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Campaign supporters get an exclusive sneak preview inside the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre for launch of A Campaign for Health Care Excellence
Abbotsford, B.C., September 22, 2007 — Donors, corporate sponsors, local dignitaries and other campaign supporters from the community were given an exclusive sneak preview of the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre on Saturday, September 22, 2007. The official launch of the public phase of A Campaign for Health Care Excellence, a partnership between the BC Cancer Foundation and the Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation, was by invitation only and took place in the newly constructed atrium of the hospital and cancer centre. The atrium is an architectural masterpiece in its own right, with an impressive fourstorey-high glass exterior.
Plans for a new hospital date back to 1987 when options were being considered for renovating the existing MSA Hospital. The last major renovation to the MSA Hospital was completed in 1980 and since then, the population of Abbotsford has increased by more than twice over.
“Today’s event will bring us one step closer to realizing our twenty-year old vision for a new hospital,” said George Peary, chair of A Campaign for Health Care for Excellence. “In fact, this facility will be better than we could ever have imagined given the state-of-the-art equipment and technology that is available to us today as compared to twenty years ago. Fraser Valley residents have every reason to be excited.”
A Campaign for Health Care Excellence was publicly launched to raise the remaining $1.3 million needed as part of the overall $7.5 million goal for enhancements to technology and cancer programs at the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre.
“It is very important that we secure the remaining funds needed for the campaign,” added Peary. “If 1,000 families are able to give $1,000 each – that’s already another million dollars. This is a very achievable goal.”
It is also the first time in Western Canada that a cancer centre has been integrated directly into a hospital from the “ground up.” The new hospital which is scheduled to open next summer in 2008 will be home to the BC Cancer Agency’s fifth regional cancer centre.
Established in 2000, the Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation is committed to building partnerships with individuals, community organizations and businesses to support the hospitals and health care services within the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital District.
Established in 1935, the BC Cancer Foundation raises funds to support research and enhancements to care at the BC Cancer Agency, throughout British Columbia.
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For information:
Sharon Kennedy, Senior Director, Development,
BC Cancer Foundation: Tel 604-877-6160
or
Vicki Raw, Executive Director,
Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation
Tel 604-814-5195
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