Kelowna donors are real lifesavers.
The Kelowna General Hospital Foundation announced today its Be a Lifesaver campaign has successfully met its goal of raising $12 million for the new Interior Heart and Surgical Centre at KGH.
KGH staff and donors celebrated the successful campaign wrap-up at a reception in the hospital’s new courtyard. At the event, it was announced the campaign brought in a total of $12,140,503.
The campaign was launched in 2013 and dedicated to outfitting the heart and surgical centre with state-of-the-art equipment.
When the centre opens later this month, it will house 15 operating rooms for 12 surgical specialties, including the most technical and advanced component, a hybrid operating room.
Considered a game-changer in health care, the hybrid OR creates "new opportunities for innovation in surgical approaches and procedures that physicians could only dream of in the past. And it provides a platform for training the future generation of innovators in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery," the foundation said in a press release.
Campaign co-chairs Drs. Gary Goplen and Guy Fradet said countless volunteers and unwavering public support helped achieve a remarkable feat.
“Our old ORs are good,” Goplen said. "They’ve been good since the 1970s … but surgery moves along so quickly, the technology moves along. We want to stay up to date, always. We’re so grateful that the community saw the need, rallied around us, and helped us bring the centre to life.”
The benefits of the new centre will be felt well beyond Kelowna’s borders.
“We’re seeing patients from Williams Lake, Osoyoos, Merritt, Cranbrook and all points in between,” said Fradet.
“This new building, which takes us from industry standard to state of the art, will offer advanced health care to 750,000 residents throughout the Interior. Our community should take great pride in that. Together, we’re improving and saving lives.”