Phil Wild, Chair of the Trenton Memorial Hospital Foundation.(Photo: John Spitters / Quinte News).
2016 got off to a shaky start for the Trenton Memorial Hospital Foundation but the year got a lot better starting in the summer.
Speaking at the annual general meeting, Trenton Memorial Hospital Foundation Chair, Phil Wild, said there were real fears that TMH would lose surgeries to Belleville General along with other services. Also, it was feared that some Foundation supporters would stop donating because of the controversy surrounding the hospital.
However, after the Minister of Health confirmed surgeries would stay at TMH and that there would be support for a “health hub” in or near the hospital in the summer, the outlook brightened considerably.
Revenues for 2016 were only slightly less, at just under $2 million. Grants of almost $800,000 were given out for various pieces of medical equipment at TMH and $324,000 was granted to Belleville General to help with the cost of upgrading the MRI machine.
Wendy Warner, Executive Director of the TMH Foundation.(Photo: John Spitters / Quinte News).
Foundation members also learned that it cost the Foundation $0.15 to raise one dollar.
While up from $0.07 in 2015 because a $1.2 million bequest wasn’t replaced, that figure
was still well below the Canada Revenue Agency benchmark of $0.35 per dollar raised.
Meanwhile, 13 community organizations received a total of over $78,000 from the Kay Stafford Memorial Fund.
Receiving financial support from the fund were the Batawa Lions Club, Big Brothers and Sisters, John Howard Society, Military Family Resource Centre, OurTMH, Quinte Access, Quinte West Fire and Emergency, Quinte West Youth Centre, Sacred Heart, The Children’s Foundation, Trenton Seniors 105, VON, and the YMCA.
Area high school students wishing to pursue an education in health care received $3,000 in bursaries and a Loyalist College nursing student received $1,000.
Kay Stafford died in 1996 and in 1997 bequeathed over $1.1 million to the TMH Foundation. Each year investment income from the fund is granted to worthy organizations in her name.
Since the fund began offering grants, over $1.2 million has been invested into the community.
