Leadership Gift Supports Provincial Heart Centre at the New St. Paul’s Hospital and Benefits all British Columbians Requiring Specialized Cardiac Care in B.C.
October 30, 2018 – Vancouver, BC – St. Paul’s Foundation announced today that the London Drugs and Tong and Geraldine Louie Family Foundations have made a substantial $6.5 million donation in support of the provincial Heart Centre at the new St. Paul’s Hospital. The leadership gift will impact future generations of British Columbians requiring the most specialized cardiac care in the province and provide the Heart Centre the opportunity to bolster recruitment, and fund specialized cardiac programs and research through the establishment of professorships and professional education.
In recognition of the London Drugs and Tong and Geraldine Louie Family Foundations’ generous gift, St. Paul’s Foundation is honoured to name the inpatient cardiac centre at the new St. Paul’s Hospital the Tong Louie Cardiac Wing. The Louie family has a long history of community service and this gift builds on more than 35 years of the family’s commitment to St. Paul’s Hospital and cardiac care in British Columbia.
“As a 115-year-old British Columbia-owned and operated family company, we are proud of our lengthy history of giving back to the people of this province,” said Dr. Brandt C. Louie, Chairman of London Drugs Ltd. “Today’s announcement and our continued support and significant investment in the new St. Paul’s Hospital will allow our health care providers to improve health care outcomes for patients in the new Tong Louie Cardiac Wing. This is a proud moment for our family and we are honoured to be part of the bold, bright future of the new St. Paul’s Hospitall, improving the lives of heart patients in Vancouver and all over British Columbia.”
The Louie family’s commitment to St. Paul’s Hospital and cardiac care in British Columbia stems from the continuous quality care and support that the family’s matriarch and Tong Louie’s wife, Geraldine Louie, received at the hospital while battling congenital heart disease, and during her end of life care.
The Tong Louie Cardiac Wing will create a powerful and life-saving resource for people with heart disease. The inpatient centre will be located within close proximity to vital services including diagnostics and imaging, operating theatres, cardiac outpatient clinics, cardiac research labs, and doctors’ offices. The wing will be designed to remove barriers between research and clinical care, located nearby to hospital-and lab-based research programs.
“The incredible cardiac team at St. Paul’s provincial Heart Centre has continued to deliver world-class care as the needs of our patients have evolved. This gift will support our ability to provide the very best cardiac care to patients province-wide as those demands continue to grow,” said Dr. Sean Virani, Physician Program Director for the Heart Centre. “This essential funding will allow us to recruit more cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to our hospital and offer more specialized clinics and treatments than ever before.”
“Our donors play a vital role in enabling St. Paul’s to deliver expert patient care, research and medical advancements that impact people throughout British Columbia,” said Dick Vollet, President and CEO, St. Paul’s Foundation. “We are so grateful to the Louie family. They have been a longstanding supporter of St. Paul’s and integral in continuing to help us reach critical cardiac care milestones in this province.”
Thanks in part to the generous support from donors like the Louie Family, the provincial Heart Centre at St. Paul’s Hospital is globally renowned for providing unparalleled cardiac care with a focus on ingenuity, insight and invention. As the premier academic teaching hospital in B.C., St. Paul’s is leading the transformation of academic medical education and research training to improve patient care, accelerate discovery and innovation, and advance the practice of cardiac medicine.
“The London Drugs and Tong and Geraldine Louie Family Foundations’ gift will help us transform cardiac care in British Columbia. It will truly touch patients province-wide and support us in addressing the future health needs of patients, families and our communities throughout B.C,” said Fiona Dalton, CEO, Providence Health Care.
The new St. Paul’s Hospital on the Jim Pattison Medical Campus represents a tremendous opportunity for growth for the hospital’s already globally recognized cardiac program. Over the past few decades, the provincial Heart Centre has increased its capacity, advanced technology, and enhanced specialized programs to meet the growing and evolving demand of patients from across British Columbia.
By combining diverse expertise and resources on a single site, the provincial Heart Centre at the new St. Paul’s Hospital will facilitate collaboration among patients, researchers and clinicians. In turn, speeding the journey from discovery to treatment and enhancing cardiac care for British Columbians, including important preventative interventions to minimize patients’ risk of experiencing a serious cardiac event.
About the provincial Heart Centre at St. Paul’s:
The provincial Heart Centre at St. Paul’s is British Columbia’s referral centre for the most complex cardiac cases, and the only centre in the province to perform adult heart transplants. St. Paul’s has the only cardiac centre in British Columbia that combines highly specialized, innovative cardiac care along the entire health continuum with an integrated research centre. The provincial Heart Centre services include heart disease prevention and reversal, a variety of diagnostic services and a full spectrum of treatment and care, including surgery, transplants and rehabilitation. The program also contributes to teaching and clinical research both locally and nationally.
About St. Paul’s Foundation:
St. Paul’s Foundation raises funds to support compassionate, inspired care at Providence Health Care’s 17 health care sites in BC, including St. Paul’s Hospital. The funds we raise help put patients and residents first, through a collaborative, integrated approach that includes the best in clinical care, world-class research and education. Through fundraising and strategic partnerships, the Foundation supports Providence – a founding member of Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster – in building on its long history of innovation, leading research and advancements in care for the people of British Columbia and beyond. To learn more, visit www.helpstpauls.com.