Helping our Hospital's Frontline Heroes

The Royal Columbia Hospital Foundation is the go-to place for people wanting to help fulfill the needs of the hardworking front-line hospital workers, or to give them warm messages of support, says CEO and President, Jeff Norris.

He says that the foundation has had to make a quick pivot from their traditional role of finding and nurturing donors for the urgent needs of the Royal Columbia Hospital, usually developed over a long period of time. Now, its primarily involved in the short-term, immediate needs of hospital staff in this Covid19 crisis.

Our role, he says, has been, “Making sure we are taking really good care of the caregivers.”
We have had “massive” help, he says, in the area of food services. Local restaurants have been providing breakfasts, lunches, dinners and coffee for hospital staff seven days a week. Local hotels have provided free and low cost rooms for staff, who are unable to go home because of Covid19 exposure or other reasons. In addition, the Foundation has been arranging rides for staff who are working long hours and driving is sometimes not ideal for them.

The community has really stepped up, says Norris, in supplying the hospital with personal protective equipment – masks, goggles, gowns, gloves etc. Where these items come from is sometimes quite surprising, including aestheticians, tattooists, dentists, veterinarians, the construction industry.... These items are put through “protocols to make sure that they are safe and proper”, he says. Sometimes we get a package of 10 items and sometimes a huge crate of 50,000, he explains, and all are appreciated.

What has been especially heart-warming are all the supportive messages from the community, says Norris. The foundation website, RCHFoundation.com, has an area where you can leave a message for the hospital workers. These, we put up on monitors in the hospital and it really gives everyone a lift, he says. In addition, people are also sending videos, including of the 7o'clock pot banging and siren parade of police cars, that we put up. We also get drawings by children which we distribute. 

To donate, the best thing to do, he says, is to go through RCHfoundation.com web page.The webpage has a list of items needed, which is in no way exhaustive, explains Norris. Sometimes, people come up with items that are really useful but we hadn't thought of. For example, some vendor suggested baby monitors, which hadn't been on the needs list, but it was realized that they would be great for remote monitoring when physical distancing is such an issue. Also the needs lists changes, so it's a good idea to check regularly. Cash is also welcome as there are small pieces of equipment sometimes needed, that the Foundation can then buy. Foundation staff will coordinate with vendors to make sure it's the right time, the right place for delivery and what different procedures must be followed. For example, food has to be individually packaged. 

Norris emphasizes that the whole system needs support, so if you are in another community, your support will be appreciated there. The system makes sure that equipment and materials are distributed throughout the health care authorities, so if we have too much of something, you can be assured it will be going to another hospital in need, he explains.

Norris says that it has been “quite incredible to see how much the community comes together  and how willing people are to come together to make sure our caregivers have what they need. I'm really fortunate in in that I'm getting to spend a fair amount of time at the hospital and being there when those donations are turned over, and I gotta say the frontline folks are so thankful to know the community is behind them and you see people really get a lift out of it.”  

The Royal Columbian Hospital was created 150 years ago with the contributions of people in the community way back in the 1800s to the tune of $3000. The RCH Foundation, itself, is approximately 55 years old. As Norris says, community support of the hospital is in its DNA.

When asked what each of us can do to help look after our treasured front-line workers, his reply is a message we've heard a hundred times.  Stay home, wash your hands often, physically distance – that's what flattens the curve to make the hospital influx of Covid19 patients handleable.

by: Susan Millar