Roosevelt Medical Center Receives BNSF Foundation Grant

The Roosevelt Memorial Healthcare Foundation has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Foundation to help cover the expense of purchasing a chemistry analyzer for the laboratory department at Roosevelt Medical Center.

RMHF submitted their grant request last June and received confirmation of the award last week. “We were thrilled to receive word of this generous grant donation. Our community is ever changing and it is more important than ever for our facility to have front-line diagnostic equipment that prepares us for whatever patient conditions come through our doors,” said Joann Smith, director of laboratory services.

This is the first grant ever awarded to RMHF by BNSF’s Foundation.

“I am encouraged by the impressive outcome that comes from competing for local and national grant dollars and by how receptive those organizations are about supporting healthcare in rural communities like Culbertson,” said Jaimee Green, marketing/foundation director.

This grant will help offset the expense of purchasing the Horiba Pentra 400, a machine that serves as the heartbeat of the lab, ensuring better patient outcomes by enabling staff to diagnose illness, examine organ functions, determine drug and alcohol levels in the body, check for heart enzyme abnormalities as well as calcium, protein and phosphates.

“The BNSF Foundation is proud to be a partner in this project. We recognize that hospitals like Roosevelt Medical Center are vitally important to the welfare of families in the rural communities where we operate,” said Matt Jones, regional director of public affairs for BNSF.

The machine costs about $60,000, with $43,000 raised from this year’s FALL FEST fundraiser and an additional $1,525 received from the Maude Schutze Foundation.

“This machine helps ensure our community has access to quality, local healthcare which is one of the pillars of a strong community that helps entice people to stay in this area,” said Audrey Stromberg, administrator for RMC.

On average, this machine could be used on as many as 250 patients each month.

BNSF Railway Foundation has served as the philanthropic arm of BNSF since 1996 and assists non-profit and government organizations in areas along its rail-lines and where its employees live, work and volunteer.

In order to be selected as a recipient of the grant as a non-profit agency, an organization must meet two of the following criteria: the organization or project must have significant BNSF employee participation and the services offered must be in close proximity to the BNSF mainline.

 

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