On Sunday September 24, 2017, three Chapmans will be riding, up and then down, the Niagara Escarpment northwest of Milton for the St. Joseph’s Health Centre.
I am very involved with the St Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation which is in the process of raising $70 million for a number of key projects to improve the healthcare received by and the health of the 500,000 people in our west Toronto community. Earlier this month, it was a great pleasure to hear Victor Dodig (Vice-Chair of the Campaign Cabinet) announce a $10 million gift to the Health Centre from Peter Gilgan (Mattamy Homes) in honour of his mother and father. Big gifts are fantastic and they provide transformational opportunities for healthcare but sustained annual giving from a large part of the community is very important too.
For those of you who live in the west end of Toronto (anywhere south of Eglinton and east of Highway 427) this is your community hospital! If you or your family call 911 there is a very high probability that the paramedics will take you or your loved one to St. Joe’s. It is the busiest emergency department in the City – seeing over 100,000 people annually. It was built to handle 65,000 visits annually. It is a sign of the creativity and dedication of the staff that they can handle over 100,000 visits and still maintain competitive wait times. A top fundraising priority is to raise somewhere between $10 to $20 million to redesign and renovate the Emergency department. A new Mental Health Emergency facility is another aspect of this campaign priority. Donating money to your community hospital is in your own self-interests.