Hospitals in Palmerston and Mount Forest will benefit from a share of more than $300,000 raised during the 2017 CKNX Health Care Heroes Radiothon on Oct. 21.
The annual radiothon event has a 16-year tradition of generating fundraising dollars to support medical equipment upgrades at eight area hospitals, including Palmerston and District Hospital (PDH) and Louise Marshall Hospital in Mount Forest.
During the all-day broadcast on AM920, many donations were called in through six open phone lines, and some were hand delivered to the CKNX studio. These include some special gifts from local businesses including, West Wawanosh Mutual Insurance, Hay Mutual Insurance, Germania Mutual Insurance, Howick Mutual Insurance, and the Lucknow Kinsmen. All donated significant funds toward the event, states a press release from radiothon chair Dale Franklin, development officer for the PDH Foundation.
The broadcast featured stories from hospital patients and descriptions of the urgent medical equipment needs at each hospital, including defibrillators, sterilization equipment, IV pumps, anesthetic machines, heart monitors and mobile x-ray machine.
When the radiothon went off air at 5pm, the grand total for the day was $321,427.
This total will grow as the eight hospital foundations continue to collect contributions directly towards their projects until the end of the year.
Hospitals in Chesley, Goderich, Listowel, Seaforth and Wingham will also benefit from radiothon funds.
Since it began in 2002, the CKNX Healthcare Heroes Radiothon has raised more than $10 million to sustain quality rural health care throughout the rural communities of mid-western Ontario.
“Thank you to all those who continue to make this event an outstanding success each and every year,” the release states.
