Light Up A Life appeal raises more than $300,000
Photo by Dan Jones. Northumberland 89.7 FM LJI
By Cecilia Nasmith
Cobourg
Northumberland Hills Hospital announces a big success with its 2024 Light Up A Life campaign that will result in updated blood-testing equipment.
The numbers are in, and Northumberland Hills Hospital Foundation is delighted to announce that its 2024 Light Up A Life campaign raised an amazing $336,918.
This not only demonstrates how the community stands with the hospital, the announcement said, but also allows NHH to proceed with ordering two hematology analyzers for the lab that will replace their existing 15-year-old equipment.
This crucial equipment performs blood counts for hemoglobin, red and white blood cells and platelets. This testing will provide critical information for a patient's diagnosis and care in such instances as anemia, infections, inflammation, blood loss, blood cancers and other blood-related disorders.
The equipment is also used prior to every single chemotherapy treatment to ensure a patient's blood counts are high enough to undergo this procedure safely.
Campaign chair Dr, Kate O'Reilly (an NHH pathologist) said she is blown away by the community's generous response to this appeal.
“The support for our laboratory to ensure we can continue to provide excellent cutting-edge service is overwhelming,” Dr. O'Reilly said.
“It feels like family rallying around another member to make sure we're successful in our mission.
“I am so honoured to work amongst such support and concern for the health of our community. Thank you to absolutely everyone who had a hand in making this new equipment possible.”
Light Up A Life was launched in 1994 at the hospital's old location on Chapel Street in Cobourg. As originally conceived, every donation put a light on a big outdoor Christmas tree. Support soon grew to the point where a second tree was added – one for service clubs and organizations, one for individual donors. Finally, the campaign outgrew the trees.
And since 1994, the annual appeal has raised more than $4.3-million for priority hospital equipment.
For more ways to support the NHH Foundation, visit www.NHHFoundation.ca.
