The Kelowna General Hospital Foundation is eying $40 million for health-care improvements in the region.
The unprecedented amount of funding, which they hope to generate over the next three years, would be directed at elevating patient care in the Central Okanagan, and allowing more people to get the treatment they need closer to home.
“Our vision is world-class health care close to home,” Allison Young, CEO of the KGH Foundation said, while standing beneath a banner announcing the fundraiser, and the slogan “healthcare has to change.”
“This means that the success of this campaign and our work together is doing more than just saving lives. Success will reduce the need for patients to travel to Vancouver, Victoria and Calgary for care. Success is reduced waitlists and increased access to services. Success is state-of-the-art technology and equipment to allow our talented doctors, nurses and clinicians to do their best work while at the same time attracting and retaining the very best talent to this community.”
The focus of this fundraising endeavor includes the acquisition of equipment like the 3T MRI machine, which is the gold standard in medical imaging.
Further, the funds will support the expansion of services in new areas of care, and a commitment to innovation funding allocated across eight areas of priority — clinical and surgical excellence, women’s health, mental health care bone and joint care, health system innovation, cardiac care, cancer care and brain health – all of which is sorely needed, a crowd gathered Tuesday for the fundraiser launch were told.
“I think what all of us can agree with is that the last few years within health care have been incredibly disruptive, tumultuous and difficult,” Dr. Devin Harris, Interior Health’s executive medical director of quality and patient safety and an ER physician.
“I think it’s been noticeable how challenging it has been for us within health care but also in every aspect of society. The pandemic showed that we need to address care models, both for patients and families and community but also for our providers as well.”
Harris said the pandemic showed that health workers can no longer deliver care the way it was done before the pandemic and it showed gaps in care, where there is opportunity for improvement.
Although all health jurisdictions have been dealing with similar issues, the Interior specifically has its own challenges.
“We live in a very disparate geography, we have challenges with the weather, we have challenges with distance. We (serve) … rural and remote communities, as well. And we have mountain ranges and climate events that cause challenges for us and difficulties of being able to deliver care as well,” he said.
What was learned from the pandemic, though, he said, are several things that can now inform how health care workers can innovate in the future.
“We learned we can develop partnerships very quickly, that we can pivot and implement new care models,” Harris said.
“We learned how to deliver equitable care. We learned how to shift from hospital care to community care and support that as well. We learned how to reach rural areas. We learned how to embed virtual care and how we deliver it. And we learned the value of partnerships, other industries and disciplines in the delivery of care and how to do that very well.”
The future for KGH, he said, is bright, and even brighter with the community behind it.
Young said to anyone wishing to help is welcome to reach out to the foundation.