HAY RIVER - Ilene Rooke is dedicated to improving the health of people in Hay River.

Ilene Rooke: a volunteer fundraiser in Hay River since 1999. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

For the past decade the member of the Hay River Hospital Foundation Board has helped raise money for healthcare equipment at Hay River's H.H. Williams Memorial Hospital.

Since 1999 the Hay River Hospital Foundation Board has endeavoured to improve the quality and quantity of services at the hospital.

"I'm the only remaining founding member," said Rooke, who has been the board's chair for the past four or five years.

The board has raised money for a wide variety of equipment – stretchers, wheelchairs, ventilators, baby monitors, a dialysis machine, and much more.

Its first piece of equipment in 2000 was a blood analysis machine, which cost about $70,000.

"It still comes out as the most expensive," Rooke said.

However, she doesn't exactly know how much the foundation has raised in all over the years.

"I don't care how much we have raised all told, just if we can keep going and make our hospital a better place," she said.

Her estimate is the foundation has raised between $700,000 and $800,000 over the years.

"There's a need in Hay River to outfit our hospital to keep patients here in their hometown as opposed to sending them to Yellowknife for a day," Rooke said.

Another goal is to obtain modern equipment to help the hospital attract a full time, permanent physician.

"There's a need here, and, if we ever want to entice a permanent doctor, we need updated equipment," Rooke said. "The people and patients of Hay River deserve the best we can provide."

She is sometimes asked by Hay River residents why the Department of Health and Social Services does not buy the equipment the foundation raises funds for.

"What it comes down to is no matter where you live in the world there's only so much money," she explained. "If you want something extra, you've got to fund it yourself."

The government provides the basics, she said.

The board has eight members, and would like more, but she Rooke admits recruitment is sometimes a challenge.

She said some people are often intimidated by joining a fundraising and the thought of selling tickets.

"It's not something people want to jump into," she said.

Rooke said the board does not only sell raffle tickets, but also raises money through such things as corporate support, personal donations and initiatives like a Memory Tree at the hospital.

The foundation has done mcuh of the work with very little fan fair, added Rooke.

"I don't think the community even knows who's on the committee," she said.

However, she said a DeBeers charity golf tournament for the hospital foundation and youth golf held last year and the year before raised the profile of the board.

She said the board is also considering a new kind of fundraiser – an online auction.

Foundation members are also currently selling raffle tickets for a $5,000 trip.

Rooke said it is hoped the raffle, which will be drawn on Dec. 31, will raise between $10,000 and $15,000 for the foundation's 'Lumps and Bumps Campaign'.

That campaign is to help set up a treatment room for basic procedures at the medical clinic, such as bandaging and the removal of stitches. Currently, patients have to go to the hospital for such procedures.

Rooke, a 60-year-old originally from Athabasca, Alta., has lived in Hay River for 32 years.

The mother of two grown children works as office manager/controller at Kingland Ford.

Rooke said she gets a lot of satisfaction from her fundraising efforts.

She said she occasionally meets nurses who are grateful for the foundation's purchasing efforts.

"You feel good you were able to do that," she said.