An orchid show at Whidbey General Hospital means more than elegant flowers as proceeds will help buy items on the hospital’s medical equipment wish list.

The show and sale will be held in Conference Room B at the hospital from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 and Friday, Feb. 24.

The hospital will receive 20 percent of the proceeds. While this is WGH’s first orchid show and sale, past fundraisers have allowed the hospital to purchase bedside monitoring equipment, a surgical table and more, said Nancy Bailey, manager of volunteer services at WGH.

The orchid sale is sponsored by the WGH Gift Shop, which is run by volunteers and donates proceeds to WGH in the form of medical equipment.

In 2011, the gift shop provided $19,000 for WGH, Bailey said.

AJ Florals of California will provide the orchids. They specialize in doing hospital gift shop fundraisers, Bailey said.

“There will be all different types of potted orchids for sale,” Bailey said.

Bailey got the idea for an orchid sale fundraiser while attending a conference. She saw that other hospitals were doing orchid sales.

“And they had been incredibly successful and I thought we should try it,” Bailey said.

With the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle in February, Bailey said the orchid sale will be Whidbey Island’s version and proof that spring is coming.

“It’ll brighten the last part of winter and offer some beautiful orchids for sale,” Bailey said.

If the sale is successful, Bailey said she hopes to make it an annual event.

For more information, contact Bailey at 360-678-7656, ext. 3246.