Big Day of Giving fundraiser on May 25
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation is holding its QEH Big Day of Giving on May 25.
The event, which runs for 24 hours, will help raise money to support immediate medical equipment needs at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown, totalling more than $650,000.
Donations made during the Big Day of Giving will support several specialty areas at the hospital, including orthopedic surgery.
Dr. Cai Wadden, an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital, said approximately 2,500 orthopedic surgeries are performed each year at the QEH, and the department will benefit greatly from new equipment.
“We currently need several pieces of equipment to expand our capabilities in knee and hip surgeries and reduce the physical strain on staff when assembling our trauma operating tables,” said Wadden in a recent news release about the fundraiser.
The upgrades will also make it easier to treat patients in P.E.I., Wadden noted.
“Having this new state-ofthe-art equipment will keep the QEH on par with other provinces and ensure that we’re providing the highest level of care we can for Islanders while allowing them to stay here for their treatments,” Wadden said.
Several medical equipment pieces are also needed in physical medicine, nursing education and the neonatal intensive-care unit.
Patsy Maclean, chair of the QEH Foundation board of directors, said she hopes Islanders can help support the crucial medical departments.
“It will be a day like no other,” Maclean said. “We know that Islanders come together to take care of each other and right now, several departments need us to do just that.”
Big Day ambassadors from the foundation will be travelling Prince Edward Island to collect donations, and staff will be ready to accept donations through phone calls and mail leading up to the day. The QEH Foundation will share heartfelt messages from staff, patients, and donors throughout the day on social media, and the official media partners will be broadcasting live from the QEH from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.