NEWS RELEASE
SOUTHLAKE REGIONAL HEALTH CENTRE
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Mothers bravely bring babies into the world at Southlake, and every decision, treatment and moment of care leads them in one direction – home. This Mother’s Day, honour a mom in your life with a real lifesaving gift. Your donation can help the one in five newborns born at Southlake who rely on expert care of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
To inspire the support of our communities, an anonymous donor will generously match all gifts made to Southlake’s new maternal child fundraising initiative –Homeward. This thoughtful donor will match donations made to the initiative, dollar for dollar, up to $1 million, doubling the impact of donations.
With community support, Southlake is raising $2 million to give our clinical teams the latest tools and equipment to support families and babies on their journey home.
Our medical teams work tirelessly to take care of at-risk mothers and babies, but they need the right equipment with the latest technology. For an infant, some of whom are no bigger than the palm of your hand, every piece of equipment must be tailored to their uniquely delicate and fragile body. This advanced equipment is intricate and costly, from monitors and probes that measure the faintest breaths and heartbeats to care stations that support emergency intervention to incubators that offer much-needed warmth and protection.
Babies in the NICU and birthing unit need specialized equipment to care for them, but many critical pieces of equipment have reached the end of their service life. Therefore, we need to ensure that the most up-to-date and advanced neonatal equipment is available to them to receive the best-specialized care they need.
When every moment matters, having life-sustaining equipment close to home is the only way to prevent the unthinkable from happening.
“This gift couldn’t have come at a better time to help inspire giving this Mother’s Day. It is a critical and desperate time for these families,” said Dr. Charmaine van Schaik, physician leader at maternal child program. “They depend on us to get them through. But we cannot do it alone. Support from the communities we serve is vital. We need specialized equipment that allows our most vulnerable patients to heal and grow.”
Contrary to popular belief, the government does not fund most new or replacement equipment. This creates a monumental financial need to bring such critical specialized lifesaving technology to Southlake’s maternal child program. We are dependent on the generosity of our donors to help.
“This matching gift means so much to Southlake – what a way to celebrate Mother’s Day! Today’s announcement enables us to push forward on our promise to deliver leading edge care to our tiniest patients,” said Southlake Foundation president and CEO Jennifer Ritter. “Donors will double their impact and have the opportunity to invest in vital pieces of equipment that will save lives and help keep families together so that they don’t need to leave our community for care at an already anxious and stressful time.”
“At some point, the needs of the maternal child program must be addressed – I think that time is now. There’s a possibility that our children will have their children at Southlake,” said Wendy and Chris Neal, Homeward lead community volunteers. “Are they going to use the same equipment that their parents used? There is something wrong with that.”
Wendy and Chris Neal know the impact of having leading-edge infant care available to them when their twins, Sarah and Zoe, were born prematurely at Southlake 22 years ago. They are now leading the charge on the Homeward Initiative today.
Having the care close to home and close to the love and support of their families is essential to saving tiny lives and giving them the best chance of a healthy and fulfilling life.
This Mother’s Day, give a gift that will have a lasting impact. To donate, visit the Maternal Child Initiative – Homeward at southlake.ca/homeward.
About Southlake Regional Health Centre Foundation
Since the inception of Southlake Foundation in 1980, more than $213 million dollars has been raised in support of Southlake Regional Health Centre. Working with members of the community, hundreds of volunteers, the Southlake Family and our incredible donors, Southlake Foundation will continue to support life-saving medical equipment, infrastructure upgrades and expansions, patient programs and staff education, all for the goal of providing leading-edge care for patients and families, close to home. For more information visit southlakefoundation.ca.
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