The Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation is accepting donations this holiday season toward the proposed Oceanside health centre.
“We received our first donation and so now the account is open,” said foundation president Maeve O’Byrne. “The first donation is always the most challenging.”
The donation is for equipment, but O’Byrne said donations can be general or towards anything within their mandate, including equipment, renovation, education and research.
She points out they are still accepting donations for the expanded Nanaimo Regional General Hospital emergency room but they have opened the Oceanside account, as they promised to the community and MLA Ron Cantelon.
People who want their tax deductible donation to go specifically toward the proposed Oceanside project need to make that clear when they donate.
Asked what would happen to the donations if the health facility isn’t built, O’Byrne said they would have to go back to the donors and ask them what to do with the money.
“ I know at this time of the year many of us donate to hospital foundations and charities and so I am hopeful that Oceanside residents might keep this in mind,” local resident Steve Anderson e-mailed The News.
“ Although the centre is not built yet, it would let the powers that be know that we are willing to support a medical centre in our area.”
Nearly 22,000 donors have given over $34 million to the foundation since 1991, including $2.7 million in 2010/11 alone.
For more information, or to donate, call toll-free from Oceanside 250-947-8212, e-mail info@nanaimohospitalfoundation.com, check online at www.nanaimohospitalfoundation.com or stop at their office in the NRGH front lobby.