Behind the Scenes: Underneath Our Hospital Lies a Foundation of Hope
2022-09-17
By President & CEO Jeanette Despatie; originally published in the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder on Saturday, September 17.
The Corus Caring Hearts Radiothon
is our Cornwall Community Hospital Foundation’s (CCHF) flagship annual
fundraising event. Held every year in partnership with Corus Entertainment, the
Radiothon is a full day of rallying community spirit and donations in support
of hospital initiatives that will help us better meet the needs of our
community.
This year’s Corus Caring Hearts
Radiothon took place on August 25 and raised $124,811 for our hospital’s Labour
and Delivery Unit, specifically a new birthing bed, new monitors to measure the
vitals of mothers and babies, and a new space for breastfeeding families.
These three projects will help Cornwall
Community Hospital (CCH) stay up to date with the latest technology and will
allow us to provide the best care and experience possible to our patients at a
time when they need it most.
The Radiothon also serves as an
uplifting day for our staff and physicians, many of whom tune-in and listen to
donors and community partners offer their support and share grateful
experiences live on air.
Words cannot express how thankful
I am for the efforts of our hospital foundation and its volunteer board of
directors, and for the support of donors, sponsors, and community partners for
their contributions.
CCHF oversees donations, manages
hospital endowments, and organizes capital campaigns. They also host special events and
organize all fundraising activities for the hospital. The small but mighty team
at CCHF and its volunteer board of directors have helped fill critical gaps for
CCH where government funding stops.
Established in 2004, the CCH
Foundation’s first major campaign was to help fund the hospital rebuild on the
site of the former Hotel Dieu Hospital, what today is CCH. They’ve also helped
make other major capital projects for our hospital a reality, such as the
Chemotherapy Unit and Community Addiction and Mental Health Centre; and have
purchased new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography
(CT) technology, cataract microscopes, infant warmers, speciality stretchers,
portable ultrasound units, and so much more.
Despite a pandemic that challenged the way in
which CCHF could fundraise, their story for 2021-22 is one of resilience, hard
work, gratitude, and growth. Thanks to the generosity of our community, CCHF
was able to purchase $607,241.98
in essential medical equipment over the past fiscal year, including the
technology needed to introduce the landmark Breast Seed Localization program for
breast cancer patients at CCH.
It takes a village to fundraise, and the
support they’ve received from our community to fund state-of-the-art equipment,
technology, and essential projects that help CCH deliver first-class healthcare
has been nothing short of exceptional; and for that, I thank each and every
donor for their generosity.
For more information on CCHF, and to learn more
about donating towards keeping our community healthy through future investments
of lifesaving and life changing medical equipment, you can visit www.cornwallhospitalfoundation.ca.