Couple donates to PRH

Photo: Contributed

Trudy and Nick Krabbendam have added to their already generous support for Penticton Regional Hospital. The Penticton couple have donated a further $70,000 to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation to help provide medical equipment for the PRH expansion.

Nick and Trudy Krabbendam are already generous supporters of Penticton Regional Hospital, having made a $30,000 donation in 2015.

Now the Penticton couple have donated an additional $70,000 to the South Okanagan Similkameen (SOS) Medical Foundation for medical equipment for the PRH expansion, now under construction.

The SOS Medical Foundation has a program in place in which major donors’ names can be linked to rooms and clinics in the new tower for the life of the building.  These room-naming opportunities go a long way in helping the Foundation meet its $20-million fundraising goal for the project.

Both Trudy and Nick were born and raised in Holland, marrying in the 1950s before immigrating to Canada. They eventually owned a refrigeration shop and several other businesses in Chilliwack and Vancouver over the years, before semi-retiring to Penticton five years ago.

Now the Krabbendams proudly call Penticton “home” and have been strong supporters of the SOS Medical Foundation’s PRH campaign.

“We have not done too badly in our lives, so we felt we could spare some money,” Nick said. “We hope other people in this beautiful community will follow our lead and also make a donation to help equip our new hospital tower.”

Nick suffers from diabetes. Trudy has required hip surgery and suffered from other health problems which required treatment at PRH over the past couple of years.  “The staff are just marvelous, but they are very busy,” she said.

The new six-storey tower at Penticton Regional Hospital will be ready for patients in early 2019, when construction will begin on Phase 2 – a major upgrade of the Emergency Department.