Frequently Asked Questions

The Ontario Government funds hospitals for up to 85% of their operating costs. Hospitals must generate the remaining 15% of their operating costs themselves through parking fees, cafeteria proceeds and other revenue, in addition to private room fees.

While the majority of our province’s hospitals’ operating dollars flow from Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, funding for equipment and technology remains the responsibility of the community. Your hospital relies on the generosity of donors to ensure PRHC’s doctors, nurses and staff have the life-changing and lifesaving tools they need. This means that on an ongoing basis, PRHC – through the support of PRHC Foundation – must rely on the generosity of donors to ensure that its equipment is the best it can be, and that they can purchase new technology to constantly improve the quality of care that patients receive.

For great examples of what we wouldn’t have without donor generosity, please visit Investments Funded by Donors.

Maintaining up-to-date equipment is key to keeping our regional hospital ecosystem healthy. Moreover, increasing the range of leading-edge equipment is vital to expanding the number of treatment options that a hospital can offer to patients, and to attracting and retaining top-notch physicians, nurses and staff to the hospital team.

PRHC’s technological infrastructure is now over 16 years old, which is beyond the optimal lifespan to support advanced care, and to attract the best and brightest to work at PRHC. Upgrading our equipment ensures that PRHC will have the technology and world-class expertise to offer patients many more treatment options, close to home. (Please see the next question and answer for more information about this.)

Hospital equipment ages at a relatively fast rate, partly due to wear and tear from frequent usage, and partly because equipment becomes outdated – or even obsolete – as more advanced technologies become available. New technologies are safer to use and offer more advanced ways of diagnosing and treating various conditions. (Think of how much more the latest smart phone or home computer can do, compared to the one you were using twenty, ten, or even five years ago.) As such, consistently updating equipment and technology is essential to providing patients with world-class care, close to home.

There is also an issue when it comes to integrating new and old technologies. Medical technologies are designed to work together. Older technologies become obsolete when they are no longer compatible with new technologies. (Think of trying to sync your smart phone with a desktop computer from 16 years ago – it just won’t work!)

Finally, attracting top-notch healthcare professionals – specialists, and leaders in their respective fields – is critical to PRHC’s ability to offer patients more lifesaving interventions close to home. Expert physicians, nurses and staff want to practice their craft to the best of their ability, in order to provide maximum benefit to their patients. This depends upon providing them with access to up-to-date, leading-edge medical equipment and technologies that they were trained to use. In this way, donor investments in capital equipment are absolutely critical to enabling PRHC to recruit new, top-level healthcare professionals and to providing patients with the best care possible.

PRHC is a regional hospital delivering acute healthcare to a rapidly growing population of more than 150,000 in Peterborough City and County, and more than 300,000 people across Peterborough, Haliburton, Northumberland, and Kawartha Lakes Counties through its Regional Referral Programs which include Mental Health Care and Minimally Invasive Interventions. Through PRHC’s Regional Centres of Excellence, which include Cardiac Care, Cancer Care and Vascular Care, the hospital serves more than 600,000 people, including patients from as far away as Lindsay, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Campbellford, Cobourg, Port Hope, Oshawa and the Durham Region, all the way north to the Haliburton Highlands, and all points in between. For information about PRHC, please visit www.prhc.on.ca.

Now more than ever before, PRHC and the region it serves are facing serious challenges:

• A growing and rapidly aging population
• Increased patient volumes
• Rising rates of chronic disease and mental illness
• An increasing need for complex care

PRHC’s leadership, doctors, nurses and staff have the energy, expertise, imagination and drive to respond to this evolving environment, but they can’t do it alone. Community donations are critical to success in PRHC’s mission to provide compassionate care and innovative solutions to our region’s healthcare challenges. They help fund state-of-the-art technology, fuel innovation, bring lifesaving new services to the region, and position our hospital to attract expert healthcare providers.

In 2020, the PRHC Foundation quietly launched the largest fundraising initiative in the organization’s and hospital’s history: the $60 million Campaign for PRHC. The campaign was publicly announced in 2024, with $45.5 million – or 75% of the goal – raised at that time. We are counting on the partnership of individuals, families, and organizations in our region who share our belief that we should design our own healthcare future rather than letting it be designed for us, to help us raise the remaining amount.

A comprehensive campaign, all funds raised by the PRHC Foundation throughout the campaign will support the following areas of focus:

• Cardiac Care
• Cancer Care
• Minimally Invasive Intervention
• Mental Health
• Urgent Needs
• Physician Innovation Accelerator Endowed Fund

Learn more here.

Fundraising priorities are an expression of PRHC’s vision for the future. They are based on the hospital’s strategic plan, the growth of clinical programs, and master planning for the next 20 years.

Every year, hospital leadership across all clinical areas of PRHC identifies, ranks and categorizes the hospital’s most urgent or highest priority needs. These needs are approved by the hospital’s Board of Directors and provided to the Foundation.

All funds that PRHC Foundation raises are used for capital infrastructure or equipment, and staff education and training. No money is ever directed towards hospital operations. Funds are directed to the hospital after we have received documentation that the equipment has been purchased.

PRHC Foundation and its Board of Directors are dedicated to ensuring effective and efficient operations. We are proud to operate within the CRA accepted guidelines for philanthropic cost effectiveness and we strive to maximize the use of every donated dollar. On a rolling five-year basis, the Foundation’s cost per dollar raised is $0.22. This includes the cost of raising funds and the cost of reporting on the funds raised. This means that for every dollar a donor donates, the Foundation generates $6.04 in return!

The $49.5 million that PRHC Foundation has raised towards the $60 million Campaign for PRHC since 2020 has funded many lifesaving and life-changing investments in equipment and technology. Please visit Investments Funded by Donors to learn more about what your donations have funded.