Gift Puts Eureka Fundraiser Over the Top
Eureka Community Hospital’s Dinner Auction fundraiser hoped to raise $60,000 in its first effort to pay for the eventual purchase of a digital mammography unit for the hospital. Instead, the event brought in an astounding $444,000, thanks in large part to the private donation of a very generous Goodfield couple.
Richard & Esther Norris’ gift of $357,500 alone is enough to pay for the new technology. Digital mammography will be an advantage for both the physician and the patients. The patient’s time spent in testing will be shorter because technicians will be able to determine immediately if the image quality is usable. Physicians will be able to manipulate the image to see tissue in closer detail, reducing the need for follow-up mammography. Additionally, digital images easily can be sent offsite for reading.
The Norris’ have a long association with and affinity for ECH. “I’ve spent a lot of time in that hospital up there and I’ll tell you, you can’t find a better one in the country,” Mr. Norris told a Pantagraph reporter, “We use that hospital a lot and it is so nice and so close, and they’ve got everything here that you can get in the big city.”
While digital mammography is planned for BroMenn Regional Medical Center, ECH will be first with the technology. It will take several months to order, receive and install the equipment.
Even without the Norris’ donation, the Dinner Auction was a resounding success, taking in $96,000 from donations, a grant from Praxair and the auction of such diverse items as a hot air balloon ride, a “Turducken,” and a dinner at the home of BroMenn CEO Roger Hunt and his wife, Mary.
“It was heartening to see the support of the community for the local hospital. We really suspected it would take more than one event and one year to get digital mammography,” Roger Hunt told The Pantagraph. “We wanted to make a touchdown, but we didn’t realize we would win the game at the same time.”
The event was held November 15 at Eureka College’s Cerf Center and was co-chaired by John & Anne Dossey and Sam & Nancy Harrod.
The Dinner Auction was last held in 2001, after successfully helping to raise the money needed to construct the ECH Chapel. Including this year’s totals, the event has now raised more than $750,000 in its various incarnations to benefit ECH.
