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Medical imaging company in Portage fundraising for healthcare workers

Fundraiser allowing public to buy gift cards as thank you gifts for ‘selfless, sacrificial’ healthcare workers
Posted at 7:44 PM, Apr 15, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-15 19:44:46-04

PORTAGE, Mich. — Since the pandemic broke out in mid-March, Kent White and others at Kalamazoo X-Ray Sales kept hearing from their clients about how tough everything is in the healthcare industry now.

“All of our hospital clients are talking about how stressful this time is for their staff,” White said during an interview with FOX 17 on Wednesday afternoon. “They’re just talking about it’s overwhelming, both mentally and physically.”

So, KXS, a medical imaging service company, decided to create an online fundraiser to support healthcare workers by inviting the public to purchase gift cards for them, he said.

“They can go online to our websites and send gift cards right into our office and we have our address on both of those pages,” White said. “When they’re on our website, they’ll fill out a form that’ll say what hospital they want it to go to and what restaurant they want the funds to go to.”

They can also send a healthcare worker a personal thank you note to go along with the gift card, he said.

“We’ve always known that they’re selfless individuals with the sacrifices they’ve made,” White said. “Now the whole world is seeing it. So we want to be able to get that message to them.”

White added that they created a GoFundMe account, for people who simply want to donate.

The goal is to raise $20,000, he said.

“Once our GoFundMe hits the number we want to hit, we’ll withdraw it,” White said. “Then those restaurants who’ve signed up on our website to participate, we’ll be contacting them to get them to send us those gift cards so we can distribute them to our clients.”

White said they have clients all over the state, including northern Indiana. They also work with Bronson and Borgess Hospitals in Kalamazoo.

However, they’re not only supporting their clients, he said.

If any donor wants their gift card to go to specific healthcare facility or worker, just let them know, he said.

“Medical workers and the medical professionals, they’re sacrificing so much. They’re the first among us to deserve time out with family and friends,” White said. “So, they’ll be able to use these gift cards to go out, have dinner, with family and friends and hopefully, at the same time, it’ll help those restaurants get a boost starting back up when this is over.”