Walking the streets of our community or through the halls at Grand River Hospital, you may have crossed paths with someone wearing a lotus pin. "What’s that all about?" you may have wondered to yourself.

These are the pins of Grand River Hospital, and they celebrate those who support the hospital and our local health system. Collectively, they are a symbol of our community’s dedication to the future of health care right here.

The original lotus pin, based on Grand River Hospital’s logo, was made in honour of the hospital’s 125th anniversary. Symbolizing 125 years of care for our communities, this pin was released to show support for our local health care workers and frontline heroes at the start of the pandemic, which coincided with this monumental milestone.

With the launch of the Care. Never. Stops. Campaign in April 2020, we then adapted the lotus to represent the eight areas of care at the hospital — Cancer Care, Grand River Kids, Mental Health, Patient Experience, Learning + Innovation, Kidney Care, Continuum or Care, and Emergency Care — with each petal and colour representing a different one. Now, we’ve taken that concept one step further with additional pins to celebrate our supporters and the profound impact they make.

Each pin symbolizes a different way to support Grand River Hospital and, more broadly, the care in our community. While some are available for purchase on our online store with proceeds directly supporting various initiatives that impact local health care, such as the Indigenous Careship Pin supporting our Indigenous Careship, the Halloween Pin supporting Grand River Kids, the Pride Pin supporting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or the Holiday Pin supporting Emergency Care, others are more exclusive and are awarded to those who support the hospital in specific ways — monthly donors, board members, fundraisers, senior staff, volunteers and members of our Care Forward community, for example, all receive special pins to celebrate their unique contributions.

While the staff who care for our community are world class in their own right, a world class health system is something we can only achieve with the help of everyone in our community. We know that we cannot build the future of care alone, but with your support, in all its shapes, sizes, and forms, we can make it happen. That is what we are recognizing and celebrating with these pins at Grand River Hospital — they are a visual representation of our values and the monumental impact we can have as we come together to build the future of care right here.