Improved healthcare will be coming to Central and North Island with a record-breaking three-million-dollar donation from the Windsor Plywood Foundation to help build a new critical care expansion at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
According to the NRGH board, in 2020 they started their largest fundraising campaign to improve healthcare across the region which started with the replacement of the eight-bed ICU. They add the Windsor Plywood Foundation also contributed one million dollars to the ICU, which opened in 2023.
So far five million dollars has been raised to purchase equipment needed to complete the critical care expansion which NRGH expects to be completed in 2025.
Plywood Foundation executive director Cathy Brown says the donation holds special meaning to her because it honors her father and his memory.
“Throughout his lifetime he made it a priority to give back to the communities where his customers lived and worked,” she says. “The people of Nanaimo, and the surrounding area, have been a large part of the Windor’s success over the last 50 years, and we are delighted to contribute to this important and much-needed addition.”
Donations from the foundation have been given to the NRGH since 1990, but a media release says the donations have been coming in annually since 2009 to support areas in renal care, the emergency department, surgical, medical imaging, and cardiac care.
Hospital Foundation chair Tony Harris says the donation is truly a great gift and hopes it will inspire others to see the benefit of improved care.
“We believe this gift will inspire others to give where they live for immeasurable, and lasting impact today and for years to come,” Harris says.
This donation signifies the completion of the critical care facilities, with an official announcement scheduled sometime next month.
