United for families in 2009 – Staff campaign starts Oct. 15

Co-chairs Bala Kathiresan, Chief Operating Officer, and Lynne Pollard, Executive Assistant to the President and CEO.

About the It’s Our Time Campaign

The NHS Foundation, together with the local site foundations, has raised over $26 million of our campaign goal of $40 million. Funds raised already have enabled us to develop some new facilities and purchase new equipment and when the goal is achieved all of the following will be made possible.

Douglas Memorial Site

• Equipment to support the Urgent Care Centre
• Renovations to facilitate the development of the Complex Continuing Care Centre
• Electric beds

Port Colborne Site

• Renovations and equipment to create the new area for the Urgent Care Centre
• Upgrades and new diagnostic imaging equipment to support the Complex Continuing Care Centre

Welland Site

• New 12,500 sq. ft., 24-station Welland Hospital Auxiliary Dialysis Centre – opened May/08
• New 128-slice CT Scanner – installed August/09

Greater Niagara General Site

• Upgraded and expanded operating rooms and new anaesthetic equipment
• A new Dialysis Centre
• A new Echocardiography unit to enable enhanced diagnostic services for cardiac care
• A new ultrasound machine for diagnostic services for cancer care

New healthcare complex

The new St. Catharines acute care facility will replace the aging St. Catharines General and Ontario Street sites, providing services to residents of St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake and surrounding communities.

This facility will contain teaching spaces for McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. The space will include classrooms, on-call rooms, student lounges and lockers. Medical school teaching also takes place across all sites of Niagara Health.

New regional services to benefit patients across Niagara also located in the new complex:

• Walker Family Cancer Centre
• Cardiac Catheterization Services at the Heart Investigation Unit
• Longer Term Mental Health Services
• Continued Development of Regional Dialysis Services «

Kick off the campaign with a $6 pasta lunch

As always, the campaign begins with a kick-off luncheon at each site on Oct. 15.

Enjoy a great pasta lunch with all the trimmings for only $6.

Proceeds will go towards this year’s campaign goal of $80,000.

Be sure to stop in at your site cafeteria (OSS – Boardroom, NOTL – Wooll Room) for a great meal with your friends and colleagues.

This special luncheon will be served between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. by leaders and United Way Committee members. «

Message from our co-chairs

Dear Niagara Health Friends and Colleagues,

As this year’s United Way Campaign Co-chairs, we are pleased to outline for you some of the planning that has taken place for what we hope will be another successful workplace campaign at the NHS. We are also very excited about having teamed up with our colleagues from the hospital foundations to raise funds for the It’s Our Time Campaign. We are launching, for the first time, our United for Families Campaign with the goal of raising funds for both United Way and the It’s Our Time Campaign.

The member agencies of the United Way depend on financial support from everyone throughout Niagara to collectively meet the social services needs of families. As employees of the NHS, we also believe that it is important to give back to the community by participating in fundraising initiatives to help benefit the other important service providers.

United for families

That’s why, every year, we participate in the United Way’s annual workplace campaign. Each year, the doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff in the Niagara Health System family are asked to assist other families and people in need by contributing to the social service programs provided by the Niagara Falls/Fort Erie, South Niagara and the St. Catharines & District United Ways. These community agencies focus on building communities, strengthening families, nurturing independence and positively impacting our youth.

The NHS, like all hospitals in the province, relies on the generosity and financial support of its communities to address the challenges we face in delivering timely quality care to those who need it. Through our local foundations and the It’s Our Time Campaign, we raise funds to meet state-of-the-art equipment and new/renovated facility needs required for all of our current hospital sites and the new healthcare complex.

While the Ontario Government approves all new equipment, we must totally finance it through donations raised through our local hospital site and regional foundations. Therefore, support from all of our doctors, nurses and all of our other healthcare staff is important in two very crucial ways: 1) to provide your personal financial support and 2) through your giving you inspire others in the community to also give!

Campaign goal $80,000

This year, the NHS United Way Committee campaign kicks off on Thurs., Oct. 15. Our fundraising goal is again set at $80,000 and the majority of this will be raised through payroll deduction. Last year, more than $60,000 was pledged through payroll deduction by Niagara Health staff and those funds are being directed as the donor wishes. Let’s beat that amount this year!

The remaining funds are generated with events and raffles, and we’ve had a lot of fun during the last couple of years with our workplace events. Special lunches, bake sales, barbeques, draws and raffles, and competitions like the Naked Piggy Challenge and Staff Pet Photo Contest have allowed us to be creative, while challenging our colleagues to be the best across the NHS sites. As a result of your generosity last year, the United Way of St. Catharines named the NHS in the top 12 accounts!

Exciting activities for ’09

This year, we have Luc Guilbault and his colleagues launching our United Way activities with a pasta kick-off luncheon on Oct. 15. We are bringing back the Choose a Cruise Super Raffle, to be followed by various raffles and other events. And for those pet lovers (which, at NHS there are many!), we will again be holding our Staff Pet Photo Contest.

As mentioned, we will also be teaming up with our colleagues from the hospital foundations in launching our United for Families Campaign for giving through pledges and payroll deduction. Stay tuned for more details!

So, why should YOU give?

When you make a donation, you can contribute towards something that YOU feel is important. Giving to the United Way and to your local site foundation provides you with an opportunity to direct your funds to a specific area in the community – i.e., strengthening families, building communities, nurturing independence, after-school programs, our various NHS site needs or to other Niagara registered charities that are important to you.
Helping others improves your self-worth in many ways. Once you’ve given to a charity that you truly believe in, YOU feel good about it. Your generosity will go towards a cause beyond what most of us have to even consider in our daily life. And when we ALL contribute, that is what truly makes the difference in a life that is less fortunate than ours.

Giving to a charity is NOT a sign of whether you’re a good person or not. A person should only give to a charity if they truly feel it is the right thing to do with their money. But don’t close your mind or your heart to the idea. When the right reason comes to you, provide that gift, and just watch what happens!

A safe, supportive community is EVERYONE’S responsibility. Everyone has something to contribute. Every little bit counts! «

Bala Kathiresan and Lynne Pollard