The fundraising campaign for a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine for Lake of the Woods District Hospital and its new Diagnostic Imaging Centre of Excellence has already reached 80 percent of its $8.5 million goal.
The campaign will also fund an advanced Mammography Unit, a new CT scanner and provide funding for other critical medical equipment needs at the Hospital.
The public portion of the Beyond the Scan campaign was launched earlier today.
Mira Trebilcock is the executive director of the hospital foundation and says they actually began fundraising months before the MRI was announced back in November.
“We have been working since April on the silent phase of Beyond the Scan to make sure that this was palatable, and we could do it,” says Trebilcock.
“We wanted to meet as many of the needs of the hospital as we could. Whether it was diagnostic imaging or other departments, and this campaign allows us to do it all.”
Trebilcock says she’s not sure how long it will fundraise the rest needed to meet their campaign goal.
“That has changed so many times since we started this campaign. We thought it would be many years. We’ll see how long this goes. Honestly, the sooner we can get to the goal the better. It means more equipment, better care, closer to home for everyone. So as soon as we can. That’s my answer right now.”
Until the end of April, any donations to the MRI campaign will be matched by the FDC Foundation, a private family run foundation in Mississauga.
In addition to the MRI, the campaign will help purchase a new CT scanner and house a new mammography unit in the Diagnostic Imaging Center of Excellence.
The MRI should be ready to use by this fall.
