First official donation received for new MRI unit

Tim Brody - Editor

The first official donation towards the purchase of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner for the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre has been received.
On March 18 the Sioux Lookout Bombers hosted a special Hockey Fights Cancer and Physician Appreciation Night at the Hangar (Sioux Lookout Memorial Arena).
The Bombers donned special Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys for their match against the Fort Frances Lakers. Slate Falls Air was the gameday sponsor for that match, purchasing all of the jerseys.
On March 25, during the second intermission of Game 2 of their best of seven playoff series against the visiting Wisconsin Lumberjacks, representatives from the Sioux Lookout Bombers and Rotary Club of Sioux Lookout presented representatives from the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre (SLMHC) Foundation with a cheque for $4500, the first official donation towards the purchase of the new MRI unit.
Bombes players purchased their jerseys, raising $2500. Two Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys, signed by the team, were auctioned off, raising approximately $800. The Rotary Club of Sioux Lookout, who conduct the 50/50 draws at Bombers games, donated 50/50 profits from the Hockey Fights Cancer game, topping off the donation to with some additional funds.
Christine Hoey, Bombers Treasurer and SLMHC Foundation Board President, said of the donation, “It’s exciting. The guys on the board came to me and said let’s make sure that this donation goes to the new MRI… This is the first official donation and we know there are going to be more and we are planning to start a fundraising campaign.”
Susan Barclay, Rotary Club of Sioux Lookout Treasurer, shared, “We’re glad to work with the Bombers to make some money to go back into this community to help youth and others.”
Melissa Slade, Donor Relations/Operations Coordinator, Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre Foundation, shared, “As you have seen in the newspaper (Sioux Lookout Bulletin) through the article, Sioux Lookout has indeed been approved as a location for an MRI. We will be kicking off an official campaign in the coming weeks and months.”
“We’re certainly happy to be kicking this off and for the news to already be circulating throughout the town because it will be something very important and lifesaving. It’s going to be so important to our small town and the northern communities to actually have that somewhere local.”
SLMHC shared in a Feb. 21 news release that it will receive base funding from Ontario Health North West to support the operation of a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging 
(MRI) Scanner. 
The MRI machine is estimated to cost $2.3 million, with potential estimated costs to purchase the machine and house it coming in at approximately $7 million if new construction has to occur.
The estimated $7 million would all have to be fundraised as SLMHC is responsible for all capital costs associated with construction to house the new MRI Scanner, as well as the MRI itself.