Legion steps up to help long-term care home

Funds raised through the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 poppy campaign have purchased a new, small, non-invasive piece of equipment to be used in caring for Extendicare Maple View residents.

Rob Gardner, Branch 25 poppy campaign chair, presented a cheque Tuesday for $14,000 to the long-term care facility for the purchase of a bladder scanner.

Johanne Messier-Mann, Extendicare Maple View administrator, accepted the cheque in the presence of several Maple View residents who are veterans and Legion members.

"I'm very grateful to the Legion…we get a certain amount of money every year but there are many things we require and we have to prioritize.  I wouldn't say the scanner is a luxury but the benefits this scanner gives us is wonderful," Messier-Mann said, speaking to SooToday.

"This funding is a very nice gift from the Legion and this will be of benefit to a lot of our residents."

Extendicare Maple View currently has 256 residents.

"We received a letter from Johanne requesting assistance in purchasing the scanner.  I don't think they realized we were going to give the full amount, I think they were looking for a contribution to help offset the cost, so it was good to be able to purchase it," Gardner said.

"The poppy campaign pays off.  It's good that people see their money is being used for things like this, and the money (from the Branch 25 poppy campaign) stays local," Gardner said.

The Branch 25 2014 poppy campaign brought in $75,000.

The poppy campaign runs every year from the last Friday in October to November 11.

The 2014 poppy campaign was a short one, as the last Friday in October was October 31.

"A bladder scanner is a very simple piece of medical equipment which is passed over the bladder and it tells us if there's any urinary dysfunction, any urine collecting in the bladder," Messier-Mann said.

"Urinary retention can be very uncomfortable and it can be very dangerous, it can lead to bladder infection, it can move up and lead to a urinary tract infection and a kidney infection…what happens in older people is they can develop sepsis, and they can die from that."

The bladder scanner will diagnose what is wrong and, in many cases, enable the problem to be treated at Maple View and prevent visits and admissions to the hospital.

(PHOTO: Rob Gardner, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 poppy campaign chair, speaks with Johanne Messier-Mann, Extendicare Maple View administrator, after a poppy campaign donation for purchase of equipment for Maple View, March 31, 2015. Darren Taylor/SooToday)