NEW WESTMINSTER -- With COVID-19 cases increasing daily in B.C. and pressure mounting on the health-care system and health-care workers across the country, local hospital foundations are now looking for ways to give back to the medical staff on the frontlines.
Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation has launched a fundraiser to help staff at the hospital in New Westminster.
“We know they are going to be working long hours over this period of time, so we want to make sure they have the resources to make their lives a little bit easier,” Jeff Norris, of the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation, told CTV News Vancouver.
That includes little extras, like bringing food to the hospital on a regular basis and finding nearby hotel accommodations so staff can sleep nearby after a long shift instead of driving home.
“We are trying to take away their concern and worry about some of those things on the home-front for them. They have enough things to worry about when they’re coming to work making sure they are taking care of all of us in the community,” Norris said. “So if we can do anything to make them feel better, lift their morale and let them know the community is behind them, that’s the difference we are trying to make.”
There’s no set fundraising goal, but the foundation says every little bit is appreciated.
“There’s money flowing in from the government. They’re really backstopping the needs of the medical system right now. This is over and above from what’s coming in already from the province and federal government to make sure we are responding to COVID-19,” Norris said.
As well as financial donations, the foundation is looking for people to leave encouraging words and video online that will be shared with staff at the hospital.
“You would be amazed to see how well they’re responding to those little gestures the community is making. It’s so important for them to know we have their back,” Norris added.
The money raised through the fundraiser will go to RCH, but similar fundraising is also in place for other facilities through other hospital foundations in the province. That includes VGH, Lions Gate Hospital, Surrey Memorial, and St. Paul's Hospital.
