Trauma care campaign to make ‘huge impact’ in Regina hospitals

Car crashes on the highway, hunting accidents, serious injuries on the ice or football field.

Those are all reasons people could find themselves at the hospital needing trauma care.

In fact, according to the Hospitals of Regina Foundation (HRF), there were 1,547 serious trauma cases at Regina’s two hospitals in 2016 – more than four per day.

But some of the equipment needed to save lives is aging – or not available at all.

That prompted HRF to launch a new trauma care campaign.

“It will make a huge impact. We would be investing in technology that either needs to be updated or we don’t have today,” said Dino Sophocleus. “Everything from anesthesia machines to monitoring systems, even the technology hubs in the surgical rooms themselves, are extremely, extremely important. We need them both at the Pasqua and at the General.”

The campaign’s goal is $3 million. A local insurance company will get the campaign a third of the way there. Group Medical Services (GMS) has pledged to match $1 million in public donations.

“We looked at it when Dino and the team approached us and they said, ‘this is where our need is’ – we couldn’t say no,” said John Salmond, president and CEO of GMS. “I think it’s the fact that it touches everyone on a daily basis and the need is real and it’s visible.”

Since 1977, GMS has contributed more than $2.5 million to HRF campaigns, something Salmond called “quite an accomplishment for a small company.”

“We want to put our skin in the game and we’re hoping the community comes out and puts their skin in the game, too,” he added.

Both Sophocleus and Salmond said they trust the community will step up and support the campaign.

“You hear the stories and the lives that are saved and the lives that are touched by these funds and I think the community really rallies around that,” said Salmond.