On Saturday, November 12th, Play-A-Latte Cafe in Kitchener is supporting BiblioTake by hosting a donut fundraiser to help provide world class care for babies and families at Grand River Hospital. Donuts are made fresh every morning, and $4 from every 6 pack of donuts purchased will be donated to BiblioTake.
Busy shoppers will appreciate our holiday gift wrapping volunteers! From Monday, December 5th to Saturday, December 24th, we need your help at our gift wrapping store at Conestoga Mall. Net proceeds will be donated to the children's program at Grand River Hospital, known as Grand River Kids, which helps kids in our community through accidents, illnesses, ongoing treatment and mental health care.
A little help can go a long way when we show up for one another in times of need, and each of us has the power to make a meaningful difference for people undergoing cancer care in our community.
Every day, 300 cancer patients come to Grand River Regional Cancer Centre for care — that's more than 100,000 patient visits every year! The Cancer Care and Compassion Fund helps cancer patients overcome financial barriers, so they can afford the costs related to treatment and never have to choose between paying for their treatment and buying basic necessities like groceries.
Spending time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Grand River Hospital can be a challenging experience for babies and their families – that’s why the Sandra Schmirler Foundation is committed to giving them the chance to be champions.
Inspired by Sandra Schmirler, a Canadian Olympian and curling champion who passed away from cancer at the young age of 36, the Sandra Schmirler Foundation raises funds to purchase life-saving equipment for premature and critically ill babies in Canada. Their goal is to give these babies the chance to grow up, so they have the opportunity to live a full life and even become champions like Sandra. Their generous gift of $50,000 funded two GE CARESCAPE ONE cardiorespiratory monitors for Grand River Kids’ neonatal intensive care unit at Grand River Hospital.
Walking the streets of our community or through the halls at Grand River Hospital, you may have crossed paths with someone sporting a lotus pin. "What’s that all about?" you may have wondered to yourself.
These are the pins of Grand River Hospital and specifically 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.
On October 4th, Scotland (better known as Scottie), the young girl who inspired Scotland’s Yard, turned three! In celebration of this milestone, we wanted to share more about the ways this incredible group is enhancing children’s cancer care in Waterloo Region with the help of our leaders at Grand River Hospital and how you can join them in pursuit of their mission so more children like Scottie can be cared for right here in our community.
Nancy Murray has been a volunteer at Grand River Hospital for about six years now, but her passion for health care began much earlier on in her life. Growing up, she was inspired by a family friend she looked up to who worked as a nurse. In particular, Nancy was captivated by her unique brooch-style watch, which was pinned upside down on her nursing uniform so she could easily look down and read it while helping patients.
“As a child, I remember her watch and her white uniform and her hat, and she’d say, ‘Well I need that watch [so] I can tell if people’s hearts [are] working okay.’ And that’s what inspired me. I wanted to be a nurse,” Nancy recalled. “She was thrilled when she found out I was doing the volunteering at the hospital.”
The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) at Grand River Hospital is a specialized volunteer program that support older adults during their hospital stay. Volunteers enhance patient experience and help prevent patients from developing delirium by engaging in friendly visiting, offering activities like word puzzles or board games that keep the brain active, encouraging walking and gentle range of motion exercise, providing meal assistance and promoting healthy sleep routines and options for relaxation techniques. It is a particularly great volunteer opportunity for those who are pursuing a career in health care, but anyone 18 years old or older who is compassionate, reliable and can work independently is welcome!
On September 16th, the 1972 graduating class from the Kitchener Waterloo Hospital School of Nursing came together to celebrate their 50th reunion. Organized by Diane, Jane and Marg — three of the women from the class of 1972 — the event took place at the Delta Marriott in Waterloo not only to mark the 50 year anniversary of their graduation but also to celebrate the group’s 50+ years of camaraderie and friendship.
Depression, anxiety or other mental illnesses are challenging for anyone to navigate, but they can be especially so for children and adolescents. At Grand River, we work to help youth recover, and this story, generously shared by the client's mom, highlights just how big of an impact a program like Propel can have on youth receiving mental health care.
We Serve. That is the motto of Lions Clubs around the world, made up of groups of community-minded individuals dedicated to coming together to serve their communities and make a difference through kindness. All qualities that ring true of our local Kitchener Pioneer Lions Club, exemplified through their recent and generous support of Grand River Hospital Foundation.
Grand River Hospital has recently launched a surgical remote monitoring platform to support patients that are having hip or knee replacements: SeamlessMD.
"SeamlessMD is a very user-friendly platform that helps to enhance communication between our patients and care team,” explains Dr. Matthew Snider, an orthopedic surgeon at Grand River Hospital. "In the data available to us through the dashboards, we can efficiently track patient recovery at home and address any post-surgical complications.”
