Major donors can now literally leave their legacy on the doors of Penticton Regional Hospital’s soon-to-be-developed $325-million Patient Care Tower.
New booklet-style brochures have been mailed out to hundreds of prospective donors, outlining the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation’s $20-million campaign to provide medical equipment for the PRH tower.
Walter Despot, the Foundation’s board chair, said he’s very impressed by the 12-page booklet which explains the history of PRH and the need for the pending expansion.
“The new Patient Care Tower is all about people – all of us who rely on the hospital for quality patient care, either for ourselves or our loved ones,” Despot said. “The brochures reflect that vision.”
Included in the publication is a list of naming opportunities for individuals, service organizations and businesses to dedicate the various rooms, clinics and other features in the new tower. Dedication costs range from $30,000 for an individual patient room to $10 million to put a donor’s name on the entire tower.
Interior Health guidelines stipulate that the naming costs for each room or facility should be about 10 per cent of the actual construction value.
Applications for Penticton businessman David Kampe to name the upgraded PRH Emergency Department and the Summerland Health-Care Auxiliary for naming rights to the Cardiology Diagnostic Clinic are already in the works, subject to formal approval by the Province.
Similar naming opportunities have been utilized in other major health care and education projects throughout B.C.
In 2012, Vancouver businessman Jimmy Pattison donated $2.5 million to Okanagan College towards the $28-million Centre of Excellence in Penticton. More recently, the estate of Lloyd and Lota Jobling of Penticton donated $512,000 to cover the entire cost of a new residence for visiting health care students and locum physicians at PRH which opened in April.
Premier Christy Clark announced government approval of the PRH tower project in July 2014. A private sector partner is to be selected in early 2016, with construction to begin soon afterwards.
The new tower will include 84 single bed rooms, operating-surgical rooms, ambulatory care clinics, and be home to the UBC Faculty of Medicine program.
The hospital’s existing Emergency Department will be expanded to almost four times its present size.
Anyone wishing a copy of the campaign booklet or other information should contact the SOS Medical Foundation at 250-492-9027, Email SOSmedicalfoundation@interiorhealth.ca or stop by the office just inside the front lobby doors at Penticton Regional Hospital.