The Montreal Sikh community was determined to give back during the COVID-19 crisis.
On Friday, they did just that with a generous $6,500 donation that will make life easier for front-line workers at Lakeshore General Hospital.
The donation will make it safer for surgeons at the hospital to do their work.
“It was important for us to figure out how we could contribute and what we would be able to do. We found that very quickly — collaborating with the hospitals would be the best way to move forward,” said Taran Singh, a spokesperson for Montreal’s Sikh community.
The donation was hand-delivered Friday morning by members of the Sikh community.
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“Community service is at the heart of Sikh values,” said Singh.
The hospital’s foundation says the money will be used to buy a high-performance filtration unit to create a negative-pressure isolation room for the ENT(Ear Nose Throat) department.
“This device will help filter the aerosols from the air to prevent health-care workers from getting sick that are helping patients,” said Dr. Rickul Varshney, surgeon.
Lakeshore General Hospital says that this donation will help them become the best hospital it can be.
“We’re so appreciative that everyone has come together with their generosity and allowing us to make this step forward with our community,” Heather Holmes, director of the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation, told Global News.
The Sikh community has been fundraising for the health-care network since April. Beyond the value of the donation, the mayor of DDO points out they’ve raised much more than that.
“It’s amazing that the community has come together to collect $50,000, especially at a time like this,” says Alex Bottausci, DDO mayor, pointing to the overall value of the community’s ongoing fundraising.
The Lakeshore hospital says the donation to help them modernize is especially important since they are the only health care installation on the West Island.