Together We Can campaign kicks off in RR next Tuesday

By Ken Johnston
Editor

Next Tuesday morning, September 11th, a district-wide fund raising effort will begin in Rainy River.
Riverside Foundation for Health Care will be kicking, or rather, pedaling off, the start of a public campaign to raise $650,000 to purchase a new Digital Mammography machine. It will serve the residents of Rainy River, Emo, Fort Frances and surrounding catchment areas of each of the three hospitals.
The fund raising campaign is called “Together We Can” and will begin with a bike ride from Rainy River Health Centre to LaVerendrye Hospital in Fort Frances next Tuesday.
A pancake breakfast under a tent in front of RR Health Centre will be held from 7:30-8:30 a.m. It is free and open to the public. While it is not required to attend, anyone wishing to make a donation or a pledge towards the project can do so at the breakfast.
Local committee member Brig McGreevy, of Rainy River, said, “There will also be some major donations being made by local supporters at the breakfast.”
At 8 a.m. Team #1 will leave RR Health Centre to kick/pedal off the ride. Teams of four will travel in 10 km. increments. That means Bill Langner, Bob McGreevy, Wallace Armstrong and Pat Giles will be travelling on specially decked out in pink bikes to Sleeman.
Team #2, Linda Kreger, Stacy Kreger, Georgia Kreger and Carol MacLean will take over at Lowes Lumber and ride to Pinewood.
McGreevy said that she believes there are total of 36 people making the 91 km journey. “I know that Team #3 is captained by Dianna Gamsby, but we do not know the rest of the team as of yet,” she said yesterday. That team will ride to Stratton.
When the cyclists reach Emo Health Centre there will be a lunch served and likely more donations made.
The plan is to end later that day at LaVerendrye Hospital, where the new mammography machine will be located.
In the past there have been similar efforts to raise money for major projects including a new CT Scanner. Those efforts included walking a stretcher across the district and running across it.
The new digital mammography machine will use a lower dose of radiation and will allow the scans to go directly to a computer which will be sent electronically rather than having to be delivered to the doctors via courier.
It is hoped that in addition to the fund raising drive, the ride will boost awareness about breast cancer. “Breast cancer affects everyone. Not just women. It affects husbands, fathers, brothers and sons,” said Tanya Cumming, the campaign’s chair of communications.