The Foundation's history

1989

• The Royal Victoria Hospitals Foundation is formed, with a mandate to raise funds for the four hospitals represented by the Greater Victoria Hospital Society: Gorge Road Hospital, the Fairfield Health Centre, the Royal Jubilee Hospital and the Victoria General Hospital.

1990

• The Royal Victoria Hospitals Foundation is renamed the Greater Victoria Hospitals Foundation.
• The Foundation hosts its first Visions black-tie fundraising gala.

1994

• Our first capital campaign, Better Together, is launched with a $12-million goal. It is the first campaign on Vancouver Island to support local hospitals.

1997

• Our Better Together capital campaign surpasses its goal, raising $12.3 million in support of Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria General Hospital, Gorge Road Hospital, and Fairfield Health Centre.
• Thanks to our donors, funds raised help purchase more than 60 types of much-needed medical equipment. Examples include neonatal incubators and infant critical care monitors, a diagnostic gamma camera, video gastroscopes, a cardiac holter scanner, a diagnostic hysteroscopy system, a wheelchair-access van, and a blood bank computer system.

1998

• Our Better Together campaign is recognized by the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy as the Capital Campaign of the Year in a competition of health care foundations across Canada.

1999

• The community helps us raise more than $118,000 for a cardiac ultrasound machine through this year’s Visions gala.

2000

• Our spring and fall campaigns raise more than $500,000 in support of Laboratory Medicine and Diagnostic Services at Victoria General and Royal Jubilee Hospitals.

2002

• The Greater Victoria Hospitals Foundation launches Together We Care — our second major capital campaign and the first to move beyond the scope of acute care services. With a fundraising goal of $17 million, this is the most ambitious health care campaign ever undertaken by a charity on Vancouver Island.

2003

• The new Diagnostic and Treatment Centre — which contains the emergency department, intensive and critical care units, diagnostic services, and operating rooms — opens at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. This significantly improves the facilities and services involved in diagnosing and treating patients.
• Forty per cent of equipment purchases, totalling $10 million, were made possible by our Together We Care capital campaign.

2004

• The Archie Courtnall Centre opens, with $2.9 million towards construction contributed through the Together We Care capital campaign. This new Psychiatric Emergency Services Unit is named for the Courtnall family who raised the majority of the funds in honour of their father.
• Upgrades to medical equipment at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General Hospitals funded through Together We Care include 17 anesthesia workstations at $124,000 each, a $400,000 image-guided navigation system for neurosurgery, a $54,000 transcranial doppler machine, and more than $480,000 for Special Care Nursery equipment. The campaign also funded $25,000 for Nursing Education Bursaries.
• Thanks to the generosity of the community, the Greater Victoria Hospitals Foundation celebrates the successful wrap-up of the Together We Care capital campaign, which exceeded its goal by raising $17.3 million.

2005

• Hillside Seniors Centre opens. Through a partnership with the Greater Victoria Eldercare Foundation as part of our Together We Care capital campaign, the community contributes $2.2 million towards construction of this innovative new seniors centre.
• The Piercy Respite Hotel and the Yakimovich Wellness Centre are named for generous donors Clive Piercy and Olga Yakimovich, who each gave gifts of $1 million through the Greater Victoria Hospitals Foundation.

2006

• We have a new name: the Victoria Hospitals Foundation. This puts “Hospitals” front and centre, where our fundraising focus is. The name highlights our reason for being.

2007

• The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Victoria General Hospital, the Cardiac Care Unit at Royal Jubilee, and the Intensive Care Units at both hospitals receive funds for four ventilators — totaling $240,000 — through our 2007 spring campaign.
• Royal Jubilee Hospital’s Ophthalmology Department — the referral site for all Vancouver Island patients — receives a $225,000 retinal camera and microscope to assist in surgical procedures through our fall campaign.

2008

• Our Executive Director, Melanie McKenzie, is honoured with a B.C. Community Achievement Award. Under her 14-year leadership, the Foundation’s team has increased its annual fundraising from $700,000 to $7 million.
• The Neill Medical Imaging Centre opens at Royal Jubilee Hospital in recognition of one of our most thoughtful and compassionate donors, Mr. William Guy Neill.

2009

• In September, the new Emergency Department at Victoria General Hospital opens for patients, with brand new state-of-the-art specialized equipment thanks to donors’ contributions to our $2-million campaign.
• Since inception in 1989, the Victoria Hospitals Foundation has continued to support excellence in patient care by raising more than $70 million for priority medical equipment and patient care programs at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General Hospitals.