The season of giving has been good to the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation so far. Three major funding announcements were made at the Festival of Trees Gala Evening, totalling $2.25 million.
The hospital foundation’s newest campaign to bring a Stollery Children’s Hospital-level of care to the region got a major boost to start. Pomeroy Lodging and the Pomeroy family have committed $500,000, which CEO Ryan Pomeroy says was a natural choice for his company.
“A large percentage of the patients at the Stollery in Edmonton are not from Edmonton, but other parts of northern Alberta and B.C., so it made a lot of sense for us. The gift is really going to help to keep families closer to home.”
The hospital foundation has teamed up with the Stollery’s to raise $1.5 million to buy new pediatric equipment and upgrade the youth mental health unit slated for the new hospital. Pomeroy joined the children’s hospital’s board three years ago, and says the partnership should start to have an effect on the patient experience right away.
“You don’t think about how much you need healthcare and these services until you do need them,” he explains. “We know some families locally here in Grande Prairie that have had kids at the Stollery and I just can’t imagine the stress that would put on your life.”
The largest donation of the night came from the Doug Marshall Family, which presented $1 million to the hospital foundation’s $20 million Key to Care capital campaign. Doug Marshall passed away at the age of 79 on November 2, 2018.
The funds will go towards information kiosks and specialized medical equipment in the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital, and its second-floor corridor will be named after the family. In the past, they donated towards the MRI currently in use at the QEII Hospital.
“We appreciate everything the community has given us, all of the support for Doug’s business over the years, and we wanted to give back to the community that we love,” says Marshall’s wife, Olivia Marshall.
The naming of the first-floor corridor will go to Canadian Natural Resources Limited, which presented a gift of $750,000 to the hospital foundation. It will go towards new programs and equipment through the Life Legacy Fund.
“I could not be more proud to be a part of this initiative and work at a company that cares so much about the communities we live and work in,” says Superintendent of Field Operations Rob Petrone. “The value many of our own employees, contractors and community
members will receive for many years to come with this new hospital is a gift.”
Festival of Trees runs Friday through Sunday at the Entrec Centre at Evergreen Park.
