Toronto's
North York General Hospital (NYGH) announced last Thursday the formal launch of a $150-million fundraising campaign, the hospital's largest to-date.
The campaign was kick-started by donors Charlotte and Lewis Steinberg, and Gulshan and Pyarali G. Nanji, who recently made significant monetary donations to the hospital.
The Steinberg's donation of $12 million, the largest single donation in the hospital's history, will be used to redevelop the emergency ward and to establish a new acute-care unit. Additionally, the donations by the Steinbergs and Nanjis will be used to purchase two much needed CT scanners.
NYGH's large-scale fundraising initiative is part of the hospital's larger vision, to not only improve the infrastructure and quality of care at the hospital, but also to take advantage of the unique research opportunities it offers.
With three sites in North Central Toronto—the General Site (Leslie and Sheppard), the Branson Site and Urgent Care Centre (Finch and Bathurst) and the Seniors' Health Centre (Leslie and Sheppard)—NYGH is not only of Toronto's busiest hospitals, it also serves one of Canada's most diverse communities and has the country's highest elderly patient population. The hope is that this campaign money will bolster research and care aimed directly at NYGH's unique community.
"The hospital is uniquely suited to [patient care] research," Murphy says, "We see so many more patients—particularly an older aging population—than a lot of places across Canada.... We have a unique opportunity to learn from the care we provide those patients because they come from such different backgrounds."
Murphy says NYGH physicians have already been doing "ad-hoc" research in patient care. The $19.5 million earmarked for research will formalize and expand these projects.
While NYGH has raised 48 per cent of their $150-million goal, Angela Murphy, director of campaign and major gifts at NYGH, expects it will take about five years to raise the rest. "While the hospital will look to a variety of sources for funds, the hope is that other large donors will come forward. Major gift donations are the best chance we have at raising this money in quick way and getting started on projects sooner."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Angela Murphy, Director of Campaign and Major Gifts, North York General Hospital