A device that helps nurses and physicians better monitor a baby while it’s still in the womb tops the shopping list in this year’s annual Envision Run For Mom.
The run – held for the past 11 years on Mother’s Day – is a major fund raiser for Chilliwack General Hospital. It has helped CGH purchase more than a quarter-million dollars in hospital equipment – all of it aimed toward providing better care for women and babies in the hospital’s maternity department.
This year run organizers have set their sights on a fetal monitor.
Understanding the health of a baby prior to its birth has always been an important part of maternity care. Over time, the tools used to monitor that health have become increasingly precise.
However, with that precision comes a higher price tag. The monitor eyed by Run For Mom organizers costs about $20,000 for the base model. It costs nearly $30,000 for the same monitor with more advanced features – features that allow greater mobility for mom, and more detailed information for caregivers.
Currently CGH has only one of the more advanced models.
Run participants can help CGH purchase one of these high-tech monitors by raising money as they prepare for the event. Registration forms and pledge forms are available at several locations throughout Chilliwack, including all Envision Financial branches and the Chilliwack Progress office. In addition to helping CGH, participants also have the opportunity to collect incentive prizes, depending on how many donations they gather. Individuals who raise a minimum of $750 will have their names entered in a draw for a WestJet voucher for two.
The Run For Mom has become a Mother’s Day tradition in Chilliwack. This year the event once again leaves from the parking lot of the new UFV Trades and Technology building at Tyson Road and Keith Wilson. Participants head west along Keith Wilson before turning on to the scenic Rotary Vedder Trail.
There is a five-kilometre run, as well as a chip-timed eight-kilometre run, and a one-kilometre race for the kids.
There’s live entertainment, displays and food. And while strollers are welcome, participants are asked to leave their bikes and dogs at home.
The race starts at 10 a.m., May 8, however it’s a good idea to get there early to register, especially if you haven’t picked up your race package early.
The pledge collection deadline to qualify for incentive prizes is noon, May 6.
For more information, see the Run For Mom website: www.runformomchilliwack.ca