Roger Geoffrion, Regional Sales Manager, Canada Life, Paul Virgin, Campaign Co-Chair, Betty Prestion, Foundation Director, Rhonda Virgin, Campaign Co-Chair, Mary Wilson Trider, Hospital President, Gord & Bonnie Pike, Campaign supporters, Jesse Lowe, Foundation Director, Dave Perley Hospital Director, Rob Scott, Foundation Chair, & Art Levi, Campaign Supporter.
Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life today announced a $20,000 donation to the Almonte General Hospital-Fairview Manor Foundation in support of the ‘Put Yourself in the Picture’ campaign.
The $4 million campaign, which launched in May 2017, has allowed the Hospital to purchase two new digital ultrasound machines, a new digital X-ray suite and a new portable digital X-ray machine. The Hospital also plans to acquire CT scan machine at a cost of $2.2 million, subject to approval by the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. This generous donation brings the campaign total to approximately $1.7 million to date.
“We’re proud to support the Almonte General Hospital to help ensure families have access to the care they need, right here at home,” said Roger Geoffrion, Regional Sales Manager, Canada Life. “Our employees and financial advisors have a deep connection to this community, and we believe these new diagnostic tools will go a long way toward improving the health and well-being of patients at Almonte.”
“Rhonda and I are honoured to accept this donation from an organization we’ve been proud to work with in the past, and that my father worked with before us,” said Paul Virgin, Co-Chair of the ‘Put Yourself in the Picture’ campaign. “Almonte General Hospital relies on support from the community to ensure our staff has reliable, up-to-date equipment with which to treat our patients. Donations like this go a long way in helping us fund the new ultrasounds, X-rays and now a new CT scan too.”
The Hospital moved to purchase the new equipment because both the ultrasound machine and the X-ray equipment were more than 10 years old. Finding replacement parts was becoming increasingly difficult when the equipment needed servicing. With only one ultrasound, wait times were also too long.
The new digital machines are faster and easier to use, which has helped reduce wait times down to a few weeks as opposed to months. The new X-ray machines also emit far less radiation, and according to Chief of Staff Dr. Chris Deschenes, offer better image quality that can lead to better diagnostic accuracy.
About Almonte General Hospital
AGH is a 52-bed emergency and acute care hospital serving the Mississippi Mills region as well as West Carleton, Lanark, Carleton Place, and West Ottawa. With more than 15,000 emergency visits per year and nearly 450 births per year, diagnostic tests like ultrasound, X-ray and CT scan are vital for high quality patient care close to home.
In 2017, X-ray staff conducted 6,696 examinations and Ultrasound staff conducted 4,266 examinations. The new portable X-ray machine was used 140 times. Currently AGH patients requiring a CT scan are transported to another hospital.
About Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life
Great-West Life is a leading Canadian insurer, focused on improving the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians. Together with our subsidiaries London Life and Canada Life, we serve the financial security needs of 13 million people across Canada.
As an Imagine Caring Company supporting the principles of corporate citizenship and benchmarks for community investment established by Imagine Canada, our companies contribute at least one per cent of pre-tax profit in support of the communities where our employees and customers live and work. In 2017, we contributed $13.5 million to communities. To learn more, visit Greatwestlife.com.