oa “Fae ASR me RE ARF ALA BT as CR WEL

: Sy Sam Sobiely sn used to have to
: -¢all.a nurse every time he wanted

to sit up in bed.
“Now, le presses a button on

“one of the panels on the sides of
‘his bed, and the bed bends into al-
most any desired configuration.

“Other buttons ‘on the $6,100

: ‘electric bed can raise or lower it,
- ‘and -adjust the firmness of the
“mallress.

“The bed isa recent donation by

eee the. ‘hospital’ women’s auxiliary

_., one of the communily groups that

oo ds. always. ‘there for the hospital,

, says Michael Leisinger, chief ex-
ecutive officcr at Mills Memorial _

Hospital. : .,

Between $30, 000 and $50, 0000
‘worth, of equipment and furnish-
ings .are donated to ‘the hospital
each year ‘by community groups.
This ‘figure’ docs ‘not include
monies donated to the C.T, scan-
ner drive, an-ongoing project,

‘The amount of: money donated ©

by, the community has almost
doubled since the creation of the

~ Michael Leisinger

REM. Lee Hospital Foundation .
four years ago.
“The funny thing is that our

donations went up even though
there’s a lot of money going |
towards the C.T. _ Scanner,”* said
Leisinger. 7

A community group or individ
ual can donate. money either to
the foundation or directly to the
hospital by selecting an item off
the hospital’s wish list, The. group
or person can. also donate for
something else,

‘Typically (the donations) buy
all the extras. -- the things we
wouldn’t normally be able to buy,
or would have to put off buying
for a year,’’ says Leisinger,

The necessities are: purchased

out-of the $200,000 the hospital

usually receives. annually from
the province.

The provincial money is only
enough for ‘‘one quarter of
whal's needed in. any given

" year,” says Leisinger.

The community has not always.
been so closely involved with the
hospital, though Leisinger adds
that the roots of a hospital spring
out of community volunteers,

‘When the govemment took
over the opération of hospitals, it
was almost as if the community
didn’t matter,’? he says. ‘'For a
long time the money just flowed
from government. Twenty years
ago money wasn’t much of an ob-
ject.”

Now the hospital relies: heavily
on donations, he says.

“Critics would say it’s another
form of taxation,’ Leisinger says.
“By levels of government with-
holding or decreasing fevels of
funding they’re really just switch-
ing the tax burden to a local
level.”

A more positive interpretation
is that a community can have a
greater involvement in its hospi-
tal. ’

One of the ways this has oc-
cured is through the drive for a
CT. scanner. Although.’ the
government has not committed it-
self to paying the considerable

ospital increase

Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 1, 1992 — Page A5

DON’T SHOOT! Nursing coordinator Crispina Cote isn't being
held at gunpoint. She’s having her temperature taken with a
tympanic thermometer. The thermometer takes a snapshot of the
infrared heat. generated by the eardrum and displays the

temperature in less than two. seconds. Two. of: “these
thermometers were recently donated. to, the: hospital by’ the > Royal
Canadian Legion.

operating costs for the scanner,
the community has raised almost
half a million dollars toward the
purchase price.

A hospital isn’t something
people who are relatively young
and healthy think about very

Scanner is the goal

Five trips: down to. Vancauver
accompanying ° his: wife’: wha
needed several. ‘cat: ‘scang1 wal
enough for Virgil Stanley. ° 3 +!

He has decided to carve a totem
pole for the. Dr. REM, Lee

Foundation, to help raise money

50 Termace can have its Own C.T.
scanner.
“A GT. scanner is a sophisti-

“cated radiographic system which

gives three dimensional views of
the bady. It helps doctors to diag-

‘nose the “extent of disease ‘in a

patient. °:

» This high; tech: piece 2 of equip:
‘ment has an expensive price tag --
_ over $600,000. In addition, it
" costs approximately $250,000 an-
nually to operate the machine,
“However, each emergency trip

from Terrace to Vancouver for a

_ cat! scait' costs’ the! province ‘ap.
proximately $2:500: "The! Fouihidat

tion and the hospital ‘arc united in
the belief that having a scaniter in °

. Terrace .would not .only - benefit

northwest citizens, but. save the

‘province moriey in the long run...”

‘Phere’s often a long waiting
time for scans, you have to pay
for hotel costs, take time off
work, pay for a baby sitter..,”’
says Helene McRae, itemizing

‘the reasons why-Terrace needs it its

own scanner.
McRae is a director and the sec-

relary treasurer on the foundation.

Though the foundation’s pri-
mary fundraising efforts have
focused on the scanner ($460,000
has been raised to date), it also -

aclicits donations for any equip-

mention the: hospital’s«: priority
list, cus eo oinsy actfinutin

The foundation was, formed in
1989 to. . work... with Mills
Memorial: Hospital. :to increase

‘and. improve medical care by en-

couraging individual,
and community support.

corporate

“Everything is pretty. much run .

by volunteers,” says McRae.
Since its inception the founda-
tion has donated over $75,000

-worth of equipment to the hospi-

tal.
Efforts include. alt anual dinner
and auction, the ‘sale of hospital

greens as pajamas . (McIRac’s,

grandsons. think they’re - pretty
comfy), the sale of Roy Vickers
prints, and calendar sales.

often. Leisinger likened it'to the
prominence of BC Hydro in a
person’s life,

_ “Tf you flick the light’ switch
and there’s no power, suddenly
BC Hydro is very important in
your life,’ he says,

“Halene NcRae

**We’ve, had great support from
the community,” says McRae,
Other -itorthwest
have also supported Terrace’s

drive for a C.T. scanner.

GETTING 10. KNOW. EACH OTHER
Spends -some time with -her newborn baby, Allan Cameron
-Squires.-Allan Is wearing one of the knitted hats the BC Old Age
Pensioners make for newborns. At the teft, Sam Sobchyshn en-
. Joys ‘new Independence of movement in an electric bed donated
by the women's auxiliary.

Mam Sharlene Aksidan

communities —

Donated equipment

Many people have donated their money and time to Mills
Memorial Hospital. The staff and patients appreciate. every. dona-
tion, from! the baby quills: the sewing class: at ‘Skeena “Junior
Secondary made, to individual donations of five dollars’ at. Christ-
mas time. The following i is a partial list of donations. recently ‘made
to the hospital, and a complete list of donations: made to ‘the hospital

De

by the Dr, RE. M. Lee Hospital Foundation, upt
last year.

Opthalmology Equipment
-equipment for the eyes ©

+ (Warious.donators)2 (1/15 SO TTE:
5d ed Iria ye
Micro processor Ventilator
-bieathing machine for the patic en
- (Grant from Tuberculous & Chest
Disabled Veterans’ Association)

Billlite (In Memory of Baby Straw):
-a light jaundiced ‘newbom babies ‘are pla
"Donated by the Shriners) eB

Eor, Nose & Throat Insiruments :
(Donated by Dr. G. F. Hicks)

Fibre Optics 51 Jimoldoseape
-devise which allows doctors to’ ‘ook at:
bowels; diagnostic tool for certain kinds ‘oF:
(Donated by Dr. FB. Gouws) ae

Microscope, Camera, Monitor
(Various donators)

' Education Grants" ;
(Various donators) 7
Telemetry Unit,

-monitors the heart, while allowing
(Donated by-the Kinsmen)

Maternity Chair“ . 803
(Donated by the Kinsmen) :
Pacdlatric Playroom +
(Donated by Ranald
McDonald Children’

d ihe boa) |

1%)

TV Pump and Stand ;
Rehabilitation Mat

Electric Hiirom Bed -
(Above four items donated
by the Women’s Auxiilar

Two wheelchairs and
two tympanie thermomete
(Donated by the Legion)

Isolette & Fetal Monitor
-an isolette is for newborns i
lo. be kept at a certain temperature: ~
{Donated by Elks and Royal Purple): .

The Sart is s for peo
tearing how to read. ,

Miss Terrace and her
two princesses have been
_busy.

They have seen a lot of
the north.

They went-to the, Miss
_ Prince George pageant. :

At the pageant they met
Miss Canada. Her name
.is Nicole Dunsdon, She. is

Miss * Canada
. Dunsdon,

from Summerland. That |

_is in the Okanagan.

In the photo are, from -
left to right, Miss Prince
George 1991 — Kelly
Lafleur, second princess
‘Kari Allen, Miss Terrace

" Dana Johanson, first prin-

cess Jodie Coulter and
- Nicole

Don’t’ forget about the .
“partys S
It takes. place In George
Little - Memorial ‘Park.
That is where, the. library =

is. :
A. ‘pancake breakfast
- Starts at Sam. Itg 3
‘dlam..: 7
There will be. thusic sald
. lots of birthday cakes;

1k