HOSPITAL HELPERS
QEH Foundation honours donors during annual fall friendship dinner
QEH honours donors who have reached giving milestones
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation recently held a fall friendship dinner to recognize more than 150 donors who helped purchased necessary medical equipment.
All attendees had reached a milestone in cumulative giving and were being recognized on the foundation’s donor wall in the hospital lobby.
Throughout the evening, several methods of how donors could provide support to their hospital were highlighted, including making donations to the annual Friends for Life campaign, the QEH/Eastlink Telethon, QEH Yuletide Gala Auction, Great Day Fore Health Harry MacLauchlan Memorial Golf Tournament, major gifts, special events in the community, monthly donations, payroll deductions, matching gifts, donations of gifts of shares, contributions through memorial giving, gifts of life insurance, and bequests gifts naming the QEH in estate plans.
Bob Sear, chairman of the foundation, highlighted special occasions throughout the year, including the announcement of $1 million in support of the QEH same-day surgery by Cavendish Farms that established an endowed fund to support annual equipment needs. He mentioned the arrival of more than $1.5 million of diagnostic imaging equipment which included the nuclear SPECT/CT camera and a new digital radiographic unit, both of which shortens a patient’s visit while offering improved comfort.
Dr. Greg German, QEH’s medical microbiologist, was the guest speaker, touching on the advances of medical equipment in laboratory medicine thanks to donors.
“It is because of you that our hospital is able to purchase equipment that has some of the most outstanding advancements in laboratory medicine in the past several years,” said German.
“We have been able to reduce the time it takes for identifying infectious organisms. Previously, if a patient was suspected of having an infection, a bacterial sample would be taken to the lab, grown over as many as 18 hours and then viewed under a microscope for identification. Now, most can be identified in the span of 18 seconds and the physician can introduce the appropriate antibiotic much quicker to the patient and they will get better faster.”
More than 1,600 names are currently displayed on the donor wall, representing an incredible collective accomplishment of giving since the foundation’s inception in 1984. As donors reach various levels of contributions, their name is added to donor wall.
The donor wall is updated annually and this special recognition event acknowledges those individuals, business and groups who are moving on to donor wall for the first time, or whose cumulative giving is moving them to a higher level of recognition.
“It is because of you that our hospital is able to purchase equipment that has some of the most outstanding advancements in laboratory medicine in the past several years.” Dr. Greg German