In its quest to raise the funds for a new MRI machine, the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (CGMH) Foundation has made major strides.
As of this week, Jory Pritchard-Kerr, president and chief executive officer of the foundation, told CollingwoodToday they’ve managed to raise $1,960,460 so far for the new technology since the province announced operational funding for the machine in December 2022. Fundraising to pay for the machine and renovate a space to accommodate the lab is nearing the halfway point of their $5 million goal.
While the province will cover the operational costs of the MRI lab once it's up and running, it's up to the hospital's charitable foundation to raise the money for the cost of the machine and building the lab space into the hospital.
Pritchard-Kerr says the foundation is hopeful they will have the $5 million in place by the summer of 2024.
“We’re really hopeful that shortly after that, the MRI will actually be installed,” she said.
At the end of June, CGMH’s redevelopment team sent a large submission to the provincial government which outlined future services, activity volumes, staffing levels, new technologies and staffing requirements of a future hospital serving the South Georgian Bay region.
The plan offered details on how every room in a new hospital would be used and where it should be located for efficiency and good service for patients and staff. Previous announcements by the province asked for a plan that is based on rebuilding the hospital on the current site, but the proposal submitted by the hospital stated the more efficient plan would be a new build in a new location.
“The hospital is currently looking at a variety of scenarios as to where is the best place to house the MRI,” said Pritchard-Kerr. “They’ll come up with the most cost-efficient scenario, they’ll let us know, and we’ll make sure they have the money.”
According to CGMH data as of April, patients who should be receiving an MRI within 10 days are having to wait 26 days on average for the scan, while patients who should be scanned within 28 days are waiting 73 days on average.
According to the Canadian Medical Imaging Inventory, there were 124 MRI units in operation in Ontario in 2019/2020, which includes public and privately funded units. According to Ontario Health data, currently, only 40 per cent of patients requiring an MRI are receiving scans within their target time.
“There are between 6,000 and 7,000 patients a year that are going outside of our community for MRI services,” said Pritchard-Kerr, adding that Simcoe County residents have two options to get an MRI: either travel to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie, or Grey-Bruce Health Services in Owen Sound.
“Our wait time in this area is two to three times longer than it is in the rest of the province,” she said.
Pritchard-Kerr also says that having up-to-date technology at CGMH can go a long way toward recruiting medical professionals to come to the area.
“When you have a well-equipped facility, it’s much more likely that we’re going to be able to recruit people who really want to work with the best equipment,” she said. “When everyone is competing to get the best and the brightest, we want to make sure we’re equipped to be able to look after our patients.”
Pritchard-Kerr says the foundation is currently focused on writing proposals to corporations and individuals to ask for larger donations. This year’s Tree of Life campaign – which is the hospital’s biggest annual fundraiser – will also help push toward the goal.
There are also events going on this summer in the community with the foundation listed as the beneficiary.
“It’s a really great way for us to raise money because there is no cost to us,” she said.
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