Adam Prudhomme
Editor
A one-dollar donation to the Lennox and Addington County General Hospital Foundation made this month could turn into a $20,000 donation, thanks to an online challenge by CanadaHelps.org.
Throughout the entire month of June, CanadaHelps.org is running its sixth annual Great Canadian Giving Challenge. Every dollar donated through their online platform to a registered charity automatically enters that charity into a national draw for $20,000. The more dollars donated, the more entries into the draw for that charity. The draw will be held Canada Day.
“It’s just a way of thinking differently,” said Michelle Dickerson, executive director for the LACGH Foundation. “As everyone’s well aware times have changed and we have to be get a little more creative. We’re fortunate to have partners like CanadaHelps that can do these sort of things for us.”
Online donations can be made at www.GivingChallenge.ca.
Physical distancing orders have made it tough for all charities to raise funds this year.
“We’ve always been face-to-face, charity to donor on the ground running, out there in the community,” said Dickerson. “We’re here in the office so our donors can call in, but there’s restricted access to our office so for people to just drop off a cheque is challenging for them.”
Not only has the pandemic made raising funds challenging, but also the new protocols put in place to limit the spread of the virus have been a huge drain on the hospital’s budget.
“We’ve been lucky that we’re able to support through the community donations, we’ve been doing a lot of things for infection control,” said Dickerson. “But there are a lot of things that come up on a regular basis that you may not have anticipated through the supply chain challenge. I know people are seeing that themselves when they go to order something online it may be out of stock. The hospital is not exempt from that as far as supply for staff and patients.”
Among those requests from hospital staff to the foundation was money to purchase a Clorox Total 360 System. The foundation provided the $7,000 needed for the equipment, which provides an extra level of sanitization on all surfaces throughout the hospital.
“The machine provides 360 coverage on surfaces and can disinfect even the hardest to reach places and provides better protection against the spread of germs,” said Dickerson. “It can clean the front, back and side of surfaces with no re-entry time, so staff can enter a room immediately after spraying.”
The disinfectant can also be used on machines and in particular the curtains used to separate patients in a room. Among the new protocols being mandated in hospitals is even stricter cleaning procedures to prevent any spread of COVID-19.
More information on the Giving Challenge will be updated through the Foundation’s newly launched Twitter account, @LacghF. For more on the foundation, visit www.LACGHFoundation.com.