When the 2018-19 Saanich Peninsula Hospital & Healthcare Foundation fundraising campaign was launched last October we didn’t know how donors would respond to our change of focus. For the first time we were taking our fundraising goal outside the hospital and into the wider Peninsula community, looking to support the recruitment and retention of family doctors. This change of perspective required us to provide a lot of information about why we were the right people to tackle the doctor shortage crisis, and how we knew we’d be able to help. Now, at the end of the campaign, we are incredibly proud to see the results of it being put into immediate practice here in our community.
Thanks to our donors the campaign is at $1,880,840.54 (less than $120,000 to go!). A wonderful offer of a donation match, thanks to the $650,000 offered by the James Family Foundation, really inspired our donors. The match was achieved in February 2019 and has had a big impact. What we heard from the community was that access to a family physician matters, and that the community was willing to place their trust in us, as well as the Shoreline Medical Society, to make changes to the way Primary Care is delivered, to improve access to doctors for everyone.
What the fundraising campaign has achieved is:
• Shoreline Medical Brentwood – a new clinic space renovated and opened in February
• Shoreline Medical Sidney – renovations began in April and are now almost complete, greatly expanding the clinic space to accommodate new physicians and retain the walk-in clinic (now the only one in Sidney)
• Four new doctors are coming to Sidney over the next four months
• In addition two doctors who are planning to retire (sometime in the next three years) have joined Shoreline Sidney, ensuring that their patients will be cared for when replacements are recruited
• The search continues for a third clinic site, near the hospital in Saanichton.
The Foundation’s mandate is to provide up-to-date facilities, innovative programs, and proactive solutions, to support the health, wellness, and sustainability of the Saanich Peninsula and the Southern Gulf Island communities.
Each year we assess where the needs are greatest, and where fundraising dollars will make the most difference. For the 2019-2020 campaign we will be turning our attention back to the hospital, specifically our Long-term Care unit. We’ll be hoping to raise another $2 million to make important upgrades and improvements to infrastructure and equipment, as well as bringing more therapy tools to enhance our residents’ experiences. Look out for more information in the November issue of Seaside Magazine or visit www.sphf.ca.
