By Beverly Lomosad
Diagnostic imaging technology expected to be available in Fairview and area in April 2027
Renovations work is forthcoming at the Fairview Health Complex to make room for and install a computed tomography (CT) scanner, thanks to the successful multi-million-dollar fundraising campaign led by the Fairview Health Complex Foundation. Fairview joins communities such as Wainwright, Drayton Valley, Leduc, Edson, Lac La Biche, and Whitecourt that, through the local health foundations and grassroots fundraising campaigns, have been able to bring CT scanners and diagnostic equipment to their regional hospitals in a partnership model with Alberta Health Services (AHS).
The Fairview Health Complex Foundation has raised $2.9 million, enough to get the estimated $3.2 million project rolling while fundraising continues for the remaining $300,000 to fully cover the costs of a CT scan unit, renovations, installation, and start-up, said Stan Burkholder, the Chair of the foundation. AHS will be responsible for the estimated $1 million annual operational costs of the CT scan suite.
Municipalities within the foundation’s catchment area – Town of Fairview, Municipal District of Fairview No. 136, Clear Hills County, and Hines Creek – have provided $100 per-capita donations each in support of the project. Collectively, they pitched in $753,800 with the Town of Fairview and Clear Hills County providing $300,000 each; Municipal District of Fairview No. 136, $150,000; and Hines Creek, $33,500.
The foundation is contributing up to $1 million to what constitutes its largest project as yet.
Fred and Carol Pohr, the lone Platinum donor, gave $500,000.
Local businesses, community organizations, families, friends, and individuals pooled donations together to reach giving thresholds of $50,000 for Corporate; $25,000 for Silver; $10,000 for Legacy; $5,000 for Friends; and $1,000 each for Community Groups, Small Business, and Participant.
Anonymous donors gave a total of $18,975.
The youngest donor, Maï-Linh Fay, 11, a newcomer to the Fairview community who is entering Grade 6 at E.E. Oliver Elementary School in the coming school year, gave $50 from the proceeds of her lemonade stand. “She had put up her lemonade stand with the intention of being able to save, spend, and share,” her mother, Emelyn, told the Signal. Maï-Linh’s $50 donation represents more than 23% of her proceeds from the lemonade stand.
“Thanks to the community buy-in, we were able to raise the money. This milestone project is a wonderful example of how local communities and government can work together to support greater health-care delivery for our local families. The CT scanner suite will help families from within the region served by our foundation to receive these specialized diagnostic services close to home,” Burkholder said.
“When the foundation’s board made its decision to take on the project then launch a fundraiser, I, for one, was confident we were going to reach our goal. The people learned through the college experience (the exit of Northernwestern Polytechnic and the takeover by Northern Lakes College of the Fairview Campus) that if you don’t do something for yourself, it’s not gonna happen. When they saw what happened at the college, they were ready to jump aboard and do it for the hospital as well.”
At present, residents from the four municipalities comprising the foundation’s service area, which has an estimated combined population of 8,000, travel to either the Town of Peace River or the City of Grande Prairie to get a CT scan. The area represents approximately 100 CT scans a month.
CT scan diagnostic imaging produces cross-sectional patterned images that create 3-D views of the body, giving doctors a good picture of what’s going on inside, and vastly increasing their ability to screen for and more accurately diagnose medical conditions, including head injuries, cancer, and dementia.
Tender for the contract covering the renovation, installation, and start-up of the CT scan suite in Fairview has gone out and bids received, said Burkholder, adding that the goal is to have it in place in April 2027.
The Fairview Health Complex Foundation, just like the rest of the regional hospital foundations in Alberta, is a registered charity serving as a fundraising arm to fund essential medical equipment, capital projects, and patient-care programs that provincial health-care budgets cannot immediately cover.
The foundation also recently funded a $500,000 renovation of the palliative care units at the Fairview Health Complex.