The Royal University Hospital Radiothon with Saskatoon Media Group’s three stations – CJWW, 92.9 The Bull and 98 Cool have raised $421,585 as part of the RUH Foundation’s Mission Possible: Operation New O.R. Campaign.

Foundation CEO, Arla Gustafson, says the current operating rooms were state-of-the art when they opened in 1978 and there have been upgrades along the way, but it’s time to modernize.
The overall goal is to raise $20-million to modernize the operating rooms, which will be bright, open, and airy with the latest technologies.  Gustafson says “when you launch a $20 million campaign it’s about our people, it’s about our families, it’s about the patients that have been at RUH or will come in the future.  It’s about the surgeons, and all the medical teams, whether in the lab, the pharmacy, the nurses.  People who come to work everyday and save lives.”

Gustafson describes the current O.R.s as crowded, with outdated equipment and technology that needs to be replaced.  She says the space is to small and the equipment is on the floor and not hanging from the ceiling, out of sight for when it’s needed.  Gustafson adds robotics and artificial intelligence also comes into factor in today’s surgical care.

In 2019, medical teams at RUH performed 18,000 surgeries.