Perhaps the most anticipated golf tournament in the Battlefords each year is the Wayne Pruden Memorial Golf Tournament, as over 200 tee off each year.
"Great golf, great company, great food and a wonderful golf course all towards a worthy cause of new medical equipment at the BUH emergency unit in honour of the memory of a wonderful, giving man. This is a great event," said Jerry Wintonyk, Battlefords Union Hospital Foundation chairperson, as he summed up the kickoff event Tuesday at North Battleford Golf and Country Club.
Since 1997 Innovation Credit Union has been the major sponsor of the tournament and has contributed almost $100,000.
"Innovation Credit Union is well known, respected and truly appreciated for their continued generous support in the Battlefords," said Wintonyk.
"Innovation Credit Union is a community owned organization and our focus remains within our community and this is one way we can give back to the community that we support," said Randy Graham, vice-president of credit and operational risk at Innovation Credit Union.
Graham noted the importance of the BUH Foundation and the effort they put into fundraising in the community.
"The BUH should be proud of its achievements and they continued to prove that they are among the most respected and hard working charities in the Battlefords,' said Graham.
This year's fundraising effort will go towards a piece of specialized equipment in the emergency department - a Glidescope Video Laryngoscope.
In the tournaments' 15-year history, more than $290,000 has been raised for medical equipment and technology at BUH ranging from workstations and storage carts to specialized chairs and hospitality components for the renal dialysis unit.
"This piece of equipment is used for securing airways into patients who may or may not be able to breathe on their own," explains Chris Etcheverry, nursing unit manager for BUH emergency room. "Essentially this machine has a camera on the end of it that allows us to see down the throat and to see where we need to pass the air tube into."
BUH has an identical machine in the operating room for years. Etcheverry says it has been effective and is needed in the emergency department, which had nearly 35,000 visits in the past year.
"Our volume of trauma patients, who are presented to the ER, did increase where we needed to secure airways and it allows our emergency room physicians and our respiratory therapists to do that with ease of access," said Etcheverry.
The popular fundraising golf tournament will be June 4 with a shotgun start at 11 a.m. at North Battleford Golf and Country Club, which is the green fee sponsor of the event. The day will be concluded, at the Western Development Museum with the banquet, which is sponsored by M & M Meat Shops.
