Fund-raising, benefiting the Royal-Victoria Hospital & the Montreal General Hospital
English translation by Ida Perciballi

One Successful Evening!

Montreal, December 9th, 2005 – Services de Santé Optimum-Plus (SSOP) and the help group of insulin pump carriers of Quebec (GEPPIQ) held yesterday evening their fund-raising event to contribute to the program of insulin pump, founded two years ago for the Royal-Victoria Hospital. The evening of Latin dances at the Rumba, located at the 3785 St-Laurent boulevard was a successful one: the event raised 6 000 $ dollars!

In spite the cold temperature, the 140 participants had a hot evening with Latin dances by the Fuego Latino dance group and of a very dynamic introduction to salsa given by Steve Alvarez and Josée Thibault, two professional dancers of Fuego Latino. Many door prizes, courtesy of our sponsors, were also given.

The organizing committee would like to thank all the collaborators, without whom this event could not have been possible: Rumba Night Club, the dance school Fuego Latino, Lifescan, Medtronic, Animated, Smiths Medical, Bayer Inc, Abbott, Novo Nordisk, Salsafolie, Salsapresse, Salsa Montreal and Services de Santé Optimum-Plus.

The intensive treatment of the diabetes Type 1 is an ongoing fight for the patients affected by this disease in order to regularize their glycemia (blood sugar level). This stability is of primary importance to avoid certain problems of short-term health and to stop or slow down the evolution of the complications connected in the long term to diabetes. Thus, the person must manage multiple insulin injections daily, a relatively difficult treatment, which can complicate the life of any patient drastically.

The Royal-Victoria and the Montreal General hospitals, in collaboration with Service de Santé Optimum-Plus (SSOP), offer a treatment by insulin pump to their patients who require this kind of administration.

Presently, the Health insurance scheme of Quebec does not cover the expenses for this kind of treatment. The fund-raiser will thus make it possible for these two hospitals to continue to offer for free to patients affected by endocrinologist, access to the program of insulin pumps while profiting from the nurse services specialized in insulin treatment by external pump of SSOP.

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Information:
Bianka Charbonneau, director SSOP, 450.963.8898
Frédéric Daigle, press, 514.836.1444