Curling tournament a lifeline for Montreal children’s hospitals

For the past 19 years, the Kurling for Kids (K4K) tournament has seen curlers take to the ice to raise money for the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation as well as the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation.

This year, curlers from 11 clubs around Montreal are sliding, sweeping and stealing, in the hopes of raising $340,000.

WATCH BELOW: Global’s Kim Sullivan leans how to curl with a few board members from Kurling for Kids.

3:33 Kim learns to kurl for kids

The money is used to purchase new equipment on each hospital’s wish list.

The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation will be purchasing six portable ventilators, which will allow critically ill children who need assistance with breathing to leave their hospital rooms and possibly even return home.

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For it’s part, Sainte-Justine received funding to buy a state-of-the-art neurosurgical laser.

Christine Tourigny, a K4K event organizer at the Lachine Curling Club, said the new machine — the only one of its kind in Canada — is already making a difference in young patients’ lives.

The laser allows for less-invasive operations, which helps patients recover more quickly.

“The great thing about this machine is that back in the past, patients would be in surgery and a piece of their skull would be removed, and they’d be in the hospital for about a week or so,” Tourigny explained.

“Our first patient, he was out of the hospital in 24 hours and back at school the next week,” she said. “So it’s a big thing that we’re doing.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Our first patient, he was out of the hospital in 24 hours and back at school the next week," she said. "So it's a big thing that we're doing."

So far, Tourigny said the curlers have reached the 62 per cent mark of their fundraising goal, but she wasn’t worried about reaching the target, with fundraising efforts continuing until the big raffle draw on April 29.

In its 19 years, the K4K eventhas raised $2.5 million, and organizers have no intention of slowing down.

“We keep setting the bar higher and trying to get more clubs in, more people to participate, and get the word out that we’re here and we’re trying to do good,” Tourigny said.

For more information, visit the Kurling for Kids website.