By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Hospital Lottery dream home winner eyeing trip to Hawaii

Jul 25, 2018 | 1:52 PM

The winner of this year’s Red Deer Hospital Lottery dream home picked up the keys to her new pad on Wednesday.

But Debbie Greiner, a resident of Stettler and long-time housekeeping/long-term care employee at the local health centre, says keeping the $875,000 house likely isn’t in the cards.

“I had a bank appointment and I thought I’d leave my phone in the car because my kids or my husband might try to call me,” she said about the moments leading up to finding out about her big win. “When I left the bank, I went to the mailbox, and when I got to the car, my phone was ringing. I answered and that’s when Cynthia gave me the news. I was shocked.”

With the money from the sale of the house, Debbie and her husband Miles said they’d like to take a trip to Hawaii.

“We’re going to slow it down a little bit. We both work pretty hard,” Miles, an oil patch worker and farmer, said. “When we came here in 1990, we came with zero. We just walked away from Saskatchewan to come here.  It’s been a great province and a great ride, so this is really nice.”

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The entire family thanked the Health Foundation and Miles committed to contributing a prize to next year’s lottery, much like last year’s dream home winners did.

The Mega Bucks winner was also in attendance to receive a giant cheque for $250,000.

Jeannette Richard, a registered nurse in Red Deer, said she’s paid off a number of debts and plans to take a trip as well.

“Mom’s always been talking to dad about going to Niagara Falls, so that’s what we’re thinking,” she said. “The other half of this 50/50 going towards the beds is a huge thing for me because when I started there 20 years ago, I was fortunate to have the beds with one electric button that made it go up and down, but we did also crank the heads of the beds. It’s night and day with the comfort and the safety.”

Money raised from the Red Deer Hospital Lottery will fund about 39 new beds, which cost approximately $15,000 each.