Run for Mom committee to donate $600,000 to hospital
Photo by Jon Molson
In a media briefing on Thursday, the Run for Mom committee announced it will be donating a cheque for $600,000 to the mammography department at Whitehorse General Hospital.
The money will be used to purchase a digital mammography unit, valued somewhere between $450,000 and $550,000.
The new piece of equipment will be an upgrade from the current film mammogram, which was also purchased, along with a corresponding film processor, as a result of the fundraising efforts made by Run for Mom campaign 2001.
“This event has been a long time coming,“ said Val Pike, chair of the Run for Mom committee. “It has been a lot of work.
The committee organizes it, but it’s from the community and I want to stress that point. It’s not a small group of people who are doing it, it’s a community that have pulled together to support breast health for Yukoners.“
This is the 10th anniversary for the Run for Mom fundraiser, which was first held in 1997 as a result of community interest about raising money through holding a CIBC Run for the Cure event.
The group was also interested in generating money for the hospital, which at the time was coincidentally looking to replace its aging mammography unit.
An agreement was reached and the event was held in front of the hospital on a very cold day in October.
In its inaugural year a total of $40,000 was raised; however, most of the funds left the territory and were donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
The committee, who put on the event, didn’t know this was going to occur at the time and were disappointed that the majority of the money left the territory.
After taking the following year off to go over their options, they decided to create their own Run for Mom event, which didn’t have a name at the time.
The idea was to hold an event that Yukoners could participate in and support with all of the money raised staying in the territory.
In 2001, the current mammography unit, as well as the film processor that the hospital presently uses, were purchased.
The total cost involved with both purchases was $126,000.
Due to the rapid changes in technology in the medical field, the time has come to upgrade the mammogram to digital.
Run for Mom has been saving proceeds since the 2001 purchase and will use these funds to pay for the digital mammogram.
Some of the advantages to using the digital technology include being able to transfer the image electronically, which is done in real time.
This will eliminate the three-week wait period that most women have to go through before they can see the results of their mammogram.
The cheque presentation will take place on Sunday at the event, which is being held at Rotary Peace Park, starting at 1 p.m.
The hospital is hoping to have the new digital mammogram operational sometime in the calender year.
A fundraising BBQ will also be held this year on Sunday in honour of the 10th anniversary.
Other fundraising efforts being held in support of Run from Mom this year include Tim Horton’s smile cookie campaign, which is currently underway.
Another fundraising initiative this year is the deli on Hanson street, which is in celebration of its 40th anniversary, are holding a BBQ on Saturday.
One dollar from every hot dog sold will be going to the Run for Mom fundraising effort.
Pike said participants in this year’s event aren’t required to sign up in advance.
“There’s no registration fee,“ she said. “We sort of want to make it an event that takes place for everybody and anybody.
It’s not cost prohibitive, if you can make a donation that’s great. If you just want to come out and support us by being there that’s great too, because it is more than the money.
The money’s been an important part of it, but it is all about the awareness around breast health and breast cancer and it takes a huge community to pull this together.“
She said the purchase of the new equipment doesn’t mean that Run for Mom won’t continue to hold the fundraiser every year.
“It’s not just about the equipment and the diagnostic part of it, but it’s also about supporting women with breast cancer and looking at other opportunities and challenges that are in our community and how Run for Mom can support them,“ Pike said.
“I don’t think you are going to get rid of us any time soon.
It’s a neat community effort and the committee is quite close and I think if you said to us ‘That’s it, the committee has to dissolve,‘ I think we would be quite disappointed and heartbroken that we wouldn’t have this opportunity to do something we really believe in and are passionate about.“
Other Run for Mom initiatives in the surrounding Yukon communities include Watson Lake, Haines Junction, Atlin and Carmacks and Pelly Crossing, who each hold their own annual event.