RBC Foundation – $20,000 to Starlite for EKRH Wheelchairs

Submitted by EKFH on 18-12-2012

Cranbrook, BC… This health care item may not receive huge accolades for the work it does but a hospital without a wheelchair would be in a very difficult situation.

The East Kootenay Regional Hospital has a brigade of wheelchairs but wear and tear and sometimes just missing in action the fleet at the hospital needed a bit of a cheer up and increase in the number of wheelchairs presently on site.

“I was attending an Operations Committee meeting a few weeks ago and the subject of wheelchairs came up. There was an active discussion about how wonderful it would be if more chairs could be available. As a foundation our role is to link a need to someone with a belief in that cause. With that in mind I put in a call to a very special donor,” says Donna Grainger, EKFH Executive Director.

With grace, the Royal Bank’s RBC Foundation accepted the call and Jennifer Cabeldu, Manager of Donations for RBC couldn’t have been more helpful. An original request of $10,000 was actually doubled with an approved gift of $20,000 soon to be heading to EKFH to build the wheelchair fleet.

Maureen Foxworthy, RBC Branch Manager for Cranbrook explains, “The welfare of the residents in our community is something RBC keeps in mind when making charitable gifts. Over the years we have been able to assist the regional hospital in securing items that are extremely important but not so high profile. The purchase of these wheelchairs we know is going to make a huge difference in the quality of patient care.”

The generosity of RBC Foundation means that there is potential to increase the number of transfer and Broda chairs (possibly as many as 14-15 chairs) that will be available for patients entering the hospital lobby or moving through different areas of the facility. The wheelchairs are anticipated to arrive in the New Year.

Foundation helping foundation…. and foundations helping health care… a beautiful Starlite gift indeed.

To learn more about the many gifts the Starlite Campaign for Excellence in Health Care has received this holiday season visit us on Facebook or our website www.ekfh.ca.
 

L-R: Maureen Foxworthy (Branch Manager), Amanda Lees, Brenda Thompson, Tracy Briere present a $20,000 gift to EKFH’s Donna Grainger