The 16th annual Hats on for Healthcare campaign in support of the Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) kicked off Saturday morning at Devonshire Mall.
Colourful and creative hats were on display to begin the month-long fundraiser for vital hospital equipment.
WRH's Chief of Medicine Dr. Ian Mazzetti says this year’s donations will support the cardiology program and the construction of the second catheterization lab.
"For years we've been operating as a 24/7 cath lab table with just one table," he said. "So this mean that if two people come in with a heart attack at the same time, there's a chance that we might not be able to get to one as fast as we need to. This will allow us to do work with folks simultaneously, it allows us to expand the services that we offer, and it's a real boon to the community."
Over the first 15 campaigns, Hats On For Healthcare has raised more than $650,000 for the hospital’s programs and services.
With a goal of raising $100,000, fundraising began Saturday with the 3rd annual radiothon heard live on AM800.
He says the campaign this year will support not only urgent procedures, but also treatment that's rendered in the coronary care unit.
"This is a place where people go when they have acute heart issues, need to be admitted to the hospital," Dr. Mazzetti said. "It also supports education when folks are discharged from the hospital, ward level care, we have state of the art diagnostics suite, echocardiogram, nuclear medicine, this goes to support all of those important programs."
Dr. Mazzetti says several times a month doctors end up having to delay elective patient procedures in order to prioritize more acute patients.
"We want to be able to provide the care right here at home in Windsor," he said. "We don't want to be sending folks to other centres south of the border, we want the care to be provided right here in Windsor."
Over $30,000 had been raised over the weekend and individuals or teams are encouraged to sign up online to help reach this year’s goal before the campaign ends on March 31.
-With files from AM800's Kyle Horner and CTV Windsor's Robert Lothian