“The real work begins for our donation team at the office. We received five times as many online donations as last year.”
The LRHF team is still working on the final tally after Tuesday’s Gift to Health which saw 24 runners continuously working the treadmills for 12-hours non-stop to raise $500,000 for the Lloydminster Hospital.
CEO Malcolm Radke says the organizers and the runners are simply overwhelmed as the community stepped up to hit the target.
“Extremely, extremely successful day. We got to our goal. We hit $500,023. Just as importantly, all the runners made it. They all made it to the end.”
Radke said like real troopers, there are aching limbs on the day after, but he commends the community for the heartfelt support which was sent to the runners as they preserved with their efforts.
“I think all of our phones were just blowing up, just from nice messages from friends, family and loved ones and neighbours that we haven’t heard from in a while. I know the runners felt that all day. All 24 of them had various personalized donation messages come through. And they were able to read those on the screen. And it was just really powerful.”
Radke said there was an amazing energy at the Lloyd Ex all the way through, as everyone was in such high spirits with great enthusiasm, even after 12 hours.
The fundraising for the hospital is going towards three pieces of equipment to enhance mobility and speed up diagnostics. Radke says one of the diagnostic tools is already here, as it was on a trial period and staff have agreed to keep it.
“The Mobile Digital Radiographer; the one that goes to the medical floor. It scans the patient, and the doctor and lab tech [X-ray tech] see the result instantly, right there on the monitor. So staff are in love with that one, so they are very happy to hear they could keep it.”
Radke said the other pieces, the Mobile C-arm and the Portable Ultrasound unit should arrive early next year and staff will get training.
He added they are also continuing for the second year, with taking floral arrangements to care homes in the city.