Our hearts are on the line – let’s bring new cardiac services to PRHC

“You never expect it to happen to you until it does,” says Nick Beamish.

It was Christmas time in 2018, when Nick started feeling ‘off’. An athletic guy, who coached high school sports, Nick was used to pushing his limits, so when he began experiencing extreme exhaustion, he chalked it up to stress. But as the days went on, it became harder to ignore.

With a nudge from his wife, Nick went to the emergency department at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. There, doctors hooked him up to an electrocardiogram (ECG) to test his heart. Within minutes, alarm bells started going off. “Doctors were rushing over with carts, with paddles to shock me,” he says.

Doctors discovered he had a life-threatening issue with his heart rhythm. PRHC didn’t have a Cardiac Electrophysiology – or EP – Lab to provide the necessary treatment, so Nick was rushed to Kingston for care. He spent Christmas in the ICU there, far from home and family. “It was tough and a mental struggle,” says Nick.

Since then, he hasn’t had any issues with his heart. But Nick worries it could happen again – to himself or someone else. That’s why he’s become a donor, volunteer and ambassador for the PRHC Foundation’s $60 million Campaign for PRHC, supporting bringing lifesaving electrophysiology to our region.

With donor support, an advanced Cardiac EP Lab at PRHC will bring new, world-class cardiac treatment and therapies to our region for the first time, eliminating the need for patients to travel far from home for care during an already stressful and urgent time.

“It’s important to be able to get care closer to home. Donors can help make that happen,” says Nick.

For more information or to donate, please call 705-876-5000 or click here.

Together we thank on Giving Tuesday

December 3rd is Giving Tuesday—a global movement that started in 2012. It’s a day to encourage kindness, generosity, and doing good. Over the years, it’s grown into something incredible, inspiring millions of people around the world to give back and make a difference.

Here at the PRHC Foundation, we see the power of generosity every single day. From donations to volunteering to spreading the word about the $60 million Campaign for PRHC, our supporters never stop rallying around Peterborough Regional Health Centre. We can’t thank you enough for all the ways you’re helping us reimagine healthcare for the 600,000 people who rely on our regional hospital.

“Together, we’re shaping the future of healthcare and making a difference in people’s lives—right here at home,” says PRHC Foundation President & CEO, Lesley Heighway. “Thank you for your kindness and for your continuous support.”

As we enter the holiday season, we’re celebrating the generosity of our community with a new initiative: the Sharing Tree.

The tree is traveling around Peterborough, stopping at local businesses and organizations, where people are invited to share their stories, memories, or words of thanks about PRHC by writing them on ornaments. It’s been amazing to see the tree fill up with heartfelt messages that highlight just how much this hospital means to so many people.

When the tree returns to PRHC in time for Christmas, it’ll spread warmth and encouragement to everyone who sees it.

If you’d like to help decorate the tree, we invite you to share your stories or messages on the Sharing Tree webpage.

To donate to the PRHC Foundation’s $60 million Campaign for PRHC, please click here.

Your support is helping shape the future of healthcare in our region. Thank you!

Giving options during the Canada Post strike

During the postal strike, we want you to know that our commitment to reimagining health and care in our region remains strong. Through your support of the Campaign for PRHC, we’re transforming healthcare by fuelling innovation and bringing new, lifesaving services to our region.

There are other convenient ways to give today. Please consider making your donation…

  • Online: By clicking here or the “Donate Now” button at the top right hand of your screen
  • By phone: Call us at 705-876-5000
  • In person: Stop by our offices inside PRHC – Enter through the main doors, pass the cafeteria, and follow the hall to your left to office W4770 (4th floor, next to the main visitor elevators). We’re here Monday to Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm.

If you’ve already given this season, thank you for empowering world-class care, close to home.

 

Celebrating National Philanthropy Day and all that donors make possible at PRHC

Today marks National Philanthropy Day, a time to honour those who demonstrate the spirit of giving and are helping us reimagine healthcare.    

Philanthropy fuels our mission at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation and inspires our dedicated team everyday. Because of your generous support, our colleagues at PRHC are able to expand services, create a healing environment for patients, and use state-of-the-art technology.    

Earlier this year we launched the $60 million Campaign for PRHC, our most ambitious initiative yet. With our growing population and the volume of patients on the rise, support is necessary so our hospital colleagues can continue to provide excellent patient care.   

“Many people are surprised to learn the government doesn’t fund hospital equipment,” said Lesley Heighway, PRHC Foundation President & CEO. “Your donations are vital to helping PRHC continue delivering world-class care with up-to-date technology.”   

Heighway announced that because of the community’s generous ongoing support, the Foundation has now achieved 82% of its campaign goal to date. “This is wonderful,” Heighway said. “Thanks to our donors who continue to rally around our hospital, the campaign has now reached over $49.5 million raised.”

PRHC is already seeing the benefits of this ambitious campaign. The hospital has introduced two new CT scanners and an additional MRI machine which are allowing doctors to provide patients with faster diagnoses, follow up and treatment. Your gifts have also helped bring new minimally invasive technology to the Operating Rooms and trauma equipment to the Emergency Department to support lifesaving care.  

Construction is underway on a secure, outdoor courtyard for patients in the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Currently, patients in the PICU have no access to the outside. This courtyard will give them a place to get fresh air, visit with family, and receive compassionate care. 

With your continued investment, we’ll also bring digital pathology to our region. This groundbreaking technology will allow the lab team at PRHC to get vital diagnostic information into the hands of doctors sooner. “With chronic diseases like cancer on the rise,” said Dr. Lynn Mikula, President & CEO of PRHC, “now is the time to make a difference. Your support can help fund innovative digital diagnostic tools, supporting early detection and lifesaving treatments.”    

“This is just the beginning,” Dr. Mikula added. “There’s so much more we have planned, and together, we’ll increase access to care for everyone while creating a top-notch environment doctors want to work in.” 

On National Philanthropy Day, we want to thank our community of supporters who champion healthcare everyday. Together, we can continue reimagining health and care, for a brighter and healthier future.   

Help bring the best the world has to offer to our doorstep

Guided by Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s vision, led by campaign volunteers, and made possible by donors like you, we’ll propel innovation and transform care at our hospital through the Campaign for PRHC. Together, we’ll help advance the following areas of care: 

Cardiac Care – $11 million

Donor support is helping unlock opportunities and put the people, infrastructure, systems and programs in place to allow world-class cardiac care across the spectrum.

This includes building and equipping a new cardiac electrophysiology lab that will allow the cardiac care team to diagnose and treat patients with abnormal heart rhythms at PRHC for the first time in its history. These patients will no longer have to travel to hospitals as far away as Toronto or Kingston for lifesaving treatment.  

Cancer Care – $12 million

Donations are empowering experts to treat more patients with more cancer types, support earlier diagnosis, and ensure more effective treatments, close to home.

These life-changing advancements include digital pathology, a state-of-the-art, artificial intelligence supported laboratory technology that will help complete repetitive, time-consuming tasks in minutes instead of hours, so doctors can make diagnoses and treatment decisions sooner. 

PRHC will also expand pediatric cancer care, with a space designed for the expert delivery of cancer care to children. This will help keep vulnerable patients from becoming sicker, while lessening the big emotional and financial burden faced by families when they have to travel for their child’s lifesaving treatment.

Minimally Invasive Intervention – $14 million

Your gifts are allowing doctors, nurses and staff to treat patients with multiple life-threatening conditions – safely, quickly – in state-of-the-art new facilities like a hybrid operating room (OR). 

The advanced technology in a hybrid OR allows specialized care teams to perform multiple open and minimally invasive operations on the same patient, on the same day, in the same room. This means safer, more comfortable care and better results for a patient who would otherwise need multiple surgeries with months-long recovery time in between, if their health would even allow it. 

Mental Health – $4 million

Donors are helping to create healing environments and address increasing demand for care with modern mental health spaces. 

New areas at PRHC will include a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) courtyard – a safe, supportive outdoor space for some of the sickest patients in our hospital. PICU patients currently can’t go outside even though their stay could be weeks or months long. Research shows time outdoors improves outcomes and reduces length of stay in hospital, as well as the use of antidepressants.

PRHC will also help meet growing demand for psychiatric emergency care by expanding and improving the Crisis Response Unit in the Emergency Department. Increasing the size of the space will create a waiting area especially for children and youth in crisis and their families, as well as an accessible washroom with a shower, and a secure, short-stay area for high-risk patients who need enhanced nursing care. 

Urgent Needs – $17 million

Your gifts are enabling PRHC to respond quickly to the top emerging priorities each year, in areas like the Emergency Department, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and Breast Assessment Centre. 

Physician Innovation Accelerator Endowed Fund – $2 million 

Donations are helping PRHC invest in physician-driven research and creativity that will result in game-changing advances in patient care. The hospital will equip several doctors a year with the support to design, apply and evaluate their innovations. Not only will this benefit patients by helping them get out of hospital and back to their lives sooner, but it will also help PRHC attract and keep top-notch physicians.

A message from Dr. Lynn Mikula, PRHC’s President & CEO

Dr. Lynn Mikula, PRHC’s President & CEO, believes that Peterborough Regional Health Centre is at a crucial turning point and ready to accomplish great things, but that it won’t be possible without the support of PRHC Foundation donors. Endorsing the $60 million Campaign for PRHC, she says: 

“PRHC is a thriving organization that’s home to incredibly dedicated and compassionate professionals. But it’s safe to say that the last few years haven’t been easy ones—they’ve tested us all. However, everyone on our PRHC team continues to deliver the best care they can under these circumstances. 

Our hospital may have opened in 2008, but it was designed and built more than 16 years ago. Equipment that was once state-of-the-art is out-of-date. We’re running out of space. The population is growing and aging, leading to more complex care needs and increasing patient numbers. Plus, hospitals across Ontario have a shortage of healthcare workers. It’s taking a toll on our hardworking frontline professionals. 

There are obstacles—and we need fresh, smart, and creative ideas to address them. I’m confident that PRHC’s healthcare professionals are up to the challenge. Together, we’re ready to achieve great things!

In April 2024, we launched PRHC’s new vision for the future. It recognizes the realities we’re working within and reflects the inspiration, talent, and willingness of the PRHC team. Our people have the energy, expertise, imagination, and drive to respond to an evolving environment, but they can’t do it alone. Your support is critical to success in our mission to provide compassionate care and innovative solutions to our region’s healthcare challenges.

On behalf of everyone here at your regional hospital, thank you for supporting the $60 million Campaign for PRHC.” 

For more information or to support the Campaign for PRHC, please donate online or call 705-876-5000.

The impact of your early campaign support is being felt through exciting investments

PRHC Foundation’s $60 million Campaign for PRHC focuses on raising funds for extensive hospital advancements in cardiac care, cancer care, minimally invasive surgeries, interventional radiology, mental health and addictions services, and a physician-driven innovation accelerator research fund. Since 2020, the Foundation has been working with donors to build support for the campaign, and these efforts have already raised $45.5 million – or 75% – of the $60 million goal. 

The impact of the funds raised to date is being felt through exciting campaign investments already made – thank you! These include: 

  • A second MRI (pictured above) to facilitate up to 5,000 more procedures a year, addressing wait times from a 53% increase in demand and improving diagnostic care close to home
  • The upgrade and replacement of two Cardiac Cath Lab suites with state-of-the-art technology for better visualization and shorter, safer procedures
  • Two new cutting-edge CT scanners to support the early diagnosis of cancer and other conditions
  • The renovation and upgrade of the interventional radiology suites to enhance patient care and introduce endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) here for the first time to stop strokes as they’re happening
  • The upgrade of four general operating rooms with advanced minimally invasive tools so experts can perform essential surgeries with new, fluorescence-guided imaging and increased precision
  • The opening of the new Scotiabank Youth Eating Disorders Day Treatment Clinic to support youth aged 12-25 who need lifesaving care to normalize eating and restore weight
  • Urgent needs as identified by the hospital, including critical equipment and technology that supported PRHC’s new designation as a Level III Trauma Centre 
For more information or to support the Campaign for PRHC, please donate online or call 705-876-5000.

We can design our healthcare future or let it be designed for us

A message to donors from Lesley Heighway, PRHC Foundation’s President & CEO:

“What an incredible feeling it is to share the biggest news in our Foundation’s history: the launch of the $60 million Campaign for PRHC.

Walking the Health Centre hallways, I see firsthand the power and joy of your philanthropy. Your donations touch every part of our hospital, ensuring top-quality healthcare is available close to home. You’ve funded millions of dollars in equipment and technology, and the very building where we all receive care.

For some patients, your generosity has meant the difference between life and death. For others, it’s meant accessing the best care available instead of none at all. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

But our work isn’t done. Twenty-five years ago, donors started the campaign to build this hospital, and now, we stand on the cusp of the next generation of care.

Our Health Centre and the communities we serve face serious challenges, and we need creative, efficient solutions to tackle them. The choice is ours: design our healthcare future or let it be designed for us.

For 16 years, I’ve had the honour and privilege of working with generous and caring donors every day. The collective pride and sense of responsibility we feel for PRHC’s patients is unparalleled. So, at this pivotal moment in our journey, we’re rallying once again and rising to the occasion, refusing to accept the status quo.

Your gifts to the Campaign for PRHC uphold our shared belief that we are the architects of our healthcare future. By funding state-of-the-art technology, fuelling innovation, bringing lifesaving new services, and positioning our hospital to attract expert healthcare providers, we’re ushering in a new era of care for our region.

Together, we’re reimagining health and care at our hospital.

On behalf of everyone at the PRHC Foundation and PRHC, especially patients and their loved ones, thank you for your support.”

WATCH Heart of Healthcare, Episode 4, where Lesley Heighway talks to local media personality and Foundation donor, Mike Melnik, about the $60 million Campaign for PRHC – the biggest in its history – and addresses a common concern: Facing system-wide healthcare challenges, how can we make sure PRHC’s patients don’t get left behind?

For more information or to support the Campaign for PRHC, please donate online or call 705-876-5000.

Your support can help PRHC’s doctors perform more precise tumour removals and reduce surgery wait times

In the moments immediately following surgery, many breast cancer patients ask one important question: “Did you get it all?”

Dr. Brie Banks, a general surgeon at PRHC, knows how much this question means to them. It’s not just about the surgery.

“When patients ask, ‘Did you get it all?’ they’re really asking if they have permission to hope,” says Dr. Banks. “They want to know if the surgery went well and if they’re on the road to recovery.”

Breast cancer affects 12,500 women every year in Ontario, and those numbers continue to rise. Nearly all of those women will need surgery as part of their treatment—a lumpectomy being one of them.

Waiting for cancer surgery can be unbearable. Time crawls.

Patients have many worries: Is the cancer spreading? Will the surgery work? What will I look like after?

When patients arrive hours early at PRHC on the morning of their surgery, currently the first thing on the to-do list is having an eight-inch wire inserted into the breast by a radiologist, to mark the tumour.

Then, the patient waits, sitting for hours in a hospital gown with the wire protruding. It’s uncomfortable and frightening.

If the wire shifts, it complicates the surgery, making it difficult to remove all of the tumour without taking too much healthy tissue. It’s a process that adds anxiety and risk to an already difficult day.

There is a technology that can improve this aspect of breast cancer patient care and transform the experience for thousands of breast cancer patients in our region. It can make surgery easier and more precise, and reduce a patient’s worry and wait. It’s called breast seed localization technology and the PRHC Foundation is committed to funding it at PRHC.

With this new technology, a radiologist will place a tiny radioactive seed, as small as a grain of rice, instead of a wire to mark the cancer. This can be done a month before surgery and takes only 15 minutes. After placing the seed, patients can go back to their daily lives.

Then, during surgery, surgeons use a special tool to find and remove the tumour using the seed as a guide. This results in less scarring and physical change to the breast.

Beyond improving patient care, this new wireless technology will allow Dr. Banks and her colleagues to perform more lumpectomies—without the time constraints that come with wire placement on the day of surgery. With breast seed localization, doctors at PRHC can operate on three more breast cancer patients a day. More surgeries will mean more patients get the care they need, sooner. 

Dr. Banks says donor support will directly shape the care she can provide, especially since the government doesn’t fund hospital equipment at PRHC. “Your donation will allow more patients to hear those comforting words, ‘We got it all,’ and give them hope.”

She became a donor herself because she’s seen the difference this technology makes in the patient experience during an already challenging time. “It offers a better option for breast cancer surgery. I want this available for my patients.”

You, too, can help shape the future of patient care at your hospital. To donate or for more information, call 705-876-5000 or click here.