USW Cares: USW Local & President Receive Jefferson Award for Dedication to Early Detection of Disease

Local 6500 and its president, Rick Bertrand, want to make brain and heart disease death a tragedy of the past. The Canadian local presented a check for $65,000 to the Sam Bruno Scanner Fund in 2014, the single largest donation the organization has received since it started its campaign to get Sudbury a PET (positron emission tomography) scanner in 2010.

Rick was nominated for a Jefferson Award for his leadership in the Ontario local that made it possible for such an impressive donation; he is the Steelworkers' District 6 Jefferson Award Winner because of the level of impact his amount of fundraising will accrue.

“We can't put a number on people's lives,” Rick said. “No one should be driving down south, especially when they're ill.”

The Local's donation has brought Sudbury closer to better availability of disease detection and treatment.  A PET scanner is medical diagnostic tool used in clinical oncology to help detect brain diseases, such as various types of dementia, as well as heart disease. It is also an important research tool to map normal brain and heart functions.  Of the nine machines in Ontario, one is located in Thunder Bay; the rest are in southern and eastern Ontario.

There is still a long way to go in reaching the hefty $4 million price tag, but Rick and his local helped the fundraising committee significantly with their donation. Recently, the government of Ontario made a decision to pay for the operating costs once the money is raised to purchase the scanner.

The fund was named in honor of Sam Bruno, who lost his battle to cancer in 2010 and who was a strong advocate for bringing a PET scanner to northern Ontario.

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