Our current campaign

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This has been a very unusual year for everyone, including The Health Foundation. But as best we can, we continue to make our corner of the world a good place to live. If we can help make a difference in the care people receive, or help to put a new service in place, that is certainly worth doing. Thanks to the generosity of residents, businesses and organizations, we have been able to do both over the years.

The goal is to raise $288,000 by the end of the year to complete our purchases of critical equipment, so it can be put in place as soon as possible.

The new digital mammography equipment for which we raised the funds will be installed before the end of this year. Covid-19 caused some delays in purchasing and installing this equipment but we are now past that. This year has also seen new telemetry equipment installed in the intensive care unit and in the emergency room. In addition we put a new hematology analyzer and bladder scanner in the lab, bought the Lucas chest compression system for the emergency room, and purchased three items so the ear nose and throat specialist can do procedures here so people don’t have to travel.

We didn’t just buy equipment. We paid for nurses to take the critical care course (ICU) and the course to become an operating room nurse. We spent another $24,000 on workshops for therapists and nurses to help upgrade their clinical skills.

We are now looking to upgrade the equipment in the operating rooms and put new equipment in the lab of the Regional Hospital in Yorkton. We need three pieces of equipment for the operating room and a blood gas and carboxyhemoglobin analyzer for the lab.

The main item for the operating room is a new laparoscopic stack. This is the core equipment for all laparoscopic surgeries. It will improve the clarity of video and improve control of the hand tools used by the surgeons. This is vital for patient care and will be used for all kinds of surgeries, including: hernia, gallbladder, appendectomy, colon and some stomach surgeries. Better equipment makes it easier to recruit and keep surgeons.

But it is the patient who benefits from better equipment and having laparoscopic surgery as an option. Laparoscopic surgery avoids large open wounds or incisions, resulting in decreased blood loss, pain and discomfort. Patients have fewer unwanted effects from anesthetic because less anesthetic is required. The fine instruments are less apt to cause tissue trauma and blood loss.

The Yorkton Regional Hospital has been provided this new equipment for our surgeons to use on a trial basis, and they love the new equipment.

"The new laparoscopic stack provides state of the art and reliable equipment that will enable us to continue performing these minimally invasive surgeries. In addition, the new system provides advanced features that allows safer and more streamlined operations. Same goes for the OR table. It is much needed to replace older equipment,” Dr. Sharon Kobi, Lead for General Surgery at the hospital says.

Half the surgeries done in Yorkton are laparoscopic. Now that the surgeons have tried the new equipment and have seen how good it is, we will buy it because we know it makes a difference to their work.

The way The Health Foundation raises funds has had to change because of Covid-19. Normally there are four events in the summer that raise major funds and help with equipment purchases in the fall. That didn’t happen this year, so The Health Foundation is reaching out and asking everyone who normally supports our work to consider a donation.

Other equipment is needed as well; the new laparoscopic stack is just the main priority. The Health Foundation has also agreed to raise the funds to purchase new surgical lights and a new operating table. That is basic equipment but it’s essential, and our current equipment needs replacing. 

Outside the operating room there is need to purchase a blood gas analyzer for the lab which will allow the hospital to expand the tests and services they can provide locally. Blood gases are a group of tests that are performed together to measure the pH and the amount of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) present in a sample of blood, usually from an artery, in order to evaluate lung function and help detect an acid-base imbalance that could indicate a respiratory, metabolic or kidney issue. The analyzer will have application beyond this and is part of an essential series of tests that a regional hospital should be able to perform.