The Humber River Hospital is beyond grateful to share that our community has come together to answer the call for enhanced COVID-19 testing. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we have raised $233,000 in three short weeks to purchase and operate three brand new COVID-19 rapid testing machines for the hospital.
These machines will be put to use right away at Humber to detect this deadly virus in patients now, but will also be vitally important as services in the hospital re-open, and rapid testing must be done to keep patients and staff safe.
With these new King Fisher Duo Prime Instruments, the team at Humber will be able to Reduce wait times for patients to receive results by running up to 210 tests each day, right at the hospital, with results coming back in 75 minutes. Currently, Humber is referring tests to Toronto Public Health Labs and other labs where the turnaround time is one to six days. For frontline staff, having results in 75 minutes eliminates the need to self-isolate for days until results return. If negative, staff will be able to continue working in a healthcare system that is relying on them to care for patients. It also increases access to care for the community by rapidly testing patients and staff when other areas such as surgery and clinics re-open for service.
“I would like to thank our donors for providing the funds to purchase these instruments,” said Dr. William Dubinski, Chief of Pathology and Medical Lab Director, Humber River Hospital. “Because of their generosity, we can expand our testing capacity and ramp up procedures and surgeries that have been delayed until this point.”
These amazing fundraising results were made possible thanks to a generous gift match challenge launched by Upper Crust who pledged to match every gift made up to $100,000 for a total of $200,000 for the new machines. The cause resonated with many of their staff and partners who made generous donations and also with many community members, who, through major gifts, helped to not only reach the Upper Crust gift match, but surpass it.
“I’ve proudly been a Board Member of Humber River Hospital Foundation for several years, helping to serve the community in which our team at Upper Crust lives and works,” said Carmela Serebryany, President of Upper Crust. “As the battle against the coronavirus pandemic rages on, our team knew we wanted to support our Hospital and help people access important healthcare services such as surgeries and clinic appointments when the hospital re-opens.
“Rapid testing will help make that possible and I thank all our team members, suppliers and friends for their donations.”