Grants to 31 areas of research helped to fund more than 25 research studies, projects or clinical trials and supported young researchers with fellowships. From research in prostate, kidney and lung cancer care to looking at novel strategies to support people living with obsessive compulsive disorder, we’re committed to discovering new ways to diagnose, treat, and slow the progression of illness and disease.

Your donations helped to construct a home for a CT Suite in the Emergency Department, while funding the renewal of the department, too. Now it has a larger waiting room, private triage areas, and more patient care bays to reduce wait times. We also renewed our birthing rooms, expanded the special care nursery and provided funds for the upcoming renovations to our Psychiatric Emergency Service.

Grants supported our youth, adult and seniors’ mental health and addictions services, the maternal and newborn care unit, therapeutic recreation initiatives, palliative care programs and more. From respirology to robotic surgery, your support touches so many departments across our three campuses and offsite care facilities.

As the operational dollars hospitals receive don’t cover the costs of medical equipment renewal or replacement, your donations funded 42 pieces of equipment. From Portable Ultrasound Units to Emergency Department Stretchers, Electrocardiogram (ECG) machines to Jaundice Meters for our youngest patients.

Most of the robotic procedures performed at St Joe’s are not funded by OHIP. Donations from our generous supporters helped to fund more than 350 robotic procedures for patients living with cancers of the head, neck, chest, lung, bladder and those needing a full or partial hip or knee replacement. With the data from these surgeries, we’ll continue to lobby for greater funding of this innovative technology that helps patients to heal faster.

These grants are for the small things that are so important to the patient care experience. This year, we provided 71 grants to 65 different programs or areas of the Hospital to fund things like an iPod to play music to calm anxious patients during their MRI scan, art supplies for our acute psychiatry units to give clients a creative outlet, and a recumbent bike to help seniors regain their strength and mobility.

These grants provided tuition assistance to our healthcare workers as they pursued courses, designations, certifications, and residencies in specialty care disciplines. This past year, nearly 100 of our staff were recipients of grants to support their continued learning and education. It’s one more way we’re supporting our care teams and bringing the best care to our community.