The Lions Clubs are ensuring they will play a part in maintaining vision care in the region.
Members of the Lions Clubs of Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario gathered at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre on Saturday to formally donate $104,450 to support the purchase of new ophthalmology equipment.
The equipment, a new Lumenis Vision One Multi-Colour Laser System, will be used to treat a host of conditions, such as diabetic retinopathy and retinal damage.
The laser comes at a cost of $185,000, and Terri Hrkac, director of major and planned giving for the Health Sciences Foundation, said the foundation has been able to raise $60,000.
This gift will help enhance the Lions Vision Care Centre, which is located on the first floor of the hospital. The centre, which was first created in 1998, already serves as the vision hub for the region.
“We are the regional acute care centre right from the Manitoba border to Marathon,” Hrkac said. “A lot of our patients come from the region that rely on the services provided by the ophthalmology department.”
The funding was a collaborative effort, as Lions Vision Care Centre chair Angela Sharbot explained regional funding came from Manitoba and Minnesota in addition to northwestern Ontario.
The Lions Club International Foundation provided nearly $68,000, while the regional clubs contributed more than $32,000.
“This is a great way for us to build our clubs and come together as a group,” Sharbot said.
“This allows us to put our funds together and there is strength in numbers and when all of our clubs work together pretty miraculous things can happen.”
The laser will improve the efficiency of the department, as it will provide more comfortable and quicker treatment to patients.
“All of the ophthalmologists are ecstatic about this,” Hrkac said. “They really appreciate the work that the members of the Lions clubs do. Without that we wouldn’t be able to buy these pieces of equipment.”
The next step for the local chapter of Lions Clubs is to create a substantial reserve fund to have money ready for future contributions.
Having this fund will make it easier to attract additional money from the international foundation, according to Sharbot.
“Over the next couple of years we hope to build a reserve fund of (at least $200,000) so that way when some new equipment is required or maybe a new doctor comes in we will have funding in place to use our money to gain some more funding from Lions Club International,” she said.
There is not a set date on when the laser will be installed at the hospital, but Sharbot expected it will be available in the coming months.
