2004 News Releases
For immediate release - April 14, 2004
LEADERS OF THE OTTAWA HOSPITAL REPORT BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
(OTTAWA, ONTARIO) –The Ottawa Hospital Foundation hosted
its second annual President’s Report to the Community today where leaders
of The Ottawa Hospital, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the foundation
outlined their achievements as well as future investments in healthcare.
It has been a record year for the Foundation. In its second year, The Legacy
Campaign has reached the $50 million mark – the halfway point of the five-year,
$100 million capital campaign to improve healthcare and support research at
The Ottawa Hospital. Over the past year, the Foundation has seen a significant
increase in donors – to almost 45,000. Corporate donors have also increased
to 1,300.
During the breakfast, Dr. Jack Kitts, President and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital
explained how funds raised will go toward improvements at The Ottawa Hospital.
Improvements include the long-awaited $75 million Critical Care Wing at the
General. The wing will have 17 new, state of the art operating rooms, 32 Intensive
Care Unit beds, 36 recovery room beds and a new surgical day care unit.
"We continue to be in our building phase at The Ottawa Hospital”
said Dr. Kitts. “With the help of the record-breaking-generosity of our
donors, in addition to contributions from the Ministry of Health and Long Term
Care and others, we are adding new state-of-the-art patient care areas and acquiring
the latest, most up-to-date technology. All of this adds up to the highest quality
health care services for our patients, now and in future years to come."
Dr. Ronald Worton, CEO of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), the
research arm of The Ottawa Hospital, highlighted some of the most recent and
important research coming from the OHRI. Campaign funds will be invested in
various on-going research and projects including the new Stem Cell Centre, to
be completed by 2006, that will explore the important potential of stem cell
research. Stem cells could be the key to uncovering the body’s healing
properties, leading to a cure for many debilitating diseases such a muscular
dystrophy and diabetes.
“It is in large part thanks to the community’s support that the
OHRI continues to thrive, making regular discoveries that will lead to important
advances in the fight against some of the most debilitating diseases”
said Dr. Worton.
The bulk of this year’s donations – $15 million – came from
a group of current and former JDS Uniphase employees under the leadership of
Josez Straus, the Legacy Campaign co-chair. But as Dr. Straus pointed out, there
is much work ahead in order to ensure the continued success of the campaign:
“We are thrilled with the results so far but we also know that the second
half of any fundraising campaign is always the most difficult” said Dr.
Straus. We will continue to reach out to the community in order to give everyone
the opportunity to improve healthcare in Ottawa.”
The Ottawa Hospital Foundation’s mission
is to inspire and enable people to support the highest quality healthcare at
The Ottawa Hospital and world-class research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.
For more information, visit The Ottawa Hospital Foundation Web site at www.ohfoundation.ca.
With its 1,130 beds, The Ottawa Hospital is
one of the largest teaching hospitals in Canada. It provides comprehensive,
high quality, patient-focused health care services, in English and French, to
over 1.5 million residents of Eastern Ontario, and specialized and complex services
for residents of Northeastern Ontario. For more information, visit The Ottawa
Hospital Web site at www.ottawahospital.on.ca.
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is the
research arm of The Ottawa Hospital, and a major part of the University of Ottawa
Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Health Sciences. Its research programs are
grouped into: Molecular Medicine, Cancer Therapeutics, Clinical Epidemiology,
Diseases of Aging, Hormones, Growth and Development, Neuroscience, and Vision.
With over 115 scientists and more than 135 clinical investigators, the OHRI
is one of the fastest growing, and most respected hospital-based research institutes
in Canada. For more information visit the OHRI Web site at www.ohri.ca
For more information, please contact:
Carl Martin
Vice-President, Communications & Marketing, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation
Tel: (613) 798-5555, ext. 17840
Cell: (613) 762-3432
camartin@ottawahospital.on.ca
Danielle St-Aubin
Director, Communications & Marketing, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation
Tel: (613) 798-5555, ext. 12972
dstaubin@ottawahospital.on.ca
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