Motorcycle fundraiser for Quincy hospital

QUINCY - Registration is open for the first "Crusin' 4 Care" fundraising motorcycle ride, scheduled for Sept. 14. Riders will be raising money for a new ulstrasound machine and upgrades to the radiology department at Quincy Valley Medical Center.

The ride is sponsored by Chet's Honda Polaris in Quincy and the Quincy Valley Medical Center Foundation.

Entry fee is $45 for riders, $20 for passengers. Riders will meet about 9 a.m. at Chet's Honda Polaris, 17 H St. SW, Quincy. Bikers will hit the road at 10 a.m., riding in the Quincy Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day (FCAD) parade, then taking off for a 100-mile ride around the Columbia Basin, according to information from the foundation. The route is east past Moses Lake, then north and west, passing through Ephrata then back to Quincy.

Bikers will receive a ticket to the luncheon sponsored by the Quincy Rotary and tickets for the FCAD raffle.

The money raised will be used to pay part of the cost of a new ultrasound machine, said Michele Wurl, the foundation's executive director.

An updated ultrasound machine would allow the hospital to do echo cardiograms, Wurl said, a procedure using sound waves to take images of the heart. That's a service hospital officials are exploring, Wurl said. Hospital officials want to be able to perform vascular ultrasound, she said, which is a way to take a look at blood vessels using sound waves.

The hospital's current machine "is at the point where the quality of the images is not at the highest level," Wurl said. "There are times when we have to refer our patients elsewhere to get the necessary service." The current equipment also limits the hospital's ability to provide ultrasound service for bariatric (obese) patients, Wurl said.

People who want to participate in the ride can download the entry form from the hospital's website, www.quincyhospital.org, or contact Wurl at the foundation office, 509-787-5349.