Setting a goal of $40,000, the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation kicked off its annual Have a Heart campaign last week with a flurry of letters addressed to Tri-City homes asking residents to help their community.
Karen Horton, the foundation's director of development, said the goal of the 2012 Have a Heart campaign is to get a single specialized bed capable of providing mobility to patients in the monitored care unit.
"(MCU) is a very specialized unit at Eagle Ridge. It sees our sickest patients and they often have multiple conditions and they're often immobile," she said.
The TotalCare Connect bed allows patients to sit up, while its dedicated computers add percussion when they are lying down. This ensures patients do not remain in stagnant positions and their conditions do not further deteriorate.
Furthermore, the bed also monitors weight in order to track how the patients' fluid levels are doing in the hopes of preventing pneumonia.
Although other hospitals in the Lower Mainland have multiple TotalCare beds, ERH is trying to obtain its first one.
In addition to sending donations through the mail-in campaign, people can also donate online at www.erhf.ca.
"Every dollar helps us provide equipment for the hospital," Horton said.
In addition to the mail campaign, the foundation is hosting a fundraising tea for donors on Feb. 9. To donate, visit the foundation's website at www.erhf.ca
