Help Sumter Regional Hospital - All It Takes Is A Click

Earlier this year, Sumter Regional Hospital in southwest Georgia was destroyed by a tornado. The hospital served a largely poor rural population, and was the sole source of healthcare for many. They are currently operating from a temporary structure until the new hospital is completed in 2010. The shortfall between insurance and other payments and the funds necessary to complete the hospital is $13 million.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines are very expensive, yet critical for diagnosing many complex conditions. Due to their cost, many smaller hospitals cannot afford one. Siemens, a large international corporation that has significant market share in medical equipment, is currently holding a "Win An MRI" contest. Hospitals of fewer than 180 beds create a video explaining why they should win a free MRI. Anyone can then go to the website, view the videos, and vote for the one they think most deserving.

Some of the videos are quite imaginative and amusing (think "Magnetic Redneck Imaging"), and all of them certainly need an MRI, but none of them have had to face what Sumter Regional has this year.

Please visit the website (click here), view the video for Sumter Regional Hospital by selecting it from the drop-down box, and cast your vote for them. You can vote once per day from the same computer through the end of December. The first time you vote, you have to watch the video all the way through (it's only a couple of minutes) - on subsequent visits, you can cast your vote as soon as the video starts. Watching the video is actually pretty amazing as it includes live images that were captured by the hospital's security cameras during the tornado.

So as they say in Chicago, "vote early and vote often" for Sumter Regional Hospital and help this critical service provider get back on its feet, and provide the care that is so desparately needed in their community.