It was an eventful 19th-annual general meeting for the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation yesterday.

The non-profit organization helped collect $1.68 million in gifts for southwest Saskatchewan's healthcare, down roughly $330,000 from 2016.

Clay Thompson, executive director with the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation, said the slight dip may have been because in 2015 and 2016 they were collecting large gifts to help fund the construction of the Meadows.

"While the numbers might look like they're down a little bit, it wasn't because of a lack of donor interest," Thompson stated. "It was just we didn't have the major project like we did 2016."

The two biggest projects in 2017 the foundation help generate funds for was the Leader Integrated Health Care Facility and the maternity renewal project at Cypress Regional Hospital.

"We're quite happy with that one," he said referring to the roughly $175,000 project for the Swift Current hospital. "Whenever you can do something to help moms and babies, it's always exciting from our perspective."

It wasn't just numbers being reflected upon at the meeting as Deb Unger was added to the volunteer board of directors, while Trudy Jewitt and Ron Mathies are the outgoing directors after both had served the maximum six years.

"Part of that is to avoid complacency, of this is the way we did it five or six years ago, so that's the way we should do it tomorrow," Thompson explained about why they have the bylaw of only being able to serve three two-year terms. "Every time we bring someone new on, we bring in some fresh ideas and new approaches to things and that always helps us."

The foundation also honoured two long-time donors in Ron Toles and W.W. Smith for their contributions during the organizations 19 years of existence.