The Wingham and District Hospital Foundation is adjusting the fundraising goal for a major project due to rising costs.
The Caring Together Campaign to bring a new CT Scanner to the Wingham and District Hospital was launched earlier this year with a goal of $2.5 million. However, foundation Executive Director Nicole Duquette-Jutzi says inflation and other cost factors have forced them to raise their goal to $3.6 million.
"The section of the building where we want to install the CT scanner, which is near our ER, it is an older part of our building. So as deeper investigations were undertaken by potential vendors and contractors, it became clear there was some more extensive work that needed to be done," Duquette-Jutzi explained.
Some of that work will involve ensuring the CT scanner can be safely and properly housed in that section of the Wingham and District Hospital.
"I'm sure people realize, CT scanners are quite heavy and they're huge pieces of equipment with a huge electrical draw. So there is a lot of extensive structural and electrical support work that needs to be done in advance. All of those things have added up to an increased cost," added Duquette-Jutzi.
However, despite the increased cost of the project, Duquette-Jutzi shares that they are quite optimistic about hitting the new target.
"So despite this, we have had great support from our community so far and the campaign team. We knew this was kind of coming so we did push through that initial $2.5 million dollar goal and I'm happy to report that as of right now, we have raised about $3.1 million dollars, or roughly 87 percent of the new goal, so this is not an impossible gap to close," Duquette-Jutzi stated optimistically.
If you wish to learn more about the Caring Together Campaign or donate, you can visit the Wingham and District Hospital Foundation site here: www.wdhfoundation.ca/ct-campaign.
