Debbie Becker-Matthie spoke frankly on Friday to a crowd of nearly 50 who packed into the garage of the dream home up for grabs in the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation’s 2011 Home Lottery.
“Your life and the lives of your family members relies on this lottery and on the ICU in Red Deer,” Becker-Matthie said. In November 2004, Becker-Matthie spent six weeks in Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre’s intensive care unit, and received treatment for life-threatening complications after surgery.
Becker-Matthie said without the high level of care provided by ICU staff, she is confident she wouldn’t be here to watch her children grow up.
“The ICU staff are truly angels without wings.”
As a thank you to the ICU staff, Becker-Matthie had her husband George construct a wooden case to house an angel figurine she purchased after being released from the hospital. The angel has been on display at the ICU ever since.
The RDRH 2011 Home Lotto hopes to raise enough money to replace 18 outdated bedside monitors at the ICU with state-of-the-art patient monitoring units. Each unit has a base price of $30,000, and the new technology will allow clinicians to view a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, pulse, breathing and other vital data remotely from anywhere in Central Alberta.
“This is a cause that will truly benefit the health care in our area,” said lottery committee co-chair Grant Edmonds.
Edmonds was also pleased to say 40 per cent of the $1.9 million in tickets for the 2011 Home Lotto have already sold. The tickets were purchased by previous supporters and health staff, who can have the cost of Home Lotto tickets deducted from their payrolls.
“Our staff is very supportive — of all the regions in Alberta who do a payroll deduction for their lottos, ours has the highest response rate,” said Shannon Van Parys, project officer at Red Deer Regional Health Foundation.
Tickets for the 2011 Home Lotto are on sale now for $25 each, $100 for five or $250 for 15. The final prize draw, including the dream home, will be on June 24. An early bird prize draw valued at more than $57,000 happens on June 7.
Tickets and information can be found at hospitalslottery.com, by calling 403-340-1878 or by visiting the RDRH Foundation Office on the main floor of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
Public viewing of the grand prize dream home (located at 52 Sisson Ave. in the new community of Southbrook) takes place every Saturday and Sunday between noon and 5 p.m. until the final draw. Tickets are also available at the dream home.
syoung@www.reddeeradvocate.com