YORKTON — The Health Foundation Yorkton launched a fundraising campaign Dec.8 in partnership with McDonald’s.
“We’re running a promotion with McDonald’s for the month of December,” said Ross Fisher, Executive Director for the Health Foundation Yorkton.
Patrons of McDonald’s are being asked to donate an additional $1.00 to their order total, contributing directly to the cause.
“The purpose is two-fold,” Fisher explained, “one is to raise money to help us put new equipment into the hospital but also to highlight the fact that we’re raising money for some new equipment in the hospital that will help us provide new services.”
Among the new equipment being funded is an echocardiogram machine, a service currently not available at the hospital.
“Given our demographic it is something that we certainly need and we’re trying to finish the campaign by the end of the year,” said Fisher.
The campaign also aims to expand services for newborns and pediatric patients in the hospital.
“In both those cases that’s ‘care closer to home’ and I think that’s important to us,” added Fisher.
Plans are also underway to start an orthopaedic surgery program at the hospital.
“We’re also buying equipment for orthopaedic surgery. We have a surgeon that’s coming up to do the surgeries but we need to get everything moving forward,” Fisher noted.
McDonald’s has been a consistent supporter of the Health Foundation’s work.
“They’re an annual contributor through our radio-athon and they run a promotion for March and April where they donate proceeds of any hot beverage,” said Fisher.
This is the second year the fall promotion has run, and Fisher is hopeful for good results and continued public support.
Fisher also noted that recent campaigns by the Health Foundation have been successful. The Holiday Smile Cookie Campaign raised a little over $9,600.00 in total.
“Half of that goes to the Tim Horton’s children’s camps and our share of that was about $4700,” said Fisher, adding, “it was a good little promotion — we did it last year and did half of what we did this year — this year we got more active with it.”
The Health Foundation Yorkton continues to work towards improving healthcare services and facilities for the community with the support of local businesses and the public.
