A donation from a philanthropist to the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation in Kamloops has helped buy a costly piece of equipment.

The new Isoplater will be a “life saver,” for the hospital’s lab, according to operations supervisor of microbiology Deb Eckert. The Isoplater is a petri dish which does automatic streaking of culture media, which allows for bacteria to be reproduced.

The Isoplater cost $90,000 according to the RIH Foundation.

“We had a request for a new machine as we could not get parts or ongoing service for the old machine. When it broke down for good several months ago, we were in a bind as we had to resort to doing cultures by hand, which is really time consuming,” Eckert says.

“Now with the new Isoplater, the microbiology lab assistants can focus on other tasks.”

The Foundation says Lepin has been a “high-profile donor” for more than 25 years, giving more than $1 million in that time.

(Photo: RIH Foundation)