COVID-19 Updates: Message from the President – June 19, 2020

Dear Friends,

It has been 96 days since the Foundation staff decamped from the heart of North York General to reduce the community footprint within the hospital. Like many of you, I have adapted to working remotely but do have my ups and downs and try not to be too cranky with family underfoot and the daily “what’s for dinner?”, also substitute “lunch” or “to eat” – the joys of children returning to the nest. What I do embrace about having young people around is the lively sharing of views across generations, listening to each other’s perspectives on social movements, discussing the necessary evolution of long-standing institutions, understanding the meaning of privilege, and navigating the conflicting norms of behaviour during COVID, to name a few. In fact, my daughter just said, “I wonder when libraries are going to open again?” and whilst our views are divergent on some things, the importance and love of literature is shared.

I thought you might appreciate an update on resumption of services at North York General. As our province continues to experience a downward decline in COVID-19 cases, the hospital has turned its attention to the recovery of operations and services. Many procedures were postponed due to COVID-19, and we have been working to ensure a seamless and equitable increase of service. Our plan is rooted in safety and ensuring there is adequate access to PPE, while also providing us flexibility so we can quickly respond to any potential surges in COVID-19 cases. Using a gradual and phased approach, teams across the hospital have been reaching out to patients to schedule procedures and care based on urgency. We know this has been challenging for everyone, and we are grateful for your understanding and support. We are fortunate to have Canadian leaders in disease prevention and infection control on staff at North York General to guide our recovery plan and gradual re-entry of staff like the Foundation.

Earlier this week, the Foundation had another milestone as we hosted our first virtual Annual General Meeting, where we welcomed Nicole German, Global Head & Vice President, Digital Marketing, Sales & Growth at Scotiabank, as our new Chair of the Board of Governors. Nicole has been a force in addressing children’s mental health care, founding The Maddie Project and working with North York General to realize the dream of Phillips House and Maddie’s Healing Garden for children and youth mental health care. She is also an incredibly respected thought leader in the digital marketing space, and I encourage you to read more about her here.

Here are some fantastic financial highlights from our past fiscal year – we are at $175M of our $180M campaign goal, achieved $12.6M in fundraising revenue and granted almost $14M to the Hospital. Below is a brief breakdown of some of the areas we were able to support because of donors like you: