I know some of you who read this page have heard of the Win An MRI contest that Lockport Memorial Hospital was entering.
The contest was sponsored by Siemens who wanted to promote their MRI by giving one away to a hospital that really needed one but probably couldn’t afford it. Their idea was to have each hospital submit a short video telling why they should be given one. Then people could watch the video online and vote for the hospital they thought should win.
The videos were varied. Many used humor to tell their story. Others just presented their case and hoped for the best. There were a large number of entries, far too many for me to watch them all. But the top one all along seemed to be a hospital that had suffered devastating damage in a storm. Lockport always seemed to be lagging behind by a 2 to 1 margin.
But Lockport supporters never gave up. They kept talking about the contest and urging people to vote. And vote every day. The numbers kept climbing, but so did the competitions. But they never gave up.
And it’s a good thing they didn’t. Today it was announced at a gala press conference (video at winanmri.com) that Lockport Hospital was the winner!
So Lockport is getting a new MRI from Siemens. That’s great news. But what about the other hospital that was way ahead?
According to the rules, the hospital had to be ready to accept the MRI immediately. Well, as immediately as installing a complex machine gets – it will take about 6 months to install Lockports’. The other hospital still was rebuilding after the storm and wasn’t ready for a patient, much less an MRI. So they couldn’t win, technically.
Was their loss Lockport’s gain? Perhaps, but Siemens has a heart. They announced the the other hospital would also get a new MRI when they were ready for it. So for two hospitals and their communities, it was a win-win proposition.
