Business icon Jim Pattison is making a $4-million matching donation to kick start a Surrey Hospitals Foundation fundraising campaign.
The fundraising campaign is to upgrade the 10-year-old Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre in Green Timbers. Th foundation is aiming to raise $8 million by the end of 2021 to purchase critical diagnostic medical equipment for the centre.
“This centre has served the residents in Surrey and the Fraser Valley, and I am happy to be part of helping the Surrey Outpatient Centre with their new medical equipment,” said Pattison, the chairman and CEO of Jim Pattison Group.
This isn’t the first time Pattison has donated to the centre.
He previously donated $5 million in 2011, with the community matching his gift through donations to the Surrey Hospitals Foundation’s 100 Days to Give campaign.
Jane Adams, president and CEO of Surrey Hospitals Foundation, said that was a “catalyst” that “really encouraged others to step up and raise the profile of the need.” She said the fact that Pattison has done it again, is “quite heartening for the foundation.”
The 188,000 sq.-ft. award-winning LEED Gold outpatient facility was opened in 2011 and constructed at a cost of $237 million “to relieve pressure on the health care system by consolidating the services that don’t require an overnight stay” at Surrey Memorial Hospital into one stand-alone facility.
A release from the foundation says its specialized clinics, surgical and diagnostic services have been “key resources” for the Fraser Health region, which serves one-in-20 Canadians. It adds that after a decade of service, the centre is “coming of age and requires additional investment beyond what is available from the health care system.”
“In the 10 years since it first opened, the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre has earned an exceptional reputation for excellence in care, innovation, quality design, and maintenance,” said Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health.
Lee added the health authority has made contributions to replace and maintain much of the centre’s medical equipment, “but there are several large critical diagnostic equipment that need funding and we are so grateful for Mr. Pattison’s additional investment to help us make these purchases.”
Adams said she started working in Surrey before the centre was built and “we just faced incredible congestion” at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
When the centre opened, according to the release, it had approximately 100 clinicians and 50 clinics. It has since grown to a medical physician team of 527 people and 56 clinics.
Since the pandemic began, the centre is now also home to a post-COVID recovery clinic.
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