Brian Miller is happy to hear that the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island will provide $4.7 million in health-care funding for kids on the Island.
Miller, from Campbell River, received aid from the charitable foundation when he and his wife went down to Victoria for an ultrasound when she was eight months pregnant with daughter Emma, now five years old. His wife was diagnosed with late-term preclampsia, which can lead to high blood pressure.
“Every time [the doctor] would stop, he would look at her heart, or he would look at her head, or her kidneys and he would sit. He would stare at the screen and he wouldn’t say anything … for an entire hour this went on, not a word. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack because I had no idea what was happening,” said Miller.
He and his wife were informed Emma would be delivered that day, as the doctor expressed concern about the baby’s brain, heart and kidney. The family wasn’t prepared for a long-term stay, but received assistance through various foundation programs, including a month stay at the foundation’s Jeneece Place, a home-away-from-home in Victoria.
“Being able to stay somewhere like that in a home environment that was restful and not a hospital room … having somewhere where you can literally just walk across the parking lot and be back in the hospital with your family, it’s just a massive blessing,” Miller said.
Veronica Carroll, foundation CEO, said the $4.7 million, which is the group’s largest-ever investment in programs, comes from donors and fundraising efforts. The money will support three priority areas: early childhood development, child and youth mental health and rural and remote community access to health care.
“We are putting some dollars into early intervention with the dollars that are going to [Nanaimo Child Development Centre] and their family fair and we know that families really rely on access to medical support in health, health professionals out in the community and closer to home,” said Carroll.
Some of the other programs that will benefit from the investment include the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health Programs and the Sooke Family Resource Centre, Greater Victoria; the School District 84 Children’s Health Hub, North Island-Gold River; the School District 72 Family Support Program, Campbell River; the Malahat First Nation’s Circle of Courage Boys’ Program, Cowichan Valley; the Alberni Valley Community School Society’s Rural and Remote Access to Services Institute and the STARS Nuu Chah Nulth Program, Alberni-West Coast.
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