HUMBOLDT — Two major donations have provided a $24,000 boost towards the Humboldt District Hospital Foundation’s mission to buy new hospital equipment.
Canadian National’s Stronger Communities Fund donated $14,000 that will go towards a piece of sanitation equipment, a bed pan flusher.
“As a fellow essential service provider, CN is pleased to support the Humboldt Hospital Foundation with the purchase of a critical piece of sanitation equipment,” said Carrie Ann Crozier, general manager of network operations, western region with CN.
“CN is proud to support the hospital’s operations with equipment that will improve safety and efficiency while caring for patients during the pandemic and into the future.”
Lorrie Bunko, the hospital foundation's executive director, said she was honoured and grateful for the donation.
“I was actually really surprised that we got this invitation to apply for funding with CN Community Foundation so I had to read to believe it. It was very overwhelming to think that somebody's asking us to apply for funds that I wouldn't have ever known about.”
Bunko said the opportunity to apply came at exactly the right time as they were figuring out how to fund the hospital’s needs.
If there’s a major wave of COVID-19, the hospital would serve as a hub for non-COVID patients, which means it has to be ready to deal with them.
The Humboldt Tim Hortons donated $10,092 to the foundation from their Smile Cookie campaign. For each cookie bought, a dollar was donated.
“It went awesome,” said franchise owner Daniel Grywacheski about the campaign. “Better than expected and with all things considered. We weren’t sure where we’d be at this year but it just turned out that we've just exceeded expectations once again.”
The funds will be used to support the community oncology program at the Humboldt District Hospital for cancer patients, as well as the purchase of a high resolution camera and intercom for the hospital's pharmacy to aid in the mixing of chemotherapy and other medications.
“We can’t thank Dan [Grywacheski], Morgan [Grywacheski] and their team for including us in Smile Cookies. We have so much fun with this event while benefiting our health care,” Bunko said.
Grywacheski said supporting the hospital foundation was an easy choice.
“It's a win-win for everybody. Everybody backs it, supports it, and eventually we all use it, right? It’s just good for the community.”
