On Wednesday, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) Foundation’s Keep Life Wild campaign to expand services got a big donation from the Carpenters’ Regional Council and its local unions.
The council, along with Local 27 and Local 675 made a collective $1-million contribution to the Barrie charity aiming to expand regional services, including building a new health-care facility in Innisfil, Ont.
“We are exceedingly proud to be a part of ensuring that world-class health care is available in the region where our members live, work and raise their families,” said Jason Rowe, executive secretary-treasurer of the Carpenters’ Regional Council and vice president of the UBC Canadian District.
“To have a strong, vibrant community where everyone can thrive, we need to ensure we build critical infrastructure that includes leading-edge, specialized health care, particularly for a rapidly growing region like Simcoe Muskoka. We are thrilled to be able to make this gift to help make that possible.”
RVH Foundation launched the Keep Life Wild campaign in November of 2022 with the goal of granting RVH $100 million to build a health-care system for Simcoe Muskoka.
So $30 million has been raised to support the campaign.
“Our government partners look for a demonstration of this kind of community support when making decisions about hospital funding and our ability to move to the next phase of planning. This gift strongly signals that the community stands behind our vision to increase access to the lifesaving, specialized care only we can provide,” says Gail Hunt, RVH president and CEO.
The campaign is focused on supporting three areas, the first of which is expanding RVH’s regional clinical programs and specialized care for people from across Simcoe Muskoka.
The funding will also be used to build a new health-care facility in Innisfil, and help innovate care by supporting the application of research breakthroughs at the bedside and through leading-edge medical education.
Innisfil is the largest community in the region without a hospital.
The RVH expansion project will see a 200,000-square-foot health-care facility built at Innisfil Beach Road and Yonge Street as well as support the hospital’s plans to expand the health centre’s neonatal intensive care unit.
“With their support, we are one step closer to bringing more world-class care, closer to home for our community in Simcoe Muskoka,” says Paul Larche, chair of RVH Foundation’s board of directors remarks.