You can help buy new medical equipment for the Charlotte County Hospital in St. Stephen.
The 11th annual Charlotte FM Radiothon takes place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday.
All money raised during the event will go to the Charlotte County Hospital Foundation.
Steve Backman, president of the foundation, said this year’s priority is a new ultrasound for the ER.
“Our existing one is coming to the end of its life and spare parts are getting hard to get for it, so that’s our number one item for this year and it has a value of around $66,000,” Backman told our newsroom.
In total, the foundation is looking to raise $135,000 during this year’s Radiothon to buy four new pieces of equipment.
Also on the list is a new instrument that warms and moisturizes air for respiratory therapy patients and a fluoroscopy stretcher for the new chronic pain management clinic.
Backman said they also want to purchase a new piece of equipment for the laboratory that analyzes blood smears.
“Today, if you were to get a blood smear, a technician would read it and if they saw something they were concerned about, they would call a taxi in Saint John, have the taxi come to the Charlotte County Hospital, but the slide on the taxi and send it back to the Saint John Regional to be read by a clinical pathologist,” he said.
“With this piece of equipment, it scans the slide, it does the first initial interpretation, and if there’s something that the software doesn’t like, it will email the slide to the clinical pathologist so it can be read right away.”
You can make a donation by dropping by the Charlotte County Hospital, calling 506-465-5885 or 506-465-5886, or going to the foundation’s website.
Donations can be made by cash, cheque, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or e-transfer to cchfcares@gmail.com.
