Charlene Giovannetti-King says thank you.
Thank you to the donors who clipped out last month's Tri-City News article and sent cheques to the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation to pay for new equipment at the Tri-Cities Dialysis Unit.
And thank you to The Co-operators insurance company, which matched the individual donations for the $150,725 drive.
Over the Christmas break, more than $50,000 flooded in to help the Port Moody hospital foundation replace chairs, televisions, headphones and beside tables at the clinic's 19 patient stations.
Now, the hospital foundation is just $10,000 shy of reaching its target — a total it hopes to clinch by the end of this month so that Fraser Health can start ordering the gear to be delivered sometime this spring.
"We have very generous donors and a very generous community and we believe that sharing the message of need is something they will always respond to," said Giovannetti-King, the foundation's executive director. "Certainly, we saw the giving spirit over the holidays…. There is a bump in giving when there is a higher level of promotion in the community and with the local paper."
The Tri-City News featured the story of Mark Kozlik, a Maple Ridge building officer for the municipality who has spent nearly his entire life receiving treatment — for four hours, three times a week — for his chronic renal illness.
The treatment he has had at Royal Columbian Hospital and, for the past 15 years, at the Coquitlam clinic, has allowed Kozlik to live a relatively normal life with a balanced diet and exercise.
Kozlik spoke about his struggles with the disease and the need to update the furniture at the Tri-CIties Dialysis Unit he visits so often.
To donate to the cause, visit erhf.ca.
Meanwhile, the foundation is already preparing for its next campaign after the dialysis unit needs are met.
It will launch a $52,200 fundraiser for a "wander guard" system to prevent hospital patients with dementia and alzheimer's disease from leaving their ward (each patient will be equipped with a security wristband).
As well, the campaign will include camouflage artwork on the ward doors — i.e., painting the doors to resemble library walls — to stop patients from exiting.
