Healthy connection

Retired nurse and her husband donate $100,000 to Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Donalda Bosovich gave a great deal to health care as a nurse.

Now the P.E.I. native is making a sizable contribution in retirement.

Bosovich and her husband, Sandy, are marking their 50th wedding anniversary through a $100,000 endowment fund for the purchase of medical equipment for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown.

Despite Donalda never having been a patient at the QEH and the fact she is living in Calgary, she feels a strong connection to P.E.I.’s referral centre for specialized hospital services.

Several of her relatives have received quality care at the hospital.

Also, she believes the donation will have a significant impact in this key facility in her home province.

“It makes more of an impression giving it to a smaller hospital,’’ she explains.

“As far as I can see, I think it’s a lovely hospital.’’

Adds Sandy: “We’re also hoping it might inspire others to do something along the same line.’’

Donalda, the daughter of the late Katie and Duncan MacTavish, had a humble beginning to an impressive career.

She grew up on a farm in Lower Newtown.

At 16, she started a two-year stint teaching Grades one to 10 in Pownal.

After graduating from the nursing program at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Donalda went to Saint John where she was instrumental in setting up the first neurosurgery unit in New Brunswick.

She went on to work as a head nurse in the neurosurgery unit of the Calgary General Hospital, working her way up to assistant director of nursing.

For the past 10 years, Donalda and her husband have made an annual visit to P.E.I., each year dropping in to the QEH Foundation to make a donation.

This year, the couple decided to make a sizable gift to the hospital in the form of the Sandy and Donalda (MacTavish) Bosovich Enowment Fund.

Tracey Comeau, CEO of the

“It makes more of an impression giving it to a smaller hospital. As far as I can see, I think it’s a lovely hospital.’’ Donalda Bosovich

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation, says foundation staff has enjoyed getting to know the couple over the years.

“We are so pleased the Bosovichs decided to commemorate their milestone wedding anniversary with this meaningful endowment gift to the QEH Foundation,” says Comeau.

“Islanders away retain a strong link to home, and this is a perfect way to have a big and continuing impact on the health of their Island family and friends.”

In recognition of the generous endowment, the Sandy and Donalda (MacTavish) Bosovich Endowment will be added to the QEH Foundation donor wall located in the main lobby of the hospital.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Donalda Bosovich is shown in the 1970s when she was working at the Calgary Genereal Hospital. Bosovich, who grew up in Lower Newtown, P.E.I. and her husband Sandy have donated $100,000 to QEH Foundation.

SUBMITTED PHOTO P.E.I. native Donalda Bosovich and her husband Sandy have donated $100,000 to the Queen Elizabeth Foundation to establish an endowment fund for the purchase of medical equipment for the hospital.