It’s 3 p.m. and an elderly resident thinks ice cream would pair perfectly with the cup of coffee a nurse has just delivered to her room. She reaches across her bed and presses her call light. Shortly after, a nurse comes in, hears her request and returns with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Down the hall, a patient would like pain relief medication. He presses his call-light button and a nurse comes to deliver his pill.
While the idea of pressing a button and having someone respond to your every need might sound enticing to anyone, at Roosevelt Medical Center, the call-light system serves as the heartbeat of the facility, ensuring patient safety while caring for the needs of patients at every hour.
At the nurse’s station, the call-light system creates a steady stream of beeping sounds that coincide with lights flashing from small boxes above patient room doors. As call-lights are answered, nurses reset the button and continue responding to call-lights as they go off.
After 42 years of use, the system has become obsolete and needs replacing.
For the past year, Roosevelt Medical Center and the Roosevelt Memorial Healthcare Foundation have been working to raise funds to replace the system. Last year, a total of $30,000 was raised from the Fall Fest Fundraiser. Another $16,000 is needed to complete the update.
Recently, the RMHF met via Zoom to discuss future fundraising activities for the non-profit organization. With the community’s best interests in mind, the Board voted to cancel their annual Fall Fest Fundraiser usually held in October, in response to the pandemic. “Uncertain times make it difficult to plan a fundraiser and the Board believes it is simply too big to ask our community to go out and seek sponsorships,” said Jaimee Green, Foundation director.
Without a fundraiser, it will be impossible to complete the project in 2020. “It’s hard to go an entire year without hosting an event that helps ensure we continue to innovate as a facility. Providing quality care requires medical equipment that can do the job,” Green added.
With the hope of completing the project this year without making a large ask of the community, the board decided to host a Light Up RMC raffle.
The raffle concept is simple, for every $5 donation, the participant gets one chance to win a 4th of July celebration package valued at $600. For example, a $100 donation provides 20 chances to win. Tickets will not be mailed. The donations will be tracked through the foundation department at RMC.
The package includes a tall 80-gallon rolling red cooler, giant red, white and blue Jenga and cornhole game along with $250 in fireworks from Green’s Fireworks.
Participants who give over $75 will also receive a voucher good for a firework gift redeemable at Green’s Firework’s in Culbertson, Poplar, Wolf Point or Sidney. Participants who give over $200 will also receive a plaque in memory or honor of a person of their choosing to be displayed at RMC as part of the Light up RMC project.
Donations must be received by June 30. The winner will be contacted July 1 with an announcement made on RMC’s Facebook page and in local media.
Donations can be mailed: Attn: Light up RMC, PO Box 419, Culbertson, MT 59218. Envelopes are also available on posters in your local post office. For more information, contact Jaimee Green at 406-787-6476.
Every penny raised from the raffle will directly benefit the project.
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