Message from Jody Nesti
Chair, Board of Directors, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation
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December 16, 2017
December truly marks the season of giving and in Thunder Bay – the city with a giant heart - I’ve already seen remarkable generosity displayed throughout our community.
Nowhere was this more evident than on Giving Tuesday a few weeks ago, where organizations across Thunder Bay, and indeed, across the world, asked for your support for a cause close to your heart. At the Hospital, we asked you for your help to fund the purchase of two new Bili Blankets (portable phototherapy devices for jaundiced babies) for our Maternal Newborn Unit and the NICU. To say we were astounded by your generosity would be putting it mildly. At the end of the 24-hours, not only had you fully funded the Bili Blankets, but you’d given a total of $30,456 – enough that your donations could start funding the next item on our Christmas Wish List – a Fetal Telemetry Monitor for Labour and Delivery.
I think what stood out to me most on Giving Tuesday was how many people could relate to the need for these Bili Blankets – something I’d never heard of before. When I spoke with people that day, so many shared a story of how their newborn baby, or a family member’s baby, needed treatment for jaundice. There were so many cases where I heard, ‘if only these had been around when I had my baby, it would have made things so much better’.
That’s exactly why the Health Sciences Foundation exists. To make things better.
Your donations directly support the purchase of vital medical equipment at our Hospital to make things better. To keep families together.
So often – and I’m sure you’ll agree – we often don’t know we need things, until we really need them. I’m sure most people wouldn’t have had any idea about the need to treat newborns for jaundice until they had a child of their own. Just like you don’t really know about the need for specialized Lasers in our Lions Vision Care Centre until your eyes need treatment. Or you can’t fathom the equipment needed in a Cardiac Cath Lab until your loved one has a heart attack.
It’s for this reason that our Board of Directors serves passionately to raise funds for our Hospital. Because, like you, we want to make things better.
And so, as this season of giving continues, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you so much for your loyal, passionate and keen support for vital medical equipment through your donations now and throughout the year.
To you and your family, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at the Health Sciences Foundation.