Photo: Lisa Westermark, VJH Foundation Executive Director, with anaesthesia machine
The goal for this year’s Light A Bulb campaign is $275,000.
The Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation has launched the 31st annual fundraiser
The funds will go into six new state-of-the-art anaesthetic machines, part of a larger campaign to equip an additional operating room, and allow more surgeries to be performed .
Over 8,000 procedures are performed every year at the hospital, many of them involving some sort of anaesthesia.
“Doctors need to act quickly and efficiently in order to save lives. Having all surgical rooms equipped with the same anaesthetic machines at the same time is crucial so the anaesthesiologists can focus on the patient instead of figuring out different equipment,” says Lisa Westermark, Executive Director of the Foundation.
“We need to have equipment that you can count on, that you’re familiar with, and that you know inside and out so during a crisis or emergency, there’s no second guessing,” says Dr. Tom Cull, Anesthesiologist & Head of VJH Department of Anaesthesia.
The tree on top of Vernon Jubilee Hospital was fully lit on Wednesday to mark the beginning of the campaign.
Later next week, the lights will be turned off and lit throughout the campaign in stages as the Foundation advances towards its goal.
Light A Bulb brochures will be delivered in mailboxes throughout the North Okanagan in the next week.
Each $35 tax deductible gift will light one bulb on the tree of lights; $500 will light an entire string.
Donations can be made online at www.vjhfoundation.org or mailed to Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation, 2101 – 32nd Street Vernon BC V1T 5L2.
