Lloydminster Region Health Foundation’s annual gala has raised over $170,000 for their dialysis project. CEO Malcolm Radke says the event was another tremendous success.
“Nineteen years strong for the event and once again the community came out in spades to support the hospital and dialysis and healthcare in the region.”
The Lloydminster Hospital Dialysis Unit currently operates at capacity serving 20 patients with a 5 station hemodialysis unit. There is no room for expansion in the hospital so the Lloydminster Region Health Foundation is trying to move it to Prairie North Plaza.
“There’s way more room there for the patients to spread out and have their family there. Most importantly, it adds another four stations to the five-station unit. Right now, a lot of people in the region have to travel three times a week to Edmonton, Saskatoon, Vegreville or Battlefords. We can keep them here and save that 8 to 12 hours of travel time every week which certainly adds up.”
The Health Foundation is now less than $1 million dollars away from fully funding the project. They’ve received $2.2 million from the Alberta Government and need a total of $3.7 million for the relocation.
At the Gala, the family of Jane Ruptash announced they will provide a $60,000 endowment to the foundation to create a new nursing scholarship in her honour. The $3,000 scholarship will be offered to second-year nursing students in the Lloydminster region annually.
“It gives us a chance to support a local resident career and educational aspect of the scholarship. It also gives us a chance to meet them and know them and say if you’re interested in coming back to the Lloydminster area we’d love to have you back working and living in the community.”
Radke says Ruptash was the granddaughter of one of the first Lloydminster doctors, Dr. Cooke.
