LGH Foundation: making our hospital ‘the best’

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Whether it’s watching yellow rubber ducks race down the locks in Ste. Anne de Bellevue or getting your gifts wrapped at Fairview Pointe Claire during the holidays, chances are most West Islanders have come in contact with the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation at some point. This past Saturday’s fifth annual Media Celebrity Hockey Marathon in Kirkland was just one more way the local community helped the Foundation out.

Established in 1965, the Foundation organizes events and raises funds to improve the quality of the hospital and services offered.

“The money that we raise goes back to the areas where it’s most needed,” said Silvana Orrino, the Foundation’s executive director, adding right now the focus is set on the ER. “For trauma, we’re the first on hand. They’re brought to the Lakeshore. We stabilize them and then we send them out. This is why there is so much need in the emergency.”

Serving over 400,000 people from the West Island and surrounding areas, Orrino said the growing population is also another motivator for the Foundation.

“We want the state of the art equipment, because we serve such a vast population,” she said. Donations to the Foundation have helped purchase a pulmonary function machine for Inhalation Therapy, an echocardiogram and computerized stress treadmill for Cardiology, an MRI and mammography unit for Radiology, phototherapy equipment for the Nursery, specialized chairs for Geriatrics and Dialysis, and surgical lasers and other Operating Room equipment for Orthopedics, Urology and General Surgery, among others.

Popular Foundation events – like the golf tournament on May 26 and the duck race on June 14 – are back this year. For the first time ever, the Foundation will also host a fashion show this September.

“The people of the West Island should come out, because this is their community. It’s their hospital, and don’t they want the best one?” she said. “This is a good hospital. We shouldn’t be going downtown. We have great physicians and great equipment.”

For more information on the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation, visit www.lakeshorefoundation.ca.