Founded in 1992, Surrey Hospitals Foundation is committed to bringing unstoppable, life-changing health care to Surrey.
Check out some of the amazing things we’ve done together over the past three decades!
30 years ago, in May of 1992, Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation was officially registered under the Society Act of British Columbia! Since this time, our Foundation has worked with the community to raise over $200 million for health care in Surrey.
Our first ever fundraising event was a golf tournament! In 1992, 160 individuals participated in the first annual golf tournament raising $20,000. The golf tournament became one of our key fundraising events at the time, making its mark in the community. Community fundraising events remain important supports for our Foundation’s fundraising efforts.
In 1994, we introduced the home lottery program as part of a new fundraising initiative. At the time, this program was the first of its kind in British Columbia! This program ran for more than a decade. Our Foundation is always innovative in our efforts to engage the community and enable donors to support the hospital.
In 2001, our Foundation officially joined the World Wide Web with our first website – www.smhfoundation.com! This paved the way for the future of fundraising for our Foundation where in the following year, in 2002, we introduced an automated online donation system. Today over half of our donations are received online.
In 2001, with the support of many local donors, our Foundation contributed $10 million to open a new Children’s Health Centre at Surrey Memorial Hospital in response to the growing population. Housing Surrey’s first chemotherapy unit for children, a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and a new Family Birthing Unit with increased capacity for surgery, the Children’s Health Centre was a step forward in bringing life-changing care closer to home.
With a contribution of $600,000, we helped fund a new, high tech operating room which was the first of its kind in Western Canada in 2002. This innovative space gave nurses and surgeons total control over virtually every vital piece of technology in the OR from endoscopic videos to room temperature and lighting adjustments – all done with a touch screen.
In 2002, Surrey Hospitals Foundation donors helped bring the first Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine to Surrey Memorial Hospital! Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the body uses a powerful magnetic field, radio waves and a computer to produce detailed pictures of the inside of your body. It may be used to help diagnose or monitor treatment for a variety of conditions within the chest, abdomen, and pelvis.
In 2011, the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre opened. This Centre was the first of its kind in BC to offer various patient services all in one building featuring day surgery, diagnostic procedures (such as labs, X-rays, CT and MRI scans, biopsies and specialized health programs), a specialized Breast Health Clinic. In this Centre, innovative steps were taken to also include an express patient check-in kiosk where patients checked themselves in for their appointments, received directions, and notified the clinic of their arrival. We supported this important facility, raising $5 million including a $5 million leadership gift from Jim Pattison.
In 2013 a new 8-story Surrey Memorial Hospital Critical Care Tower was built thanks to the generous support from the community! The tower doubled the capacity for high-risk babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, opened BC’s first Ronald McDonald Family Room for parents, and expanded the Stroke and Intensive Care Units. The Critical Care Tower is also home to the Emergency Department (one of Canada’s busiest), as well as a helipad used for transporting the sickest patients to and from the hospital. Our Foundation supported this capital project with an investment of $17 million to purchase equipment.
When the new Critical Care Tower opened at Surrey Memorial Hospital in 2013, it included a brand new Emergency Department, including a specialty Pediatric Emergency Department. In a community where over 43% of the population of children in BC are living in our region, this 5,500 square feet of kids-only space ensures timely emergency medical treatment in a safe and welcoming space. Our pediatric emergency department at Surrey Memorial Hospital is only 1 of 2 in the province!
In 2016, our Foundation hosted our inaugural Celebration of Care Gala, the Bollywood Ball. It raised $1.2 million in support of the Project Eye initiative to help prevent blindness. The donations from this gala went towards equipping a dedicated Retinal Operating Room at Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre!
In 2016, we launched Champion of the Crescent, a stand-up paddle board race to raise funds for youth mental health programs. With over 200 paddlers racing to the finish line, the Champion of the Crescent was a huge success, raising over $128,000. Champion of the Crescent returns this year on July 23rd at Blackie Spit Park in Crescent Beach.
The ten-bed Cloverdale Paint Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Stabilization Unit (CAPSU) was the first of its kind in Fraser Health, opening in 2017. The community rallied behind this important project, raising $2.5 million in just 100 days. In the first three months of its opening, the CAPSU team was able to help more than 100 young patients in mental health crisis! Since then, that number has increased to thousands. Our Foundation proudly supports the Youth and Parent in Resident services and the Help for Hard Times program, as well as music, art and exercise therapy programs.
In 2017, Czorny Alzheimer Centre was gifted to our Foundation. The Centre is named after Michael Czorny, the father of Surrey benefactor, Marilyn Stewart. Marilyn and her family watched Michael battle Alzheimer’s for 9 years, and in memory of him and his wife Nancy, they provided the land as well as $10 million in capital funding. Czorny Alzheimer Centre was gifted to our Foundation in 2017 and is now operated by Fraser Health Authority.
In 2018, we ran a $6 million campaign to upgrade the Children’s Health Centre at Surrey Memorial Hospital that we helped build 20 years earlier. Thanks to generous support of the community, the Children’s Health Centre increased the number of clinical rooms, renewed the pediatric oncology unit, opened Surrey’s first pediatric pre and post surgery unit, and implemented a new augmented reality app for patients to use as a virtual orientation to the Centre. With nearly 50% of BC’s children residing in Surrey and the surrounding communities, our Foundation remains committed to raising funds for pediatric services at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
In 2019, our Foundation hosted the first ever Mini Med School at Surrey Memorial Hospital. With 80 students from grades 10-12 from local Surrey high schools, this event gave students the opportunity to explore a variety of medical specialties in small-group workshops with physicians and technicians! Students were able to experience hands-on learning simulations such as removing a grape skin with a pin with the retinal surgeon, and watching their output efforts on an overhead screen during a CPR simulation in the lab. After a hiatus due to COVID-19, Mini Med School is set to return in 2023!
In 2019, we proudly supported funding toward Fraser Health’s first 3T MRI, one of only three in the whole province. This state-of-the-art diagnostic tool delivered twice the field strength of the existing MRI machines. The 3Tesla MRI is manufactured by General Electric and the magnet alone weighs 18,000 pounds. A portion of the exterior wall at Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre was removed during the installation, so a 270 ton crane could lift the magnet to the second floor of the Centre.
When COVID-19 arrived suddenly, with generous support from the community, our Foundation leapt into action to support the hospital and health care workers. Over 13,400 meals, 8,400 cups of coffee and tea, and 100,000 snacks made a huge impact for the health care workers during the first few months of the pandemic. We were also able to provide over 150 crucial pieces of equipment to Surrey Memorial Hospital, invest $1.4 million to COVID-19 research studies taking place in Surrey, along with the establishment of the Surrey Memorial Hospital Clinical Research Unit.
Over the past two years, our Foundation has purchased some of the most innovative surgical equipment available and continues to renew Fraser Health’s busiest surgical centre at Surrey Memorial Hospital. A new surgical table for our orthopedic surgery team means hip replacement surgeries can be performed in a less invasive manner, resulting in quicker discharge from hospital after surgery. A specialized spinal navigation system means complex back surgeries can now be done right here in Surrey. And a 3D viewing system for the retinal surgery team means more accuracy, better ergonomics for the surgeons, and increased capacity for teaching at our hospital. These are just a few examples of how donors are helping our Foundation bring the very best care to Surrey.
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