Elliot Lake's St. Joseph's General Hospital has announced another strong step forward for its fundraising drive on the way to the planned acquisition of the city's first CT Scanner.
The hospital's fundraising effort has topped $1.05 million on the way to its $1.55 million goal. The chair of the St. Joseph's General Hospital Foundation, William Elliott, noted this puts them about half a million dollars short of their goal.
Hospital CEO Pierre Ozolins said he was pleased that the community is stepping up very strongly to raise money, calling that "great news." Recent community-based fundraising projects included one that brought in $12,777. It came in from the recent Renaissance Active Living Senior's Centre Variety Show fundraiser.
Mr. Ozolins also noted one person came to his first floor office at the hospital to donate $15,000 anonymously. At the same time, the Elliot Lake Professional Firefighters Association is raffling off a $1,300 smoker and earmarking the proceeds for the CT Scanner fund. That draw will be held May 18 at the Foodland store in the Pearson Plaza.
Time of the scanner installation remains flexible. There was a two- to three-month setback for the program on Jan 15 this year due to an online cyber attack. Originally, officials had planned for installation by the end of 2019. Now it could be delayed to the end of the hospital's fiscal year, which is March 31, 2020.
Once the CT scanner is set up set up on main floor of St. Joseph's, it will mean patients will have far-quicker access to needed procedures and be spared the trip to either Sudbury or Sault Ste. Marie.