News Room

For immediate release - May 26, 2007

Ottawa Race Weekend Participants Raise a Record $590,000 for The Ottawa Hospital

(OTTAWA, ONTARIO) – Thousands of supporters ran for a reason during the 2007 Ottawa Race Weekend, bringing in a record $590,000 for The Ottawa Hospital. Dedicated individuals and teams raised pledges in honour of someone they love as part of the MDS Nordion Ottawa Hospital Race Weekend Challenge, which will help the Hospital build new facilities and buy state-of-the-art equipment.

Since 1998, the event has raised over $5 million for The Ottawa Hospital.

“We are so proud to be part of a city that truly understands the connection between community support and excellent health care at The Ottawa Hospital,” said Susan Doyle, President and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. “That support—combined with the energy and dedication of our partners MDS Nordion and the Ottawa Race Weekend—will have a profound impact.”

Some key projects supported by the weekend include the Critical Care Wing under construction at the Hospital’s General Campus. This Wing will include 17 state-of-the-art operating rooms, 32 Intensive Care Unit beds and the new Ottawa Pain Clinic. Other areas of the Hospital that Race Weekend participants are supporting include the emergency department, the bone marrow transplant unit, the Eye Institute, stroke research, diabetes and cancer care, and many more.

The Ottawa Race Weekend, Canada's premier running festival, combines competition, participation and fundraising to make a distinctive contribution to the health of the community.

The Ottawa Hospital is a multi-campus, academic health sciences centre, serving 1.5 million residents of Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, both in English and French. It provides care for more patients than any other hospital in Canada, and is one of the largest acute care hospitals in the country. It boasts specialty centres in cancer, heart, kidney and vision care, as well as rehabilitation services. For more information, visit www.ottawahospital.on.ca

The Ottawa Hospital Foundation’s mission is to inspire and enable people to support the highest quality health care at The Ottawa Hospital and lifesaving research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. For more information, visit www.ohfoundation.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