New dialysis chairs

The Painted Hand Community Development Corporation announced a contribution of $15,000 to The Health Foundation. The donation will assist purchasing new dialysis chairs for the patients, and minor equipment purchases like a treadmill and monitors for the dialysis program in the Regional Health Centre in Yorkton.

Three years ago the dialysis program was expanded to a second shift; the program now goes from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Expanding the program meant that the chairs and equipment the patients use see much more usage; the chairs are becoming worn and deteriorating much faster than before.

The current chairs are 13 years old, and have been in use since the Hemodialysis program started; they are worn and need replacing.

"We are very fortunate to have the Painted Hand CDC continue the very strong support they have provided to projects The Health Foundation has undertaken. When we were raising the funds three years ago to buy the equipment that would allow us to double the number of dialysis patients we can look after in the regional health centre, the Painted Hand CDC made a $25,000 donation then. This $15,000 brings the total of their contributions to the dialysis program to $40,000 in the last three years," said Ross Fisher.

"Normally, we try to allocate funds evenly to the communities in our area", explained Stan Bobb, Chair of the Painted Hand CDC. "In this case, all of our board members agreed that this project was so important that we would draw on funds that would normally go to individual communities and use them to make this donation. We thought that was fair since this equipment is used by people who come from all over the region."

"The Board of the Painted Hand CDC believes very strongly in supporting healthcare in the communities of our region. We have donated over $250,000 to The Health Foundation over the last eight years, because we can see how their work benefits everyone in this area," continued Mr. Bobb.

"The Painted Hand CDC has been a very consistent supporter of our work; they have supported every major project we have undertaken. They were key supporters for our fundraising to bring CT scan and digital mammography services here with $25,000 contributions to each. When we undertook the heart and stroke campaign they made a $35,000 donation over two years to support that project. We are very fortunate to enjoy such a good relationship," continued Mr. Fisher.

"I also want to point out that we have supported a range of other healthcare initiatives as well; and have in fact donated $1 million additional dollars to support other healthcare projects throughout this region," said Mr. Bobb.

"Healthcare is just one of the areas we support. Our Board breaks applications down into 10 categories, and we allocate funds to worthwhile projects in those areas. It is fair to say that health and education are strongly supported by our board," he continued.

With this donation we are now able to order the equipment and chairs that we need, said Mr. Fisher. This new equipment will be in place and in use in January, said Mr. Fisher.