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Health Foundation: Red Deer Hospital Lottery — New name, same great cause!

This year the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation’s lottery has changed its name. Formerly Hospitals’ Lottery, look for our new name: Red Deer Hospital Lottery. This change was made to ensure our ticket purchasers know exactly where funding from their ticket is going: straight to the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
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This year the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation’s lottery has changed its name. Formerly Hospitals’ Lottery, look for our new name: Red Deer Hospital Lottery. This change was made to ensure our ticket purchasers know exactly where funding from their ticket is going: straight to the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.

Why is this important?

We want the citizens of Central Alberta to know that when they purchase a ticket, their dollars fund healthcare in Central Alberta. Funds don’t go to a different health zone or facility; they stay in Central Alberta to benefit Central Albertans. There are over 450,000 people in the Central Zone who access our hospital. The majority of patients (about 54 per cent) who visit the Red Deer Hospital reside in communities outside of Red Deer.

For the past 19 years our lottery, under the name, Hospitals’ Lottery, raised over $8 million for projects in our hospital. For 19 years ticket purchases have supported healthcare in our hospital. For 19 years your ticket purchase has helped patients you may have never met. For 19 years your ticket purchase may have even supported patients you do know, like your friends and family. Some of the projects funded include:

l MRI

l CT scanner

l Heli pad

l Cardiac management system

l Beds

l Trauma equipment

l Respiratory equipment

l And much, much more!

This year is the 20th anniversary of the Lottery, and in our 20th year your ticket purchase will remain important. Funds from the Red Deer Hospital Lottery and Mega Bucks 50 will, for the second year, go to the purchase of advanced technology patient beds. Last year’s lotteries provided 49 beds, and this year we hope to match that total!

The beds are extremely beneficial to patients and staff alike: innovations have improved safety, comfort and functionality while reducing pain, pressure points and skin breakdown. These new beds will extend to fit a larger compliment of the population served by the Red Deer Hospital. For example, they will lower, allowing easier access for shorter patients. This helps to prevent falls and slipping.

Air surfaces can be adjusted to the firmness the patient requires to suit his/her comfort and therapy needs. New bed fabric — considerably more breathable — will lead to enhanced comfort and reduced sweating. Plus, unique air inflation options will make repositioning in bed easier for immobile patients. This not only optimizes patient comfort, it reduces strain and effort by caregivers while repositioning or performing other care activities.

From a safety perspective, newer beds have sensitive alarms that tell staff if a patient is about to get up without assistance. This alerts the nursing staff to attend to the person’s needs much sooner than the inevitable “bump” of a patient falling against something. The same alarm will identify when the mattress needs to be inflated to a therapeutic setting, which also supports patient comfort and safety. Finally, our new beds will have a very practical safety feature: a light under the bed illuminating the floor and any potential tripping hazards, while not distracting from the need for sleep. Red Deer Hospital Lottery 2018 and Mega Bucks 50 are dedicated to providing this new technology for patients at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.

You can go to www.reddeerhospitallottery.ca or call 1-877-808-9005 to purchase your ticket today. Remember, every ticket purchase funds healthcare in Central Alberta.

Iaian Park is the executive director of the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation.