The Peterborough Regional Health Centre has renamed its atrium in honour of Anne Keenleyside following her $2-million legacy gift to the hospital foundation.
A small ceremony was held at the hospital earlier this week to unveil the Anne Keenleyside and Family Atrium. The gift was made through Keenleyside’s estate. The Trent University bioarcheology professor died of cancer in October 2022 after being diagnosed a decade earlier, the hospital said.
Keenleyside’s partner Pat Butler says her family and friends are happy about the hospital’s recognition of the donation.
“Anne’s gift to the hospital reflects her generous and thoughtful nature,” Butler said. “She was incredibly grateful for the expert and compassionate care she received at Peterborough Regional Health Centre and wanted to do something after she was gone to help make things better for others like her. This bequest is a gift to both her community and the healthcare professionals who cared for her after her diagnosis over 10 years ago.”
PRHC Foundation president and chief executive Lesley Heighway said the bequest has been invested in cancer care equipment and technology, in accordance with Keenleyside’s request.
“Anne was clear she wanted her gift to connect her passion for scientific innovation with her desire to help the patients who would come after her,” Heighway said. “Her generosity has allowed the PRHC Foundation to fund a second MRI for PRHC’s diagnostic imaging department, as well as fully upgrading a general operating suite with state-of-the-art minimally invasive surgical tools — one of four undertaken by the foundation.”
Heighway said Keenleyside’s legacy gift will leave a lasting impact on cancer patients in the region.
“By directing her bequest to the MRI and our minimally invasive surgical suites, her gift is already helping our hospital increase capacity and image quality for diagnostic scans and giving our general surgeons access to brand new, leading-edge tools to perform cancer surgeries,” Heighway said.
Lynn Mikula, the hospital’s president and CEO, says the new technology is improving patient care and access.
“Thanks to Anne’s investment we’ve been able to increase our capacity, performing an additional 6,000 scans since the new unit became operational,” Mikula said. “Not only is this helping us address diagnostic wait times, we’re also able to produce much higher quality images in less time, while providing a significantly improved patient experience.”
Mikula explained the funding has enabled the hospital to introduce fluorescence-guided imaging which involves the injection of contrast dyes or agents into a patient’s bloodstream prior to surgery. The process makes their blood vessels, bile ducts and lymph nodes light up when combined with fluoroscopy.
“The impact of this new technology is significant,” Mikula said. “It’s already allowing our surgeons to operate with increased precision — an advancement that has tremendous implications for the treatment of bowel and other cancers.”
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