Carey Bornn, executive director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation, accepts a $20,000 cheque from Kiwanis Club members Allan Close (right) and Bill Dallamore (left) at a luncheon on Tuesday. (Photos by Lyonel Doherty)
The Kiwanis Club of Oliver just made Carey Bornn’s job a lot easier.
On Tuesday the club handed the new executive director of the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation a $20,000 cheque for the new care tower at Penticton Regional Hospital.
Bornn said it is amazing that a group like the Kiwanis Club has donated a total of $50,000 to the $20 million fundraising campaign.
He said they have now raised about $12 million for the project, which leaves $8 million to go.
At the Kiwanis luncheon on Nov. 8, Bornn said all of the money raised will go towards purchasing equipment for the new care tower.
For example, mattresses specially designed to prevent bed sores will cost $10,000 each, he pointed out.
Bornn noted that a donor is paying $3 million for a new MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine.
“Raising the last eight million is going to be hard,” he admitted.
One member of the Kiwanis asked if the new hospital will reduce wait times for surgeries, such as hip replacements.
Bornn said he couldn’t answer that question, noted that is an Interior Health decision.
Kiwanis member Allan Close gave a brief history of their popular market on Sawmill Road.
Close said the market raised $209,000 last year because of the people who put in countless hours of work there. He then stressed how much the club appreciates these people.
By Lyonel Doherty
Bornn updates the Kiwanis Club on the $20 million fundraising drive for the new hospital care tower in Penticton.
