2022 Donor Impact Report
Small HospitalBig Future
Introduction
2022 Momentum.
When we look back at all we have accomplished in 2022, money raised, equipment purchased, and community engagement, we can proudly boast that this is a community that cares deeply about healthcare. But, it is more than that. Healthcare isn’t just about the best equipment and technology, it is about the people that we serve. Rural healthcare is people helping people. Our community invests in equipping our team. And in turn, our healthcare team works to improve the lives of those that come to CGMH.
This has been a year that has set the stage for support. Numerous third-party events took place throughout the year, from birthday parties to support on the slopes and on the green, our communities found their cause for celebration… and had a lot of fun in the process.
“In a world that is full of despair, small acts of kindness are radical acts of defiance, and they’re the force that we need to ultimately build the world that we all need.” – Vivek Murthy, 21st Surgeon General of the United StatesIt is hard to look back and reconcile how time passed during the lockdown. A blip, a black hole, eternity for some. Regardless, the pandemic put us all in a state of inertia and trying to purchase equipment was met with shortages and delays that frustrated us to no end. Perseverance and patience prevailed and we are pleased to announce that both the CT Scanner and the Fluoroscopy are in the procurement process and will be coming to CGMH soon. This has projected us into our next goal for diagnostic imaging, the MRI machine…a first for our hospital. And while $5 million may seem like an extraordinary feat, we are motivated to meet this goal as it will impact over 8,000 of our community members each year. And we are confident that our community will continue to come forward with support and generosity.
Thank you for your continued support.Jory Pritchard-Kerr, President & CEO
Michael Dick, Chair of the Board of Directors
Top image features CGMH’s Dr. Carola Elkhuizen
FOUNDATION GIVING STATS
$6.3 Million generated for equipment and technology
Thank you to the 3,783 donors who made 6,707 donations in 2022. Individuals, families, foundations, municipalities, and businesses all came together last year to raise over $6.3 million for equipment and technology for CGMH.
We are proud to share that 81 cents of every dollar went to support the Hospital’s highest needs, with 0.19 cents of every dollar supporting our fundraising and operations.
For the complete audited financial statements, please visit CollingwoodHospital.com
or contact the Foundation Office at (705) 444-8645.
2022 Impact
Our Procurement team continues to work relentlessly and tirelessly to bring in new equipment and technology. Here are a few stories of how this equipment is helping to save lives, improve the patient experience, and advance both efficiency and safety.
Automation for faster lab results.
The lab at the Collingwood G&M Hospital analyzes and outputs an extraordinary amount of urine tests. To help standardize the production of test results, they purchased the DxU Iris Workcell to streamline the process. This allows our laboratory professionals to focus on more critical areas of the lab; reducing time-consuming steps and increasing lab efficiency. This will ultimately result in faster, more accurate diagnosis, and better patient outcomes.
“Automation allows for more flexibility and time to focus on more time-sensitive manual tests. It’s instrumental in allowing our lab to accomplish more with fewer resources.”
Sarah Hamilton, Manager Laboratory and Quality Lead for CGMH
Localizing breast cancer tumours.
MOLLI employs a small magnetic marker, which is implanted by a radiologist, in the patient to localize breast cancer tumours. During the procedure, the surgeon uses the MOLLI Wand, which detects the marker, to remove the lesion more efficiently, and ensures surgeons have the very best chance to locate and remove cancer areas. The magnetic seeds can be placed up to 30 days prior to surgery, reducing the length of a very stressful day for patients and allowing them to focus on their surgical experience.
“We believe in investing in cutting-edge care that will improve our operating rooms and provide a safer and more comfortable patient experience.”
Dr. Michael Lisi, CGMH Chief of Staff
Diagnosing & monitoring lung disease.
Engineered for accurate and reliable clinical results, the Vyntus PFT System is breaking new ground for CGMH. Performing a variety of “breathing tests” to help physicians diagnose and monitor lung diseases such as COPD and Pulmonary Fibrosis, this new machine offers better accessibility while performing more tests, faster; saving valuable time and improving clinical outcomes.
“By getting a much better understanding of why someone may be feeling short of breath, have a cough or any other problem with their lungs, the new Pulmonary Function Testing machine allows me to make accurate diagnoses so that patients can receive the care that they need.”
Dr. Mark Bonta, Chief of Internal Medicine
A new CT scanner, thanks to our community.
Every year, over 10,000 patients at CGMH require a CT scan to make an accurate diagnosis for things like cancer, heart disease, internal bleeding, bone and joint problems, and so much more. Since 2017, CGMH has seen wait times grow by 30% due to the increased demand as well as an increase in maintenance and repairs to try to keep up. Thanks to the extraordinary support from our community, especially during our annual Tree of Life campaign, we are able to purchase a new CT scanner for CGMH.
“The new CT technology is faster and will allow CGMH to scan more patients in a day. The images are better quality, much clearer and more detailed; providing more information at one time.”
Dr. Murray Miller, CGMH Chief of Radiology
Gratitude in Action
Funding proactive solutions to keep patients safe and healthy
When a skiing accident landed Art Church in the CGMH Emergency Department last February, he was glad that he could be referred to Orthopaedic Services where expert surgeon, Dr. Henry Koo took over his care. To show his appreciation to Dr. Koo and the entire surgical team, Art decided to make a gift of $1 million to the program.
“I sustained a very serious upper arm injury due to a fluke skiing accident at the Peaks in Feb of this year,” says Art Church “The Collingwood Hospital emergency department and the orthopedic surgical team did a wonderful job of putting me back together with a rather lengthy and complicated operation of over 3.5 hours. The arm has healed 100% although I still have lots of physio in front of me. I will be forever grateful to Dr Henry Koo and his team for their skill and my ultimate recovery. I have been very lucky in life and I am more than pleased to repay some of that to support our hospital in order they can continue to improve and serve our community.”
Art and his wife Colleen spend their time between Collingwood, Grand Bend and Florida-depending on the season-but Collingwood is becoming more of a home base. Art is the CEO of Mancor Industries in Oakville, a manufacturer of metal components and subassemblies for vehicle manufacturers. Through his experiences at Mancor, Art saw the need for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. In 2017 he and his family founded OnRamp Solutions with a head office in Collingwood. Art’s son works at ONRamp & his family resides in Collingwood.
The $1 million commitment from Art Church & Family allowed the Surgical Team to go beyond what had been budgeted for capital equipment purchases in 2022. “Art’s arm was literally in pieces,” recalls Dr. Henry Koo, CGMH Orthopaedic Surgeon, “We had a lot of work to do to put it back together in a way that would allow him to function normally again after surgery. The equipment his donation will fund will help us to do the same for hundreds of other patients. Our entire team is grateful to Art for his generosity.”
Not only does the Orthopaedic Program benefit from this gift, but other surgical specialties, as well as the Anaesthesia Program. This generous gift will purchase a blanket warmer to comfort surgical patients, an upgraded portable ultrasound machine to assist anaesthetists to pinpoint nerves for anaesthetic blocks, a new C-Arm x-ray machine for real time imaging for orthopaedic surgeries, and many other important medical items. Most exciting will be the installation of state-of-the-art ultraviolet lighting to safely kill bacteria during surgical procedures in all three operating rooms – the first of its kind in Ontario.
“I will be forever grateful to Dr Henry Koo and his team for their skill and my ultimate recovery. I have been very lucky in life and I am more than pleased to repay some of that to support our hospital in order they can continue to improve and serve our community.“
Art Church
Events
Small towns, big hearts…that’s cause for celebration.
Bringing in a total of $123,470, here are a few highlights from our community-hosted events.
A more meaningful company happy hour.
Our local realtors are invested in better healthcare for their clients. The Greg Syrota Real Estate Team has continued to donate a portion of their commission from every sale as the work towards a goal of raising $25,000. The Faris Team donated $7,700 towards the purchase of a Slit Lamp, a tool used to examine, treat, and photograph the eye.
Agnora hosted a pre-loved clothing sale while the Collingwood Cinema Club raised awareness and funds by educating their members and encouraging donations. Comfort Keepers chose to match community donations; encouraging their community, staff, and family to give back. Small businesses, such as Blue Mountain Tea Company and Mucho Burrito, chose to give a portion of their sales to support new equipment for the Hospital.
Strengthening community on and off the slopes.
2022 saw the 10th and final Ski Movie Night at the Gayety Theatre. Attendees chose between a matinee and a gala evening showing of Warren Miller’s latest ski movie. The event raised over $20,000 which brought the cumulative total for the fundraiser’s decade long history over $100,000.
24H BLUE MTN returned in 2022 and teams took to the slopes to see who could complete the most runs in a 24 hour period. An incredible $18,800 was raised for the Collingwood Hospital.
We saw a number of ski groups come together to support healthcare in our community. A few of our beloved ski clubs, Georgian Peaks and Alpine Ski Club held 50/50 draws to engage their members.
Parties with purpose.
Musicians Christmas, an annual concert in support of the Collingwood Hospital Foundation, returned to in-person performances in 2022. The sold-out show raised over $5k and plans are in the works for a bigger show in 2023.
In the Summer of 2022 a Battle of the Bands was held at the Collingwood Brewery where attendees voted for their favourite band using a tip-jar voting system.
The Davenports have been so grateful for the care that they have received that they have launched an annual family-fun fundraising event, “Jax Pays it Forward” supporting CGMH and Ronald McDonald House and hosted their first event this past June.
A birthday gift everyone can get behind.
For her 40th birthday, Natalie Kirby created a bucket list of 40 things to do before she turned forty. One of the items on that list was raising $4,040 for the Collingwood Hospital Foundation. Natalie asked her friends & family to make donations rather than buying her gifts.
2022 also saw a number of junior fundraisers who wanted to support their local hospital rather than getting toys and other gifts for their birthdays. Kit celebrated her 3rd birthday by raising $350 with her friends and family. William, who turned 7, collected $430 from friends and family at his birthday party. Both Kit and William didn’t need anything for their birthdays, but they knew their local hospital did.
Donor Stories
Larger than life: Remembering Ricki and Bob Thompson.
To know Bob and Ricki Thompson was to know a partnership of love, a strong sense of duty, and extraordinary generosity. The Thompsons believed in connection and community and worked hard to strengthen both through personal friendship and a moral obligation to serve South Georgian Bay.
Bob had a very notable presence in the community as an accomplished lawyer and a long time member of the Rotary club. The Thompsons were among the very first financial supporters of the CGMH Foundation and Ricki carried on the tradition of generous support after Bob’s death and for the remainder of her life.
Ricki was an art teacher at the Meaford High School and always very involved in various organizations focused on helping others. She was elected to the Foundation Board in 1989 after spending more than six years on the Hospital Board of Trustees as the appointee for the Township of Collingwood (later to be amalgamated into Town of the Blue Mountains). Ricki was elected to the Board based on her strong belief in the work of the Foundation and the value of the Hospital as an essential component to life in South Georgian Bay.
In 2000, Ricki was elected Chair of the Foundation and led the organization for two years, ending her time on the Board in 2004 – one of CGMHF’s longest serving Board members. She continued her work as a Foundation committee member until 2019 and was a frequent visitor to the Foundation Office until her passing.
Bob and Ricki lived a life of paradox, often quiet and unassuming, and yet gregarious and fun-seeking with those that knew them best. The Thompsons had an open-door policy when it came to welcoming their friends into their beautiful home on the escarpment. They enjoyed countless gatherings and hosted incredible parties and started every event with a toast to “good friends and good times” – a simple phrase that spoke to all they held sacred: the pleasure of good company and genuine joy.
The Thompsons’ generosity has touched the lives of so many in the region. They have supported numerous organizations including the Georgian Triangle Humane Society, My Friend’s House, Salvation Army, local churches, and more. Ricki was exceptionally generous to Hospice and helped to provide the gardens surrounding Campbell House. Ricki and Bob Thompson have left behind a better community for us all. And their legacy will continue. Their generous bequest to the Collingwood G&M Hospital will ensure future generations can enjoy better healthcare. Thank you, Ricki. Thank you, Bob. Because of you, more of our community can receive outstanding care and get back to what matters most: “good friends and good times”.
Growth in Endowment
Finding Headstrong.
Matching philanthropic goals with community partnerships to create better healthcare for all
Hank & Marilyn Knowles approached us to set up the Henry J. & Marilyn Knowles Fund to support mental health initiatives, specifically targeted at youth. In 2021, we found the perfect program that aligned with the Knowles’ philanthropic goals: Headstrong. Headstrong aims to provide preventative care within the Collingwood Youth Centre, assisting young people with direct access to mental health professionals so that they can gain the tools necessary to move forward with their lives in a healthy way.
Headstrong is just one of many programs that we have launched through donor support. Thank you to the Henry J. & Marilyn Knowles Fund for supporting the launch of Headstrong. We know that community partnerships create better healthcare for all.
“We can talk about technology all that we want and were exited to be looking forward to a new building, but its what you put into that building, its the people who are in the building. And we have so many people within the hospital and the community who have really good ideas for how to meet a need and they just need to be partnered with the money.“
Jory Pritchard Kerr
monthly giving club
Small gifts, big impact.
Our Monthly Giving Club is a growing group of compassionate individuals who are providing steady, ongoing funds to the Collingwood G&M Hospital. These small monthly gifts help us prepare for the unexpected.
Small monthly gifts help us get equipment when and where it’s needed most. Together, this community helps equip the hospital with the best tools to diagnose and treat patients. These monthly gifts allow us to plan and allocate resources where they are needed most while also allowing our donors to choose the level of support that works for them.
In 2022, monthly donations ranged from $8 to over $100. Our 139 club members raised $90,333, which is 90% of the cost of the new Pulmonary Function Machine System (pictured here). Our goal is to continue building momentum with this group and to increase awareness around the benefits of providing consistent and reliable funding.
ReDevelopment & Future Planning
Tomorrow is built today.
Given the historical events of the last few years, it can be said with certainty that the future has never felt so uncertain. Itʼs daunting and at times even a bit scary, to think about tomorrow when so much in the world around us has felt heavy, unsteady, up in the air.
But a hospital is a place that is predicated on a brighter tomorrow. Hope for a cure. Hope for a newborn life. Hope for cancer to go into remission. Hope to feel better. For a loved one to recover. For a new future to take flight.
We are a community that both believes in and invests in our hospital. That’s why it’s so important to understand what the capacity of our building is right now, and the possibilities posed by a new hospital facility, designed and built for the 21st century. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to drastically impact the delivery of healthcare in South Georgian Bay.
This is an extraordinary time for healthcare in South Georgian Bay. The hospital has reached a major milestone in its journey to build a new state of the art hospital with the submission of its Functional Program to the Ministry of Health. The recent planning submission is the culmination of 18 months of collaboration between CGMH patients, employees, physicians and volunteers who have helped to shape the future services and space of the new hospital to meet the fast-growing needs of the South Georgian Bay region. Stay up to date on all the latest news by visiting yourfuturehospital.com
At CGMH, we believe that brighter tomorrows are possible, because of the care we take today.
SMALL HOSPITAL.
BIG FUTURE.