Hospital foundation fundraiser soars well past $400K goal

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on February 19, 2025.

Herald file photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Cardiologist Sayeh Zielke speaks to radio hosts about the Bringing Hearts Home campaign last Thursday during the Care From The Heart Day radio-a-thon fundraising at the Chinook Regional Hospital atrium.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation is thanking the community for helping them reach and surpass their goal during this year’s Care from the Heart Day.

With an original goal of $400,000 to celebrate their 30th annual Care from the Heart Day last week, the CHR Foundation called on the community for help during their annual Radio-a-thon last week and the public answered abundantly.

“Our final number was $473,804 and we are thrilled. We received one of the larger donations, which was from Balog Auction Services Inc. in the afternoon, which tipped us over that $400,000 goal,” said Crystal Elliott, CRH Foundation CEO.

She said they brought in almost $80,000 at around 4 p.m. which was towards the end of the radio-a-thon and was added to the multiple donations they received throughout the day, which included some really big donations.

“We had some larger donations that we attributed to Care from the Heart, including the the Sandra Schmirler Foundation which donated $16,725, the Fort McLeod Curling Club who donated $3275, Gary Moe Mazda with $2,000, we had a couple of anonymous donors that donated some large amounts and then of course helping us always is Costco and this year they brought in $160,788,” said Elliott.

 She said it takes the whole community to raise that amount, it was all thanks to both small and large donations, because every dollar counts, to help with the most need at the Chinook Regional Hospital.

 “The Costco amount is going to pediatrics/NICU and with the rest of the money we have our wish list in place from other departments,” said Elliott.

 She explained that some items have been asked for in advanced and they will be allocating the money raised according to the level of need. One of them being the Holter Monitor project, which is to bring services close to home even in small communities.

 “This one is worth mentioning because it’s actually being funded by the CRH Foundation in partnership with the Crowsnest Pass Foundation, Pincher Creek, Windy Slopes Foundation, Taber District Health Foundation, as well as the Medicine Hat Health Foundation,” said Elliott.

She added that they recently approved funding for a large piece of equipment to improve surgery, to help reduce surgical wait times.

 “We’re funding some training such as a central venous access device for one of the units and that helps educate our nurses in palliative care by ensuring that they can practice those procedures,” said Elliott.

 She added that they are also funding a jaundice meter for Paediatrics for the Alberta Precision Lab and they also funded this year a variety of augmentative and alternative communication devices for rehabilitation.

“There’s a whole list of equipment. What happens to the funds is that we keep track of when requests come in. I get those lists monthly from AHS and then our foundation approves based on the amount of funds that we have” said Elliott.