Ridge Meadows Hospital has a new addition.
Ten new pink wheelchairs have been donated by the Ridge Meadows Hospital Auxiliary to help transport patients around the building or to and from their cars.
The wheelchairs arrived at the hospital just after Christmas and were paid for by money raised from both The Economy Cottage and the hospital gift store, both run by the auxiliary.
Each chair costs between $1,000 and $1,500 each and can be found at each entrance to the hospital.
These chairs are to replace ones that have gone missing over the years.
“We’ve replaced other ones before but they seem to disappear too,” said Mary Holland, president of the hospital auxiliary.
The pink chairs will have a new coin return system on them so people are motivated to return them to their original location, Holland explained.
A deposit of $1 will be required to use a chair and that money is refundable once the chair is returned.
The chairs are also easily stacked for convenient storage and they cannot be used by the patient alone.
“The chairs are designed to be pushed by another person who can handle the brake release while the chair is in motion,” explained Holland.
Holland is thankful to her volunteers who helped raise the money saying it takes around five months of work between both locations to raise this kind of funding.
“It takes a lot of hours and a lot of volunteers in order to earn the money. And the (cost of ) hospital equipment is going up so fast and our buying power is getting less and less,” she said.
The mission of the auxiliary is to purchase items for the hospital geared towards patient comfort or small equipment items.
The auxiliary is always looking for new volunteers. Anyone interested can pick up an application at The Economy Cottage at 22264 Dewdney Trunk Road or at the hospital gift ship located at the main entrance.