The Telluride Medical Center's wish list just got a little bit shorter, thanks to the purchase of new equipment with money from the Telluride Medical Capital Fund.

The field-of-interest fund, managed by the Telluride Foundation, recently funded a variety of new equipment for the Telluride Medical Center, including a Fluoroscan Mini C-Arm ($30,000) for setting bone fractures, a Portable Mechanical Ventilation System ($8,000) for emergency room transport, and two new Emergency Crash Carts ($2,000) for heart attack response.

In addition, the fund provided $20,000 for 10 Public Access Defibrillator Units in Telluride and Mountain Village for resuscitating cardiac arrest victims. The Public Access Defibrillator program has been championed by part-time Ophir resident and cardiologist Mark Rosenthal, M.D.

Over the past four years, the Telluride Medical Capital Fund has contributed over $510,000 to improve the scope and sophistication of medical services in the region.

The fund will host the fourth annual Operation FEAST (Fund for Expanding and Supporting Telluride's Medical Capabilities) on Saturday, March 10 at the Telluride Conference Center. This gala event features a cocktail reception, a multi-course, gourmet dinner paired with exquisite wines, live auction and entertainment.

The focus of this year's Operation FEAST is to help fund the planning and land acquisition to build a new medical facility. Operation FEAST 2005 funded a Medical Needs Economic Assessment to define which health care services are economically viable in a five-to-ten-year timeframe. The results of the assessment demonstrated the economical viability of and need for a new, expanded and centrally-located medical center within the next five years to meet the demands of the growing Telluride community.

"Operation FEAST allows us to expand the scope and sophistication of healthcare services for residents and visitors of the Telluride region," said Mike Armstrong, chairman of the Telluride Medical Capital Fund. "It has been wonderful to see the overwhelming support from the community for a great cause that impacts all of us. This year, we look forward to making the first step towards supporting the process of building a new medical facility."

The Operation FEAST committee is comprised of Armstrong, Ron Allred, Harmon Brown, Davis Fansler, Bill Grun, Richard Houck, M.D., and Norman Sackar. To purchase tickets to the event and for more information, call the Telluride Foundation at 728-8717.