On behalf of the Headwaters Health Care Foundation Board and Staff, I wish you a Happy New Year, I hope it is filled with health and happiness.
My first eight months as Chair has just flown by, and I wanted to highlight some of our successes in 2019 and highlight what is upcoming in 2020.
First off, I want to thank you, our community. You have been so generous in supporting our local Hospital. We had our first matching gift campaign over the Holidays, and the community stepped up to not only match the Galt Family Foundation’s $180,000 but exceed it by contributing over $194,000 in support of the Hospital’s most urgent priorities! Well done! Thank you as well to Vivienne who wrote a very inspiring letter that we all just couldn’t say no to!
2019 also saw record results at our annual Gala, Golf Tournament and Tour de Headwaters.
As 2020 starts we have many things to look forward to: our renovated Joan and Paul Waechter Welcome Centre will be opening in February. It is a new focal point for the Hospital, where Headwaters patients and their families will experience a one-stop shop with respect to registration, bill payment, parking payment, expanded waiting areas, a therapeutic outdoor space, a re-designed gift and coffee shop and a new central staircase designed to improve safety and accessibility for all. There are plans underway to re-design the busy Emergency Department which see over 45,000 patients each year and growing! The waiting rooms and treatment areas will be improved. Staff and physicians will benefit from having more modern and efficient areas to care for patients. Once the hospital gets the final approval, construction can begin late this year. Finally, the Foundation will be launching a $3.3M effort to update and better equip our Diagnostic Imaging department – a unit that touches almost every patient that comes through our doors in some way. This is all on top of our annual need for new and replacement equipment across the Hospital, which the Ministry does not fund, outside of large-scale capital builds.
I cannot reiterate enough the need for our entire community to open doors, build new relationships and make introductions for the Foundation to expand our network and outreach. We are always looking for new events, business contacts, donors and volunteers.
There are a multitude of ways to support this great community asset, including a philanthropic gift, a will bequest, hosting your own third-party event or participating in one of our events – The Headwaters Gala, May 2, 2020 (already 85% SOLD OUT), The Headwaters Golf Classic, July 7, 2020 or Tour de Headwaters, September 19, 2020.
I look forward to continuing to serve the Foundation and our community. I invite you to reach out to me at foundation@headwatershealth.ca anytime.
Sincerely
Tim Peters