February 17, 2016
From left: Dr. Bob Simard, Facility Medical Director, Leduc Community Hospital (LCH); Leduc resident Tim Sopka; Lorraine Popik, Executive Director of the Black Gold Health Foundation; donors Lorne and Tina Mix; and LCH Director Korynna Sherwood celebrate the opening of the Leduc CT scanner at the LCH.
Story and Photo by Sharman Hnatiuk
LEDUC — For civic-minded Lorne and Tina Mix, giving $100,000 to the Black Gold Health Foundation to help buy a CT scanner for Leduc Community Hospital was a no-brainer.
“Tina has to have a CT scan every three months — and I was ready to just buy one to avoid those trips to Edmonton,” laughs Lorne, proprietor of L&T Mix Sand & Gravel Ltd. “Making the donation to the foundation was a lot easier than buying one ourselves, now we don’t have to operate it.”
About 2,500 emergency, hospital and community patients will use the CT scanner each year at the Alberta Health Services (AHS) facility, the primary emergency centre for the city of Leduc and the surrounding area, which includes the Nisku and Leduc industrial parks as well as Edmonton International Airport.
“Having access to a CT scanner in our own building means we can enhance care by providing faster and more accurate diagnostic services to our patients,” says Dr. Bob Simard, Facility Medical Director at the hospital.
CT scanners provide an extremely accurate 3-D image of parts of the body that could otherwise not be seen, especially soft tissues. This improves a doctor’s ability to both screen for, and more accurately diagnose medical conditions and injuries.
The Black Gold Health Foundation launched its fundraising campaign last April to raise the $1.25 million needed to purchase the CT scanner. AHS has committed to cover the operational and staffing costs of the CT scanner, while the foundation has a five-year plan to raise funds to pay for the equipment.
“Being able to bring services such as CT scans close to home at Leduc Community Hospital is not only vital to the citizens of our region,” says Lorraine Popik, Executive Director of the foundation, “but also to the ever-growing demands as the ‘first port of call’ for emergency services in the area.”
“We are reaching out to our community, the ones who will use these services, for financial support,” she adds. “This is a great opportunity to give back to your community.”
Lorne and Tina are hoping their donation will encourage other businesses in the community step forward to help the Black Gold Health Foundation reach its goal of $1.25 million.
