PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation said that Irving Oil was the final $500,000 donor to Atlantic Canada's first PET/CT Scanner. The successful PET/CT Scanner campaign raised more than $4.5 million in total.
All of us at Irving Oil are proud that we could make a contribution to bring the first PET/CT Scanner east of Montreal here to Saint John, said Arthur Irving Jr. We want to express our thanks to the dedicated and experienced physicians, nurses and other practitioners who will use this technology, and who deliver excellent [image-nocss] medical care to our community on a daily basis. Having this scanner available in Saint John improves our quality of life and gives our medical professionals the latest tool to diagnose and treat people in our community.
Irving Oil's donation was provided through the company's Fuel the Care program, which helps families of sick children by providing fuel vouchers for the drive between home and hospital for medical care. The program has helped more than 10,000 families since its launch in 2002.
The scanner enables cancer patients to avoid unnecessary invasive procedures, shows whether treatment is working or if a tumor has spread beyond being treatable and detects recurrence. This is technology that advances cancer diagnosis and health care more than any other medical equipment in 50 years, said Grant Brennan, chair, PET/CT Challenge Campaign. It increases the chances of effective treatment, reduces the amount of testing, and lessons the anxiety of the child and the stress of families.
Before the scanner acquisition New Brunswickers had to travel to the United States or to Sherbrooke, Quebec, to have access.
It's a powerful diagnostic imaging tool that detects cancer at a microscopic level, says William H. Teed, Q.C., chair of the board of directors for Atlantic Health Sciences Corp. Thanks to the generosity of our community, government and local businesses, Saint John Regional Hospital is at the forefront of cancer detection and treatment.
Irving Oil's Fuel the Care program helps with fuel costs incurred by families who drive between home and hospital for their children's medical care. Families benefiting from Fuel the Care receive Irving Oil gift certificates, redeemable at all Irving Bluecanoe, Mainway and Big Stop locations. In Atlantic Canada, Fuel the Care partners with the Saint John Regional Hospital in New Brunswick, the Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre in Newfoundland, and the IWK Health Centre in Nova Scotia. Together, these hospitals treat children from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador.
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