Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Mar 20/00) - The employees of the NWT Power Corporation gave a gift of health to the people of Fort Smith.

When the workers completed an accident-free year, they were rewarded with a prize of $10,000.

Rather than spend it on jackets or the usual gifts that go with a safety award, the employees decided to donate the money to charity.

"It was their money to do with what they liked," said Paul Campbell, area superintendent for the NWT Power Corp. "The decision was made that it would have more impact to just keep it all in one lump sum and give it to a charity."

"Broken down into small amounts it wouldn't make much of a difference to anybody," he added.

The employees decided to give the money to the Fort Smith Health Centre, Campbell said.

The prize came from Power Corp. senior management team and it was given to the joint-occupational health and safety committee to decide how to distribute the prize.

Brent Woodford, chief executive officer for the Department of Health and Social Services, is very impressed with the generosity of the workers.

He said the Health Centre has already decided where to spend the windfall.

"We've got some specialized equipment we need right now," Woodford said. "Someone needs a certain type of exploratory surgery and they have to go to Yellowknife otherwise."

The piece of equipment is called a Sigmoidoscope, Woodford said.

"It's used for an internal examination without having to perform surgery," he said.

The donation was made at the Fort Smith Health Centre last Thursday.