Dear editor,
Mr. Mike Benson’s letter in the Dec. 8 edition of The Record (New hospital should not house foundation) has provided Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation (formerly St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation) with a wonderful opportunity to address some questions and concerns held by residents of our community.
First, while we are “housed” by St. Joseph’s Hospital and will have an office in the new Island Health Comox Valley Hospital in the fall of 2017, we are not officially affiliated with either. Our foundation is governed by its own volunteer-run board of directors who are well-respected individuals in the community and who are not employed by either St. Joseph’s or Island Health. This ensures that decisions made regarding fundraising remain unprejudiced and fair so that the Comox Valley’s health-care needs are met in the utmost unbiased way. The foundation board’s role is to be good stewards of our community’s donations, and they believe strongly in safeguarding donor rights and protecting donor privacy through a high degree of transparency and accountability in our fundraising and financial practices.
Also perhaps Mr. Benson is not aware that almost every hospital, secular or not, has a foundation whose role is to raise funds for that facility’s medical needs, such as the Campbell River Hospital Foundation, the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation and the Victoria Hospitals Foundation. All of these foundations have offices in these facilities and serve the same vital service to the community they live in – to give their residents the excellent, most current healthcare they deserve.
Second, we would like to assert that our foundation is a non-spiritual, stand-alone not-for-profit whose mission is, “to raise funds to enhance and sustain quality healthcare in our community for all residents from first breath to end of life.”
We fundraise in the Comox Valley to meet our community’s unique health-care needs that are not covered by government funding, such as: medical equipment and technology; building upgrades; department expansions; patient comfort items and staff education. Our fundraising supports multiple areas of health and care at St. Joseph’s in its current and future role, as well as at the new Comox Valley Hospital, and some community programs.
While we might raise funds for health-care needs at these facilities, our foundation is not affiliated with the belief systems, views or practices of either. We simply exist to provide you, the Comox Valley, with the healthcare you need and deserve.
We hope that this letter has been informative, and we welcome any inquiries the community may have about our foundation’s role in Comox Valley healthcare.
Respectfully,
Brenda Kelm
President, Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation