The long-time CEO of Surrey Hospitals Foundation has retired after 16 years.
Over the past 16 years, not only has the area around Surrey Memorial Hospital changed into a bustling downtown core, but the hospital has changed, too.
“I have been blessed to be in Surrey during a time of incredible growth, not only in the city but at the hospital,” Adams recalls.
Adams is always quick to point out that she did not get there alone. She always gives credit to the team around her.
“I’ve been in Surrey during a time of tremendous growth, progress and advancement and I’ve gotten to play a very small role in that and that was incredibly gratifying to me,” Adams said.
Adams heard about the job at Surrey Hospitals Foundation when she was working for St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation in Vancouver. She was intrigued by it.
The foundation, which was founded in 1992, was relatively small at the time.
Adams recalled a woman asking her why she was leaving such a well-known organization like St. Paul’s and moving to one in Surrey.
“I’m leaving an organization with a great history, and I’m going to one with a wonderful future,” was her response.
She started her new job at the foundation in 2007 when the office was in a portable in the parking lot at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Adams noted at the time, they were having problems with bunnies getting into their office. “As that area was still quite rural,” Adams said.
In 2007, the hospital had 430 beds and very few specialties. At the time, it was transitioning from a community hospital to a tertiary hospital.
Today, the hospital has grown to have 640 acute care beds, according to Fraser Health.
The population of the City of Surrey has also grown during that time. It has become the second-largest city in B.C., with a population of 568,322, according to the 2021 Statistics Canada census.
As the city has grown, so has the demand for health care. Surrey Memorial Hospital is the second largest hospital in the province, with the province’s busiest emergency department, according to Fraser Health.
Adams and her team have worked hard to raise funds and awareness for health care in Surrey.
During her time at the foundation, Adams has helped raise $150 million for health services in Surrey.
“Jane has deep experience in fundraising and a vast network of stakeholders that she has leveraged for the benefit of the Foundation,” Harp Dhillon, board chair said. “She has an innate ability to sense and seize opportunities that will benefit multiple groups. This has led to initiatives, many the first or only of their kind, that have improved health-care services for the people of Surrey.”
A few career highlights that Adams notes are the building of the first tower at Surrey Memorial Hospital, the building of the Jim Pattison Outpatient Centre, and being involved in negotiations for the foundation to raise funds for the new hospital in Cloverdale.
“And more recently, the advocacy efforts that resulted in that historic announcement by the Health Minister stating that there would be significant investment at three Memorial Hospital and the development of far more specialties,” Adams said.
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Part of those advocacy efforts included a healthcare summit the foundation hosted in May. Healthcare leaders from Fraser Health, UBC, SFU, first responders, clinical staff, and local community leaders attended.
They discussed “the compounding challenges facing the Surrey health care ecosystem, to strategize on solutions, and find consensus on key priorities to advance,” the Surrey Hospital Foundation stated in a news release (May 30).
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Now retired, she has a number of bucket list items she wants to check off her list.
“My mom had an expression, ‘you’re a longtime dead, so you better get busy and do your things now.’ So I’m looking forward to that,” Adams said.
That is precisely what she plans on doing, keeping herself busy with trips, volunteering and family time. She would also like to improve her 10km race time and improve her second language skills.
Adams and her husband, who is also retired, plan to spend to go on a number of longer trips. Adams will also spend time visiting her family on the East Coast.