Revenue was down but support remained strong for The Health Foundation in 2010, says executive director Ross Fisher.
"It was definitely an interesting year."
Gross revenue for the foundation is expected to total about $730,000 by year-end: down from the $900,000 to $1 million typically brought in.
But the dip was largely due to a conscious effort by the organization to be less aggressive with its fundraising in response to disastrous weather this spring and summer.
"We knew people had other priorities," Fisher says. "They had other things to deal with, and we wanted to respect that."
Despite this withdrawal, residents of the health region continued to show their support.
"Our events never had better years. Our golf tournament, our gala, our road race, they were all probably the best year those events have ever had. The radiothon went over very well."
And while the average amount of each donation was down, the number of donors was up from last year.
"People are still generous. They give what they can."
An independent charitable organization, The Health Foundation of East-Central Saskatchewan's mission is to enhance services in the Sunrise Health Region--typically through purchasing new equipment or paying for additional staff training.
"People want to donate to something that will improve, enhance, or add to what's here, and so that's what we focus on," says Fisher.
As a result of the foundation's work--along with funding, policy, and recruitment efforts from the health region and the province--more than 10,000 new tests and procedures can be done in local facilities today that were unavailable six years ago. Ninety-five percent of general surgeries required in the region today are done in Yorkton, compared to 30% in 2004.
So far, the foundation has spent $326,116 on medical equipment this year, about two-thirds of it in Yorkton.
Major purchasing initiatives completed by The Health Foundation in 2010 included a stroke project and a maternity project. Thanks in part to nearly $800,000 worth of equipment delivered by the foundation, the new heart attack/stroke rehabilitation program has been operating in the region for ten months, and more contributions are coming to fund a new stroke clinic in 2011.
In response to increased births in the health region, the foundation purchased infant ventilation and resuscitation equipment, bili lights, bili blankets, and a birthing bed for Yorkton's maternity ward.Various smaller purchases, such as the recent chemotherapy chairs for the Yorkton Regional Health Centre, were made throughout the year.
One project currently underway involves purchasing six patient-controlled medication pumps, something new to the health region. Funds have already been raised for four of the machines, and the first should be arriving soon. The pumps give patients better control over the management of their own pain and reduce pressure on nurses.
"Staff like them, patients like them. There's a reason they've become the standard of care across Canada," says Fisher.
The foundation's biggest project currently in progress, the campaign for new operating room equipment, is now 50 percent complete. The new equipment should add to improvements already made to surgical services in Yorkton--increasing the number of available procedures, reducing wait times, and helping to recruit new specialists. One immediate impact, according to Fisher, will be on eye surgeries; new equipment combined with new funding offered by the province will double the number of cataract surgeries performed in the region, reducing wait times from nine months to four.The operating room campaign should wrap up in the early months of 2011.
"We're still talking to Sunrise about what the next project will be. We haven't made any firm determinations about that yet."
Smaller projects will continue in the meantime. One of the foundation's plans is to bring more training workshops for Sunrise staff to the region in the future.
"Rather than sending two people out to go to a conference in Calgary that costs you $5,000, we'd rather bring the trainer in, set things up, and run a workshop for three days here for 20 or 25 people from throughout the region."
All of this is only possible thanks to the hundreds of volunteers and the thousands of donors who contribute their time and money to The Health Foundation, says Fisher.
"We'd just like to thank everyone for their support--thank them for caring. Because really, at the end of the day, it's not support for The Health Foundation. It's support for each other."
