When word came that the new Flin Flon General Hospital ER would require at least $2.2 million in privately raised funds, many were skeptical about whether the target could be reached.
But with the establishment
of the new Northern Health Foundation, a charitable organization raising funds for the project, and the group’s first fundraiser a success, the outlook is starting to look promising.
At the Bollywood fundraiser for the ER last week, Northern Health Region (NHR) CEO Helga Bryant announced that nearly $400,000 had been raised.
She said the executive board of the NHR worked together and contributed $18,000. Bryant welcomed Brent Lethbridge, a director of the Northern Health Foundation, on stage as she announced another $335,560 worth of in-kind donations.
Standing ovation
The third announcement Bryant made earned Dr. Chaitasi Intwala, a Flin Flon physician behind the Bollywood fundraiser, a standing ovation.
The RH Channing Auditorium was filled with 400 audience members and roughly 125 volunteers who all rose when Bryant gratefully announced Dr. Intwala’s personal donation of $20,000.
Following the applause, Bryant went on to explain that she wasn’t able to envision the concept of Bollywood, a term for Indian cinema, “but it’s here and it’s beautiful.”
All told, the donations for the new ER total $373,560. That didn’t include proceeds from the Bollywood event, which sold out in less than a week, nor did it include donations that continue to be presented on a daily basis.
“It was really nice on the launch, the first night that the Northern Health Foundation has an event, that we were able to kick start it with that kind of an amount,” said Bryant. “It was really, really encouraging.”
Lethbridge graciously accepted the donation on behalf of the foundation.
“I was expecting big things from this community and they didn’t let us down,” he said, happily. “I had thought based on the enthusiasm of the staff of the [NHR] that there was a big movement of people being quiet for their support this ER, and my thought was there was a lot of support for this and it showed tonight.”
Amounts from the Bollywood fundraiser itself were not available as of The Reminder’s press time yesterday, but the total of more than $370,000 will increase.
“I think we’re just getting started,” said Lethbridge. “It’s really just starting to get rolling. That part that came in tonight is just the beginning.”
Meanwhile, the foundation is looking for further help and directors. Currently, there are four directors in Lethbridge, Gerrard Jennissen, Doug Lauvstad and Kent Hogan, but Lethbridge says there is room for nine more.
“The mandate is to have more participation,” he said. “We’re looking for people who really want to get behind this and support it and move it ahead.”
Private fundraising must cover at least 10 per cent of the estimated $22-million price tag for the new Flin Flon ER.
If $2.2 million cannot be raised by mid-2015, when it is hoped construction will begin, then the foundation has 10 years to raise 20 per cent of the total, or $4.4 million.
Fundraising can include not only cash, but also in-kind donations. The fundraising is required under a provincial rule for new health-care capital projects.
