2004 News Releases

For immediate release - November 17, 2004

JDS Uniphase Employee Group, Cognos Honoured for Outstanding Support of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation

(OTTAWA, ONTARIO) - The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP - Ottawa Chapter) has honoured two local high-tech firms for their support of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. A group of current and former employees of JDS Uniphase were named the 2004 Outstanding Philanthropic Group, and Cognos won the Corporate Philanthropy Award at the AFP’s annual Philanthropy Awards.

The JDS Uniphase employee group’s award recognizes their historic $15-million pledge to the Foundation, the largest-ever gift to health care in Ottawa history. The pledge, announced in December 2003, is directed toward the new, $76-million Critical Care Wing at The Ottawa Hospital’s General Campus. The JDS Uniphase Employee Legacy Critical Care Wing will feature 17 operating rooms, 32 Intensive Care Unit beds, 31 Recovery Room beds, a Surgical Day Care Unit and a Chronic Pain Centre.

Cognos was honoured for its generous support of the Foundation’s Legacy Campaign and many other charities in the community. Over the past two years, Cognos and its employees have raised over $300,000 for the Foundation through workplace fundraising events and ongoing corporate commitment.

“We are so grateful to these two groups for their outstanding support and generosity,” said Susan Doyle, President and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. “These awards proclaim to the community what we at the Foundation already know: that Cognos and this JDS Uniphase employee group are incredible community leaders that are making a real difference for the future of our health care.”

“My wish is that hundreds – if not thousands – of my former colleagues will be listed on our donor recognition wall in the new Critical Care Wing,” said Dr. Jozef Straus, Founder Emeritus of JDS Uniphase and Co-Chair of the Foundation’s Legacy Campaign. “I encourage all of them to become part of this very special project today.”

The Ottawa Hospital Foundation’s Legacy Campaign is a five-year, $100-million initiative to improve patient care and research at The Ottawa Hospital and its research arm, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Thanks to the ongoing commitment of the Ottawa community, the Campaign has now reached the $56-million mark.

With its 1,130 beds, The Ottawa Hospital is one of the largest teaching hospitals in Canada and one of the Ottawa area’s largest employers. 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. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is the research arm of the Hospital, bringing health discoveries from bench to bedside. For more information, visit www.ottawahospital.on.ca and www.ohri.ca.

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.

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