The Northern Lights Community Development Corporation (NLCDC) is helping support the Victoria Hospital.

Recently the corporation announced they had contributed $50,000 to help the hospital with their new and expanded neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

NLCDC General Manager Blake Charles explained his organization wanted to support the project due to the range of people the hospital in P.A. serves.

“We understand that a lot of communities from the north and in northern Saskatchewan; this is the biggest hospital nearest to them,” he said.

Charles said supporting the NICU expansion also fits into his organization’s goal to support health and wellness initiatives in and around the city.

NLCDC has seen its finances negatively affected by the Northern Lights Casino being forced to close its doors due to COVID-19. The corporation is responsible for distributing 25 per cent of the local casino’s profits to community initiatives in and around the P.A. area.

Charles said this has left them relying on support from the provincial government to keep going. He added the organization was still able to support some community organizations by making some budget adjustments.

“The province had to step in order for us to keep our lights on, but we had little bit of funds from the prior year that we were able to distribute,” he said.

(Photo courtesy of Facebook:The Victoria Hospital is currently raising money to support its new and expanded NICU unit)