2011 Donor Impact Report - Charity Focus

A good timefor a good causeEach year, thousandsof people support ourevents for health care,showing that it is possibleto support a good causewhile having a good time.Calgary Health Trustworks with the eventcommittees and hospitalDevelopment Councilsto put on an event thatis sure to be a night toremember.Organizing these eventsis not an easy task.Each year, thousands ofvolunteer hours are givento Calgary HealthTrust. From sitting onDevelopment Councils,chairing an event, workingbehind the scenes atour Marquee events orstuffing envelopes; thankyou to all our volunteersfor your dedication andcommitment to oursuccess.Comedians hit a Funny BoneLaughter will benefit many people lookingto live an active and healthy lifestyle.Comedians Colin Mochrieand Brad Sherwood fromthe hit TV show, Whose Lineis it Anyway? left the crowdroaring for the ArthroscopicSurgery Program at the 2011Funny Bone Comedy Night.Their laughter will benefit manypeople looking to live healthy,active lifestyles.“Calgary is a city that comestogether to accomplish greatthings, and many medicaladvancements have cometo fruition because previousFunny Bone events were verysuccessful,” said Jim Reid,Co-Chair of Funny BoneComedy Night. “Still, there ismore work to do. Together wecan continue to help increasethe technology available andhelp provide the best carepossible for people in ourcommunity.”Calgary is a vibrant city, full ofpathways and parks. On anygiven day, the city’s pathwaysare full of walkers, runnersand cyclists, old and young.Any one of these people maybenefit from the donationsmade to arthroscopic surgery.“We’re trying to build acentre of excellence forsport medicine,” saidDr. Timmerman, OrthopaedicSurgeon at Peter LougheedCentre, where he and hiscolleagues focus on keepingpeople healthy and active.Sports medicine, he pointsout, is more than the treatmentof jocks and professionalathletes. “I call it sport andactive medicine.”Patients who are Olympians,NHL or CFL players are faroutnumbered by the “weekendwarriors” and kids on theplayground who suffer tornknee ligaments or torn rotatorcuffs in their shoulders.Arthroscopic treatmentcombines surgery andstate-of-the-art imagingequipment: tiny high-definitioncameras that give surgeonsan exceptional view ofdamaged bone and tissuewith minimal invasion.“The belief is the betteryou see, the better youwill do as a surgeon,”Dr. Timmerman says. “Andwhen we do better, patientshave better outcomes.” Helikens traditional orthopaedicsurgery to looking through akeyhole; “Arthroscopic surgeryis like stepping into the foyerand seeing the whole room.”“This type of support will helpus remain state-of-the-art,teach medical students, teacheach other and teach otherswho can take this knowledgeto their communities. Wecouldn’t continue to dowhat we do without thisequipment.”“We’re trying tobuild a centre ofexcellence forsport medicine.”– Dr. Timmerman,Orthopaedic Surgeonat Peter Lougheed CentreComedians Colin Mochrie (left) and Brad Sherwood (right) put laughterinto arthroscopic surgery at Peter Lougheed Centre.30 Calgary Health Trust