Hospital receives $126,000 for cancer care

Stanton Territorial Hospital has received $126,155 from the CIBC Run for Our Lives committee to help improve services and care for cancer patients.

The committee, which organizes Yellowknife’s annual mud run – transformed into a mud bucket challenge for the duration of the pandemic – announced the donation in a news release on Thursday.

The group raised $72,000 through its mud bucket challenge last year, which replaced the annual mud run as a Covid-friendly option. Funds from the 2019 mud run helped the hospital purchase equipment worth $21,000 for chemotherapy patients.

Funding announced this week will be used to purchase virtual colonoscopy equipment and other supplies used in treatment, as well as items to make patients more comfortable, including food, refreshments, and Netflix and magazine subscriptions.

Paul Gillard, the hospital foundation’s vice-chair, and Joanne Engram, from the NWT’s health authority, thanked the group for the funds.

“This donation will not only enhance the technology for cancer screening here in the North, it will provide a greater level of patient comfort and care while receiving treatment,” Gillard said.

The committee also committed to raising funds for a digital breast tomosynthesis mammography machine over the next few years, calling it the “gold standard for breast imaging internationally.”

The machines – which use X-ray technology to detect breast cancer and other breast diseases – are said by the group to each cost $529,300.