We're now roughly four months into the fundraising campaign to bring an MRI scanner to St. Joseph's Hospital.
As of the most recent update late last week, the campaign stood at more than $3.7 million of the $6.5 million goal, or about 58 per cent. Of course, the total includes the $2 million contribution that Elaine Walkom made in memory of her late husband Grant, which made this entire campaign possible.
If you take Walkom's remarkable contribution out of the equation (not that we would ever want to discount what she did) the total is at about $1.75 million in the four months since the provincial government gave the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation the green light to start fundraising. For an area the size of southeast Saskatchewan, we should be pleased with that number. It works out to approximately $435,000 per month. At that clip, it will take less than a year for the foundation to reach the $6.5 million goal.
When the provincial government gave the MRI for Estevan project its blessing, it essentially said the onus was on us to prove we wanted the machine. The people of southeast Saskatchewan have resoundingly sent the message that they want an MRI scanner for St. Joe's.
We're finished with the long wait times, the drives to Regina and Moose Jaw – or even out of province – to get an MRI. There's just something inherently wrong about someone from Gainsborough being forced to drive nearly 3 1/2 hours to receive one of these invaluable scans, and then having to drive nearly 3 1/2 hours home. We know we deserve to have this equipment here.
We've seen individuals, businesses, municipalities and organizations step forward with their support. We've seen kids hold fundraisers. Jaycee Ross used his 4-H steer to raise more than $53,000 for the campaign. The Radiothon for Life had its highest off-air total ever because so many people want the MRI here.
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in southeast Saskatchewan who doesn’t want an MRI at St. Joe's. And if someone doesn't want an MRI for the hospital, you'd have to seriously question their reasoning.
Complacency can't be allowed to sneak its way into the campaign. We can't afford to say "Well, we've had such a great start. The campaign will reach its goal eventually." Nor can we afford to say "We'll take a break for the summer."
Raising so much money in a year is dauting, even with a $2 million head start and even in an area as generous as southeast Saskatchewan.
And while it is fundraising for the MRI, the hospital is looking at another potential addition for its diagnostic imaging area: a mammography screening program. This one is still in the preliminary stages.
Estevan and other southeast Saskatchewan communities had a visit from the breast cancer screening bus earlier this year. It's a valuable service. But it's not here year-round. If a woman needs to be screened for breast cancer at a time when the bus isn't here, then she has to travel to Regina.
And if the age for breast cancer screening were to be lowered from 50 to 40 in Saskatchewan, the demand for mammography services would surge.
The hospital deserves credit for looking at the potential for this now, rather than waiting for a later date.
The more services that we can have offered in Estevan, the better off we'll be. It's not just for those who live in Estevan. It's for those who live in other communities. And having the latest medical technology helps with physician recruitment and retention.
If you're able to support the MRI for Estevan campaign, and you haven't done so already, we encourage you to back it.
And if the time comes that Estevan is making a push to bring mammography screening to the hospital, and if we're asked to support it financially, you can be sure we'll do so.
