When it comes to health care in Surrey, community is key – both in times of crisis, and through forward-thinking initiatives that ensure the care is available, when and where it’s needed.
“Surrey is a wonderful place to live, and a big part of that is that in a time of crisis like we’ve experienced this spring, our community ensured we were ready,” says Surrey Hospital Foundation President and CEO Jane Adams.
Through the generous support of local donors to the COVID-19 Response fund, for example, the Foundation was able to purchase more than 50 pieces of life-saving equipment and assign $175,000 to research into a vaccine and healthy rehabilitation for COVID-19 patients. Surrey’s Community Champions also helped provide 122,000 meals, snacks and hot cups of coffee to front-line teams at the hospital, and provide 90 patient comfort items, Adams notes.
Providing the community with a continuum of care
COVID has also underscored the importance of providing a continuum of health care at the hospital, serving patients from infancy to their elder years.
As the busiest surgical centre in the Fraser Valley region, Surrey Memorial Hospital performed 21,240 surgeries last year, including more than 1,200 for children. A full 60-per cent of those surgeries were related to cancer.
Thanks to the community’s generosity, the hospital has renovated the first three of its 10 operating rooms through its Surgery Campaign initiative to transform surgery in Surrey. Those three, fully integrated rooms are operating 24/7 to address waiting lists from surgeries postponed this past spring due to COVID.
The Foundation hopes to begin renovating the fourth room this fall – renovations that will help attract and retain top surgical talent and allow the hospital to continue providing the best care for patients, Adams notes.
The Foundation is also in the final stages of fundraising for its Children’s Health Centre, essential at a hospital that serves more than 15,000 children each year. “We need more diagnostic and treatment options for Surrey children, close to home,” Adams says, adding that youth mental health needs are also significant, especially as children and youth adapt to the changes brought about by the pandemic.
Your support makes a difference
“Throughout COVID, Surrey Memorial was one of a handful of hospitals in the Lower Mainland that had the best outcomes in the world, and the community was instrumental in that because of their support of the facility,” Adams says. “We had the equipment, we had the facility and we had the people.”
Be a part of transforming health care in Surrey – donate online at surreyhospitalfoundation.com/donate.
