Lake association donates $1,000 to Back the Cat

By Mike Riley

Local journalism Initiative Reporter

The Lake St. Peter Property Owners' Association donated $1,000 to the Back the Cat campaign on March 12. The LSPPOA's Bonny McCleery Scanlan and Kim Bishop, chair of the Back the Cat campaign, comment on this donation to the North Hastings Hospital's campaign to get a CT scanner so that all residents in Bancroft and the surrounding communities can benefit from it.

McCleery Scanlan told Bancroft This Week that they met with Bishop and Tammy Davis on March 12 for the presentation of the $1,000 donation to the Back the Cat campaign.

“We heard much more about the local health care issues that Quinte Health North Hastings Hospital contends with which has resulted in this campaign for Back the Cat,” she says.

The North Hastings Hospital's fundraising initiative to acquire a CT scanner for the hospital is called Back the Cat, and its goal is to raise $2.5 million for this purpose. Having a CT scanner at the local hospital will enable these diagnostic scans to be done here in Bancroft instead of sending patients up to two hours away to get these scans.

A CT scanner is a medical imaging technique to obtain detailed internal images of the body.

The Back the Cat campaign will help close a healthcare gap that currently exists in communities across North Hastings. In addition to saving lives, it also serves to attract and retain physicians in our community. Some 15,000 people in Bancroft and the surrounding areas use the services of the North Hastings Hospital.

Bishop says that they are very excited to receive recognition from the Lake St. Peter Property Owners' Association.

“A large portion of seasonal residents do not realize that our hospital does not have the same equipment as their hospital at home. Having a CT [scanner] in North Hastings will be a life saver for everyone; residents, seasonal residents and those passing through. We have worked hard to reach cottage associations with our message,” she says. “Thank you to Lake St. Peter [Property Owners'] Association for answering the call.”