want this to go to cardiac care,’ for example – but if it’s an unrestricted donation, then it just goes into our general fund, and so we made the rest of the cost up through those donations.”
Finell says the Cypress Health Region’s urologist, Dr. Garcia, had prior experience with their new acquisition, and the laser makes things much easier for patients undergoing procedures to remove stones.
“Dr. Garcia is a younger doctor – his training all had to do with the Holmium Laser and with all its benefits. It’s a device that, through a catheter and everything else they use, is able to go right into anywhere there is a stone. Any stone, any location, they can get in there with the Holmium laser and break up the stone, essentially, into fine dust. And anyone who’s had kidney stones and who’s had to pass a kidney stone, would probably appreciate passing dust in comparison. The laser does it without any surgery necessary, as in, there are no surgical scars. Recovery time is negligible in comparison, and in some cases, it’s day surgery. A woman phoned the Foundation who had one of the very first procedures done in Swift Current last week, and she said she stayed overnight, was gone the next day, and her pain was erased. It just does it so cleanly, so efficiently, so effectively.”
With the purchase of the Holmium Laser completed, Finell says the Foundation is turning its attention to fundraising for the long- term care facilities in the Southwest.
“A big part of our next year will be the long-term care that’s being constructed right now. It’s at a point now where it looks like they’ve got all their cement poured, or a really good portion of it, so they’re going to be putting things up and people will start noticing it. It’s going to be huge. It’s also one of those projects that you just can’t do without. The long-term care facilities that they’re currently using were never intended for the level of care that they’re providing, or the style of care they’re providing. This will be all new, it’ll be huge for the residents of long-term care. If you need long-term care, and it’s not all just people in the later stages of life; there are a couple of teenagers who currently live in long-term care in Swift Current, so this will accommodate and make life better for all of them. The Health Region is evaluating what they can continue to use and what needs to be replaced, and we’ll get the list of what we’re looking to replace and what we need to raise.”
In addition to fundraising for the long-term care facility in Swift Current, there are ongoing construction projects in Ponteix, Leader, and Maple Creek, and Finell notes that community groups in those areas are spearheading the fundraising with support from the Dr. Noble Irwin Foundation. He says it’s nice to be able to offer residents of other areas helping in their respective communities a tax incentive.
“The thing is, because we’re a licensed, registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency, we’re able to give out tax receipts so if someone does make a contribution or a donation to any of the projects we’re involved with, they can get a tax receipt. It’s not the reason most people are doing it, they’re not just doing it to get a tax receipt, but it’s nice to give that back and have some of them recoup that on their taxes at the end of the year as well.”
The Dr. Irwin Foundation will host an Antique Auction in April to commence their fundraising for the Swift Current long-term care facility. Finell explains the Foundation is currently accepting donations of any antiques people may have in their homes or in storage.
“We have some interesting things we’ve collected; we’ve got a couple of musical instruments, we’ve got a beautiful old accordion out here at the Office from pre1940, we had a really interesting doll collection donated to us, with Barbie dolls that are collector, fancy, never-been-opened dolls. It’s extensive. Also we’ve had some neat furniture pieces, an old Treadle sewing machine donated to us, some old trunks, and that’s the kind of thing that we’re looking for from the community. We’d like to see anyone who has something they could part with that they’d be willing to donate to support the cause – that would be great.”
The Antique Auction will take place on Sunday, April 19th in the former Liquidation World location in the Wheatland Mall. Start time is tentatively slated for 1 p.m. Donations can be dropped off at the Dr. Noble Irwin Foundation office at 2051 Saskatchewan Drive in Swift Current.