CENTRE WELLINGTON – The Palmerston and District Hospital Foundation (PDH) launched its MRI+ Campaign in 2023, hoping to raise $8 million by 2026.
And on March 7, Ab and Bonnie Hesselink, who reside outside of Elora, made a major pledge towards that goal.
Typically quiet givers, the Hesselinks decided to publicly share their $500,000 donation to show support for the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) service, which will support all of Wellington County and beyond.
The closest MRI machines are currently in Guelph, Stratford, Owen Sound or at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, which is “one of the reasons that we think this is going to serve the greater community,” said Ab.
He and Bonnie are from the Drayton area, but moved to Centre Wellington about a decade ago.
“That’s what I love about your donation,” said PDH development officer Dale Franklin.
“The fact that you’re Drayton folk … but you reside in Centre Wellington … that’s a community that we’re hoping to really show the value of Palmerston having an MRI.”
Ab said having an MRI in Palmerston can also help ensure the longevity of the hospital.
Franklin explained, “When the MRI was announced, I had people stopping me on the street and say ‘they are never going to close us now.’”
MRI construction
The provincial government announced the hospital would be able to operate an MRI machine in December 2022. The official fundraising campaign officially kicked off a year later.
PDH already has a wing in the hospital for the future MRI machine, but some construction will come with that.
The new addition to the hospital was completed “five or six years ago,” said PDH president Earl Campbell. “But it wasn’t built for an MRI.”
The addition either needs the roof taken off, or a significant wall removed just to get the MRI machine into the room.
Campbell also noted the concrete floor is not thick enough and needs to be redone.
“In a perfect world, we’d say, ‘we got lots of room there. Let’s build a new room, set the machine and carry on,’” he said.
However, the ministry does not work that way and that type of construction cannot be completed in the three-year time frame with which PDH is working.
“It forces us to make alterations to the existing space,” said Campbell.
Constructions costs are estimated to be half of the campaign total, or over $4 million.
Making donations
While it will require $8 million to make the MRI a reality, PDH still needs to raise money for other equipment for the 2024/25 fiscal year.
That is why “this is an incredibly important donation,” said Franklin.
With the pledged donation from the Hesselinks, the MRI+ Campaign has now raised about $3.5 million.
Franklin explained PDH is still “happy to sign companies and families up with pledges that will be honoured over the next five years.”
Anyone interested in doing so, can make a donation and get more information by visiting pdhfoundation.ca.
