Top 9 Hospital Foundation Stories of 2024: You Are Making Closer-to-Home Healthcare Possible!
Published Monday, January 13, 2025
9. New Signature Event for 2024
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation welcomed a new Signature Event: the Resolute Hearts Around the World Charity Auction, which successfully raised over $85,000 to provide more cardiac care services right here at home. Guests enjoyed a magnificent five-course dinner, expertly crafted by Executive Chef Franco Masdea. Sommelier Cale Graydon paired each dish with carefully selected wines, perfectly complementing the flavours.
But the real excitement came during the live auction between courses led by auctioneer extraordinaire Dave Jones. Lucky bidders won dream vacations to incredible destinations like Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Switzerland, Italy, and even a customizable cruise for two. Each course took participants on a culinary journey to a different corner of the globe!
8. Gifts in a Will: The Promise of a Better Future for Healthcare
Like acts of love and hope, inspiration can multiply, motivating us – and others – to do greater things.
In Fiscal 2024/25, we are bearing witness to that as the number of legacy gifts received continues to climb. To date, the Health Sciences Foundation has received Gifts in a Will totalling just over $400,000 to fund important research and projects throughout the Hospital including the purchase of vital equipment.
Whether you set aside a specific amount, percentage, or the residue of your estate, a gift in your Will ensures future generations all have access to the best healthcare professionals and state-of-the-art equipment close to home when we need it most. A gift in your Will is an opportunity to leave a legacy worth remembering.
7. Generous Donors Cover Cost of Laser Eye Surgical Equipment
When Bev Dolcetti and her husband John received a letter in the mail asking for a donation towards the purchase of a $45,000 eye surgery laser replacement for the Lions Vision Care Centre, they knew what they had to do: donate the full amount.
"I know firsthand what it's like to travel here, there, and everywhere for eye surgery,” Bev said. Delays in her own eye care after a retinal tear when she was younger meant Bev lost sight in one eye – all because we didn't have the necessary equipment in Thunder Bay at the time. Thanks to their generous donation, retinal tears can continue to be fixed right here without travel.
A big thank you to John and Bev Dolcetti to help bring closer-to-home eye care to Thunder Bay!
6. Giving Tuesday Smashes Target Thanks to Incredible Community Support
On Giving Tuesday, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation set out to raise $44,000 to fully equip a second Paediatric Transfer Deck for the Paediatric Emergency Transport Team. Thanks to the incredible support from our community, we exceeded our goal, raising $47,570.85. With a matching donation from the Sandra Schmirler Foundation, that total jumped to $91,770.85.
The Paediatric Transfer Deck is life-saving equipment that helps keep children and infants stable when they need transport from a hospital in Northwestern Ontario to Thunder Bay. This second deck will improve response times should two children need transport at the same time.
5. Family CARE Grant Program Funds $123,000+ in Employee Initiatives
In 2024, the Family CARE Grant Program provided $123,417.60 in funding for employee-driven projects. These included vein finders to help make inserting IVs more comfortable for patients, Care Communication Cards to help translate in emergency situations, and benches forming a circle in the Spirit Garden for Indigenous patients and their care team.
The Family CARE Grant Program honours and empowers frontline employees at the Hospital to make improvements to patient care. It's like a suggestion box but with funding attached to bring those ideas to life. Staff at the Hospital can propose improvements in patient care and receive up to $4,000 to implement their ideas.
The Health Sciences Foundation funds the program with a $15,000 contribution from the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre Volunteer Association.
4. Foundation Announces $6.6+ Million in Hospital Funding
In November 2024, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation announced over $6.6 million in funding for essential equipment at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. All funding came as a direct result of our generous donors and Thunder Bay 50/50 ticket purchases. Projects included:
- $500,000 for renovation costs associated with a third radiation therapy linac
- $434,034 equipment in the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Operating Room, and Labour & Delivery
- $271,418 for orthopaedic surgical equipment
- $238,300 to update equipment in NICU, Paediatrics, Labour & Delivery, and Maternal Newborn
This year's contribution brought the five-year total to over $27 million in Hospital funding for closer-to-home care.
3. Dancing with the Docs Event Raises $180,000
What started as a way for Patricia and Dr. Joseph Del Paggio to honour their mother has turned into one of the Health Sciences Foundation's most anticipated events. Dancing with the Docs raised an incredible $180,000 in November including $119,000 from the docs and dancers.
Dr. Del Paggio, Chief of Oncology at the Hospital, said that all money raised will fund vital equipment for Laboratory Services. “Patients and physicians are indebted to the unsung heroes of the Laboratory Services,” he said. Oncologists, for example, rely on lab results throughout cancer care from diagnosis to treatment monitoring.
Without advanced lab tests, modern medicine as we know it couldn't exist. Every day, dozens of lab technicians run 7,500 lab tests on average that help diagnose cancer and other diseases and health conditions.
2. Successful Our Hearts at Home Campaign Wraps Up Major Gifts Phase
The Major Gifts phase of the Our Hearts at Home Campaign for Cardiovascular Surgery successfully concluded in June 2024 as the single largest fundraising campaign in the history of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation – and of Thunder Bay!
In 2025, we will begin the Public stage of the campaign to help bring the new Cardiovascular Surgery (CVS) Program over the finish line. We've already come a long way. Your generous donations helped bring back vital vascular surgery services to Northwestern Ontario.
Thanks to everyone who continue to support this important dream of full cardiac surgery here at home!
1. Thunder Bay 50/50 Makes a Millionaire a Month!
For the first year ever, the Thunder Bay 50/50 Draw made a millionaire a month in 2024, making it the largest Hospital 50/50 in all of Canada. Winners came not just from Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario but all across the province. That string of monthly millionaires led up to the record-breaking December 50/50 Grand Prize of $6,436,355.
To date, the Thunder Bay 50/50 Draw has awarded over $57 million in all-time payouts to winners since it launched in January 2021 four years ago.
Of course, that means all patients at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre are winners, too. Proceeds from the Thunder Bay 50/50 have funded many projects including an MRI retrofit, PET/CT scanner, Emergency Department renovations, Cancer Centre renovations, and other initiatives that improve closer-to-home care for everyone in Northwestern Ontario.