Kirsten Larsen
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 24/99) - What was expected to be a three-year fund-raising campaign to raise $2 million for Stanton Regional Hospital has turned into a two-year, $2.3-million success.

The completion of the fund-raising campaign was celebrated in the main lobby of the hospital Monday afternoon with the announcement of the $2,354,898 million total that has been raised in just under two years.

Back when the foundation announced the commencement of the fund-raiser in April, 1997, the goal was originally set at $2 million. The goal was to purchase the first CT scanner in the NWT plus other crucial medical equipment for the hospital. The hospital has already used some of the funds that came in early to purchase an infant ventilator, opthamalic microscope used for eye and nerve surgery, an automated bacteriology system for testing bacteria swabs, and a colour doppler ultrasound machine that uses infrared to highlight and project images of a person's internal systems onto a monitor.

A mammography unit is next on the list to be purchased and since the actual funds raised exceed the original $2-million goal, the hospital can now purchase a second ultrasound unit as well as enhance the capabilities of the basic CT scanner it intends to purchase.

"We're getting a modular (a basic) CT scanner so we may want to add onto it in time as (money donated on a five-year plan) comes in," said Cappy Elkin, campaign chairman and director of the Stanton Regional Hospital Foundation. "When we got in the colour doppler ultrasound, the technicians who use it started hinting that it would be nice to have another one. It is such an incredibly useful tool and can do more than the old ultrasound."

Elkin said that purchasing a second ultrasound was not considered until the campaign committee realized it could have extra funding.

In November, 1998, the volunteer committee thought it would need more than $2 million to cover the exchange rate of purchasing American-made equipment so the funding goal was increased to $2.4 million.

When the American dollar fell in the new year, the extra funding was already coming in to reach the new goal, so the committee decided it would maintain the $2.4-million goal and use the extra money for a second colour doppler ultrasound and additional equipment for the CT scanner.

Elkin said the goal to get a CT scanner in the hospital was probably the driving force behind the quick success of the fund-raising campaign.

"All I can say is I think it (the fund-raiser) is a cause that touched the hearts of people and they really felt they could relate to it and see the value for it," said Elkin. "Corporations and large businesses I think saw contributing to this as a way to use the money that they donate to effect everyone because everyone is affected by health... The CT scanner is something a lot of people associated (with the fund-raiser)."

Having the CT scanner in the hospital will not only cut down the cost of sending patients to have a CT scan down south -- an estimated $600,000 per year, but will enable a quicker diagnosis.

"You have to remember that when you send someone out for a CT scan you probably spend $1,000 or more, so doctors just don't say, 'well let's send you for a CT scan,' they have to try all the other things first," said Elkin. "With a CT scan here they can say let's get you in for a CT scan."

The CT scanner is expected to be purchased and operational by next year. The mammography unit and the second ultrasound machine will likely be in the hospital before September of this year.