The Sheep River Health Trust's eighth annual Avenue of Trees is supporting new tech at Okotoks Urgent Care.

Thirty-one trees were entered from local organizations and businesses with the top 10 heading to auction at the Mistletoe Market on Saturday, December 14.

Executive Director of the Sheep River Health Trust, Andrea Mitchell, says the funds from the campaign are going towards a machine that helps with quick diagnosis in the community.

"Last year the doctors came to us at the Urgent Care Centre and they said 'our patients are coming in and we could use an ultrasound machine for quick diagnosis for people who appear in Urgent Care'." she explains. "Currently, if you came to urgent care and you're pregnant, had abdominal injuries, wound care, they would actually put you in an ambulance sometimes and send you to the city because we don't have an ultrasound machine accessible to the doctors in Urgent Care. We were completely onboard to support it."

Mitchell says the machine has a price tag of $64,000 which they're hoping to cover a large portion of with their Christmas events.

"We hope to see about $25,000 to finish that project off. We have our Photos with Santa campaign and this year we saw over 700 families, and then with the tree auction as well we hope that will all go into finishing that project off for the Okotoks Urgent Care."

Last year the Health Trust supported the maternity project at the High River Hospital.

 

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