In no more than 15 minutes, $200,000 was raised at Friday night’s Festival of Trees Gala Auction. All the money is funding a soon-to-be-built breast imaging center at UHNBC.
Among the many donors were a UNBC student group, which donated $15,000, and Northland Auto Group, which chipped in $50,000 on behalf of the Prince George Cougars 50/50 Society.
Spirit of the North CEO Judy Neiser is very appreciative of the city’s generosity.
“Consistently, this auctioneer has been amazing and the people that go to this event are amazing as well. The room was full of very generous people, there’s no doubt about it, and they’re the people that really support the cause and support health care in the north.”
The new center will have brand new, digital mammography tools, provided by the provincial government. The current, analog equipment uses a higher level of radiation and can take weeks to process information. Thanks to the planned “fast-tracking system,” Neiser says the new center will be a big improvement.
“What might’ve taken eight weeks will be condensed substantially so that treatment is faster, more accurately detected and diagnosed.”
Including all the essentials, like ultrasound tools and reading stations, the project will cost about $500,000. It’s a steep goal that Neiser is confident can be reached by October 2017.
“When we put a call out to action to the community, we’re supported very generously and we really appreciate that. We do.”
The Festival of Trees event continues today until 4:30 PM. The final funding total won’t be calculated until after the event wraps up.
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