Jim Pattison Centre for Health Systems Learning and Innovation opens at Kelowna General Hospital 

A year-and-a-half after a $5 million donation to the KGH Foundation, The Jim Pattison Centre for Health Systems Learning + Innovation has opened in Kelowna.

“It’s a collaborative hub where clinicians, researchers, educators and policymakers unit, breaking down silos and working together to build high-impact solutions,” said Raghwa Gopal, chair of the centre’s board of directors and former CEO of Accelerate Okanagan.

Gopal also announced the appointment of esteemed researcher Dr. Deanna Taylor as the first executive director of the centre. She was the scientific director of the Rural Coordination Centre of BC and is a former Interior Health corporate director of research.

“I cannot tell you how excited I am,” said Dr. Taylor to the gathered crowd. “I just feel so honoured and privileged and I’m looking forward to these conversations that really help realize the mission and values and all of the discussion we’ve heard this morning and lift it up into reality.”

Dr. Taylor believes the centre will help attract and retain much-needed talent to the healthcare system in the region. The opening comes as KGH grapples with an extended shutdown of its pediatrics unit due to an ongoing shortage of pediatricians.

“I think it will stand Kelowna and Kelowna General Hospital and the partnership idea really well and I think, yeah, I would expect it to have some attracting and retaining value for our healthcare workers and physicians and clinicians out there to Kelowna, to our Interior southern region,” she said.

The $5 million gift from the Jim Pattison Foundation was the largest in its history to a hospital in BC’s Interior and the first that targets innovation.

“Early on, he (Pattison) decided that an area he thought he really wanted to focus his philanthropy on was in the area of healthcare, particularly in areas where his companies operate,” said foundation chair Clark Hollands.

“The Pattison Group has a big operation through the Okanagan Valley with 25 food stores and radio stations etc. This is a core area for us to focus on to try to make a difference.”

The centre will operate independently with a mission to advance system-level change in health care while improving care delivery and outcomes across the Southern Interior.