$50M gift cements Pattison’s legacy
Children’s hospital named after Saskatchewan-born businessman
It’s the largest donation in the province’s history, according to Premier Brad Wall. Health-care officials say it will help Saskatchewan’s new children’s hospital become a leader in pediatric and maternal medicine.
On Tuesday, Vancouver-based businessman and Saskatchewanborn philanthropist Jim Pattison announced his foundation will contribute $50 million to the hospital. Separate from a $75 million capital campaign currently underway, the donation will be used to fund research, endowments and fellowships at the facility, which is expected to be completed in 2019.
Pattison, who was present at Tuesday’s event, said the people of Saskatchewan helped his family when it was struggling during the Great Depression, and he hasn’t forgotten.
“Me and my family owe a lot to Saskatchewan,” he said. “As you heard ... my mother’s family were homesteaders and my dad’s family were homesteaders, so we wouldn’t be here without Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan people.”
Originally from Luseland, about 200 kilometres west of Saskatoon, Pattison, 88, said any effort, “no matter how small,” can help, and volunteering is one of the most important contributions a person can offer.
“That’s really giving — giving of your time,” he said. “That’s what builds a community, what builds a country.”
As a result of the donation, the hospital and the foundation will bear Pattison’s name, effective immediately.
The facility will now be called the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital and the foundation will follow suit. Brynn Boback-Lane, CEO and president of the newly named Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation, said the contribution is critical to the $285.2-million project.
“Fifty million dollars enables us to build a foundation that is bedrock solid so we can start building research opportunities, having chairs of research and fellowships, as well as absolutely specialized equipment that will go into the children’s hospital that we may or may not have been able to support,” she said.
“We’ll be speaking, of course, to the experts — the maternal and the pediatric experts — to ensure what those endowments are going towards are research products that we could do from home and that can have an impact across Canada.”
Boback-Lane said they’re getting close to the foundation’s capital campaign goal of $75 million, having raised $54 million toward construction of the 176-bed facility and recruited more than 70 per cent of the pediatric specialists needed for the facility.
Wall thanked Pattison on behalf of the provincial government.
“That’s always been the goal, is to not just have a children’s hospital in the province, but we need to make sure that there are staff, obviously, and the very best staff,” Wall said.
“So when you have a foundation that can provide ... the level of equipment and furnishings for a facility like this, it’s going to help us make sure that we are successful.”