By Miller Reynolds
More than 400 guests partied to save lives in their best ‘60’s British Invasion’ attire for the annual Belleville General Hospital Fundraiser Gala at the Sears Atrium on Saturday.
Although this year’s goal was to raise $300,000 for priority medical equipment, the gala fundraiser was able to raise over $250,000 from donations, live auctions, raffles and ticket sales.
Not only did the fundraiser raise money, a $30,000 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Ventilator machine was paid for and purchased by 10 people who donated $3,000 each.
Drew Brown, executive director of the Belleville General Hospital Foundation, said the donation of this piece of equipment is important.
“This will translate immediately into a higher level of care at our hospital,” he said.
An ICU ventilator is a piece of equipment used to assist or replace the breathing of an ICU patient.
“That piece of equipment is going to save someone’s life,” he said.
The arrival of this ventilator comes at crucial time with the peak season of respiratory problems just around the corner.
Sue Kotel, director of Internal Medicine at Belleville General Hospital, said throughout the months of October, November, December and January of last year, the ICU ventilators were in high demand.
“Our ventilator occupancy rates were greater than 80 per cent, so that’s very significant when in the province the average benchmark is a little bit less than 50 per cent,” she said.
“We were well above the provincial average,” she said.
The Belleville General Hospital will now have a total of nine ICU ventilators.
“We’re really extremely grateful for the efforts of our foundations, in these fundraising events, because without them we would not have access to this kind of life-saving equipment,” she said.
Jenn Barrett, director of development for the Belleville General Hospital Foundation, said the atmosphere at this year’s gala was very positive.
“It’s unlike any other gala in town,” she said.
“People didn’t leave the dance floor until the lights came on and it was all over. It’s a really great, fun party, as well as a fantastic fundraiser,” she said.
Every year the BGH has a list of over $2 million dollars of priority equipment that is needed to improve the hospitals level of care. This list includes everything from pediatrics, ICU equipment, and surgery upgrades that will go through a prioritization process before being purchased with the help of fundraisers such as the gala.
“It’s a fantastic process,” she said.