'It's going to change health care': Cape Breton couple's $1-million donation accelerates treatment
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Skip to ContentHomeFilter by regionNova ScotiaHalifaxLocal SportsLocal BusinessLocal OpinionAnnapolis ValleyTruroTri-CountyNew GlasgowSouth ShoreAntigonishCape BretonPrince Edward IslandSummersideNewfoundland & LabradorNewsCanadaHealthWorldOpinionEditorial CartoonsBusinessLocal BusinessSportsLocal SportsBaseballBasketballFootballHockeyEntertainment & LifeFoodHomesSavingsSpecial SectionsLives ToldTails ToldShopping EssentialsDealsEntertainment & HobbiesGift GuideHome LivingKitchen & DiningOutdoor LivingPersonal CareStyle & BeautyTechTravel GuidePNI Atlantic StoreePaperPuzzmoNewslettersTravelBusiness AdsObituariesClassifiedsJobsAdvertisingAdvertising With UsAdvertising SolutionsPostmedia Ad ManagerSponsorship RequestsProfileSettingsMy SubscriptionsNewslettersCustomer ServiceFAQNewsOpinionBusinessSportsEntertainment & LifeSpecial SectionsShopping EssentialsePaperPuzzmoNewslettersTravelBusiness AdsObituariesClassifiedsJobsLori Reid, director of pathology and laboratory medicine for Nova Scotia Health's Eastern Zone, right, shows Nonie MacLeod the Leica Slide Scanner that she and her husband Stuart MacLeod helped the Cape Breton Regional Hospital acquire through a $1-million donation. "It's absolutely incredible. It's going to change health care in the Eastern Zone," Reid said of the $425,000 diagnostic tool that converts traditional glass tissue slides into high-resolution digital images. Chris Connors/Cape Breton PostFrom left, Leslee MacDonald and her parents Nonie MacLeod and Stuart MacLeod pose with Nova Scotia Health president and CEO Dr. Nicole Boutilier, Nova Scotia Health Eastern Zone vice-president of operations Brett MacDougall, Nova Scotia Health Eastern Zone interim department head of pathology and laboratory medicine Dr. Tim Mailman, Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation chair Allyson Unsworth and Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation CEO Paula MacNeil. The MacLeods donated $1 million to the foundation’s Clear Path Forward Campaign, focused on advancing diagnostic imaging and pathology at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital. 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Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorA Cape Breton couple has given patients and health-care workers more of something money usually can’t buy: time. On Tuesday, the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation announced a $1-million donation from MacLeod Lorway Insurance Group owners Stuart and Nonie MacLeod to purchase state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment for the Cape Breton Regional Hospital’s pathology and microbiology laboratories. Staff are already using the new technology to rapidly analyze samples, allowing doctors to diagnose diseases and infections more quickly, and formulate clear treatment plans. Lori Reid, director of pathology and laboratory medicine for Nova Scotia Health’s Eastern Zone, compared the new equipment to “being five and your dad getting you a new pony. ”One of the eight pieces of equipment is the first-ever Leica Slide Scanner to arrive in Cape Breton. The $425,000 tool converts traditional glass tissue slides into high-resolution digital images so pathologists can analyze specimens on a computer screen instead of a manual microscope. The regional hospital staff, which currently manually creates more than 125,000 pathology slides each year, can also now instantly share those samples in real-time with consulting specialists anywhere in the world. “Every slide that’s processed every day can go onto this piece of equipment,” explained Reid. “And the benefit of this slide scanner is we’ve had a doctor shortage here for at least four years. “We’ve also had major hurricanes; we’ve had Snowmageddon, so if we can’t get into work, we can’t get the cases read. With this piece of equipment here, we can load the cases on, and if the pathologist can’t get in due to weather reasons, they can read the slides from home. It’s amazing. “If we need a consult — we send our consults to the QEII, we send them to the Mayo clinic, we send them to Toronto to specialists for certain types of rare cancers and things like that. We’ll load them and then they can be read instantly. Where now they have to go on a plane, they have to go in a courier car, they have to be packed up — they’re glass, they’re very fragile — we’ll be able to do all that instantly. It is incredible. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s going to change health care in the Eastern Zone. ”Dr. Tim Mailman, interim department head of pathology and laboratory medicine for the Eastern Zone, said the equipment purchased with a $1-million donation from MacLeod Lorway Insurance Group owners Stuart and Nonie MacLeod will have a “huge domino effect on health care across the organization and the zone … faster diagnosis, faster treatment, faster patients moving to the right areas. ” Chris Connors/Cape Breton PostThe MacLeod money was also used to acquire a rapid bacterial identification analyzer, knowns as a MALDI-TOF (Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight) that can diagnose things like sepsis in minutes as opposed to days. “The prior technology is a 12-, 18-, 24-hour technology sometimes requiring another lab to figure the organism out,” said Dr. Tim Mailman, interim department head of pathology and laboratory medicine for the Eastern Zone. “With the MALDI-TOF you can make the identification of the organism in less than 20 minutes and you can deal with multiple organisms at the same time. That has a huge domino effect on health care across the organization and the zone … faster diagnosis, faster treatment, faster patients moving to the right areas. ”Stuart MacLeod said he and his wife feel a “tremendous amount of satisfaction in being able to give back” with the donation. “Nonie and I are so pleased that we are able to contribute to this wonderful equipment,” he said in a statement. “It brings us much joy to see and hear the excitement of the professionals who will be using it in their daily routine to provide faster diagnoses, better access to specialists, and create better collaboration among pathologists. We have the greatest admiration for health-care workers. Many work long hours under difficult and stressful conditions and, in our opinion, without the level of appreciation that they truly deserve. ”The additional pieces of equipment purchased with the $1 million are: a ventilated workstation used for the safe examination of tissue specimens; laboratory instruments; two microscopes; a new labelling system for specimen archival; and slide stainer for hematology testing and patient diagnosis. Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation CEO Paula MacNeil described a $1-million donation from Stuart and Nonie MacLeod as a “transformational gift. ” Chris Connors/Cape Breton PostCape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation CEO Paula MacNeil described the donation as a “transformational gift. ”She said the Cape Breton Regional Hospital handles more than 600,000 patient visits a year and while the microbiology and pathology laboratories are at the core, providing critical care behind the scenes. “If the hospital is at the heart of health care in our community, the laboratories are truly at the heart of our hospital. The labs are fundamental to our hospital’s ability to diagnose disease, guide treatment and provide timely care to patients across the island. it’s a little section of our hospital that we don’t often think doors, I call it Narnia back there,” she said. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. 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