Funding A Need – Vein Finder

With the great success of our Grand Opening fundraiser which funded 3 sleeper chairs for Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation, I felt there was still more that could be done for our local hospital. After meeting with Charlene, Karen & Carly, three amazing ladies who run ERHF, I decided on the Vein Finder. This piece of equipment costs just under $15,000. This piece spoke to me personally.

What is a Vein Finder? It is a small, handheld x-ray type of equipment that allows nurses to find your veins easily. No poking and missing…I felt this needed to be purchased asap.

I suffer from bad veins…no real definition that I know of other than they are extremely painful to find for routine blood work and the only place that they can get blood is from the back of my right hand. Up until my first delivery, I suffered and suffered with every blood test that was needed. During my emergency c-section, the nurses and drug doctor, couldn’t find my veins. This was when the Vein Finder first came into my life. This machine, so small, yet so life changing.

Not only do I suffer but my mom does too. And the more I talked about my veins, the more I find that many suffer from similar issues. People going through chemo treatments often have their veins tapped into so much that their veins often have challenges too.

My veins were so bad that after my second child, I made the decision based on bloodwork alone, I would not have any more children. Obviously, life had its own plans, and we know I since had a third. But for something like this to be so life changing, if there was something I could do to make routine bloodwork so much easier for more than just me, I had to do something.

So, the mission started again. I reached out to my community and collected raffle prizes. We had over 100 prizes with a total value of over $10,000. It was incredible. I then had the challenge of selling tickets. The beauty of my business is that tax season brings in a lot of people, so I sold to clients as well as friends and family in the community. After the raffle, we were about half-way to our goal.

Doing two HUGE raffle fundraisers in less than a year is a lot of work and with being half-way to our goal, I felt I needed to reach out for personal and corporate donations. Our community stepped up, above and beyond.

My dad, Bruce Kehler, was also a huge supporter and connector. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my dad and his special staff attended an event and collected over $700. There was then a second event, MELA, which I was invited to attend and speak at.  I was also sent into the crowds with friends where we raised over $3,000. At this same event, we met a few corporate friends who made donations. And another special family friend made personal calls which brought in even more corporate donations.

Needless to say, in 7 short months, we raised the full amount and funded the Vein Finder. This piece of equipment has been designated to the area of the hospital where routine bloodwork is taken. I wanted to ensure that those of us who suffer have this technology at our disposal. No more unnecessary poking. No more pain…or perhaps less pain.