Victoria Hospitals Foundation Launches Final Phase of $10 Million Campaign; Peninsula Co-op Matching $100,000 in Gifts to Empower Ground-Breaking Innovation in Victoria Hospitals

The Victoria Hospitals Foundation (VHF) is honoured to announce a significant milestone in its current community fundraising campaign, Emerge Stronger. With less than $3 million left to complete the campaign’s $10 million goal, a generous matching gift of $100,000 from Peninsula Co-op will kick-start the campaign’s third and final phase, Innovation, focused on raising funds to support ground-breaking research and equipment.

Peninsula Co-op hopes this gift will inspire donations to Emerge Stronger, which aims to fund 200+ pieces of priority equipment to meet the needs of care teams and serve patients at Royal Jubilee, Victoria General, and Gorge Road hospitals. Since launching in October 2021, more than 4,300 donors have raised more than $7 million towards the campaign’s $10 million goal.

“Matching campaigns not only raise more money for the cause, but also allow those who are giving to feel that much more connected to their donation,” says Lindsay Gaudette, Director of Marketing and Community Relations, Peninsula Co-op. “Gifts to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation not only support critical care for those in our community, but also show the hospital care teams how much the community appreciates them.”

The campaign’s first phase, Recovery, raised $4 million to help Victoria hospitals recover services and upgrade priority equipment impacted by the pandemic. The second phase, Local Care, raised $3 million to support Island-first advancements in our hospitals that will allow patients to access care close to their homes, loved ones, and support networks, rather than having to travel to the Mainland or elsewhere for care.

Now, the final phase, Innovation, focuses on raising $3 million for ground-breaking research and equipment that allows care teams to deliver care more effectively now, and in the future.

 

“Innovation begins with a clinician who wants to change the life of a patient, and a passionate community who is willing to stand behind them both. We extend our gratitude to Peninsula Co-op for this generous gift that will inspire community support and help our hospitals as they innovate for a better future for us all,” says Avery Brohman, CEO, Victoria Hospitals Foundation. “For the patients who are waiting for breakthroughs in care, philanthropy continues to be the vital link that empowers our brightest minds to transform challenges into solutions.”

The impact of the ambitious research projects supported through this final phase of Emerge Stronger reaches beyond Vancouver Island. The Innovation phase will help local visionaries challenge the status quo of how we deliver healthcare locally, nationally, and globally.

Some of these innovative research projects include:

  • A project aimed at detecting respiratory pathogens in pneumonia patients to accelerate (potentially life-saving) treatment and reduce costs. Current methods for identification of bacteria and fungi may take a few days and the goal of this project is to create a test that produces results in one hour.
  • A team that has developed a novel treatment for patients experiencing spasticity, a disabling condition that affects hundreds of thousands of Canadians with neurological disorders, including stroke, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and brain injuries. By deep-freezing nerves with nitrogen gas through a tiny probe through the skin, this approach that has led to muscle relaxation, restored function for shoulders and knees, and improved quality of life for many patients.
  • A project to improve quality of life for people with neuropathic pain, aiming to develop strategies to reduce “breakthroughs” of pain, and reducing these patients’ interactions with the healthcare system
  • The Substance Drug-Checking Project that will create and assess new ways to reducing overdose harm by sharing drug-checking information and community knowledge among people who use drugs

The Innovation phase will also support priority equipment needs, including a new $2.1 million Automated Chemistry Line for Royal Jubilee Hospital (RJH). The current Chemistry Line is over 20 years old, supports every area of care, and is the most-used piece of equipment across Island Health. Not only does this vital equipment support RJH, but it also accommodates community tests from various locations across the Island, and specialty tests from the entire region. While the current Chemistry Line performs 1,000-1,500 tests each day, the new Automated Chemistry Line can perform 1,200 tests every hour.

“Receiving timely lab results allows our care teams to address critical results in an expedited manner where minute-by-minute decisions are made. Quicker turnaround times help ensure patients have the best chance at a meaningful recovery and survival,” says Dr. Omar Ahmad, Department Head, Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Island Health. “The Chemistry Line is absolutely crucial to the work we do here in the hospital. An updated Automated Chemistry line will help increase efficiencies and result in an improved care journey for our patients, especially those who come through our Emergency Departments and spend time in our Intensive Care Units.”

To make a contribution to Emerge Stronger or for more information
visit www.victoriahf.ca/stronger or call 250-519-1750.

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