When Peter Naccarato landed in Windsor Regional Hospital with a rare blood disorder 15 years ago, he was moved by the compassion and hard work of the nurses who cared for him. He wanted to show his gratitude by giving back to the hospital to help improve services for other patients.

 

Naccarato was surprised to find out that WRH did not have a machine that analyzes and separates blood types automatically - all the work was done manually by lab technicians.

 

With help from his longtime friend Mario Petretta, Naccarato decided to start raising funds for a much-needed technology upgrade at the hospital's blood bank. Both men have since died, but their legacy carries on.

 

Through the annual Pete and Mario Memorial Golf Tournament, the Naccarato and Petretta families raised more than $150,000 to purchase the Ortho Pro Vue automatic machine for WRH, which quickly and efficiently separates blood types and performs all the necessary screening of blood samples before transfusions.

 

"When my dad was in the hospital, he couldn't believe they didn't have a computer to do all that," said one of Naccarato's sons, Dino Naccarato. "This is what he set out to do."

 

The two families also helped purchase other equipment for the blood bank, including a plasma thawer and platelet rotator.

 

"Over the years, donations just kept getting bigger and bigger," Dino said of the fundraising mission. "It's been amazing."

 

Hospital officials praised the families' dedication and efforts, saying last week's unveiling of the Ortho Pro Vue machine is really about them and their friendship.

 

The new technology, considered the gold standard in transfusion medicine, will reduce wait times and make blood processing safer and more accurate by reducing the chance of error that comes with manual testing, said WRH CEO David Musyj.

 

It will also free up staff to do more complex work, he added.

 

For the Naccarato and Petretta families, the annual golf tournaments are about more than fundraising.

 

"It's a real family reunion," Dino said.

 

Article Credit:

SONJA PUZIC

The Windsor Star