Healthcare equipment is an area that isn’t funded by provincial operating dollars. So in order to put the very best technology in the hands of our skilled care teams at St. Joe’s, we rely on the support of our community. Our grateful patients and donors know that by making a gift to support a piece of equipment, they’re making sure St. Joe’s will be there to care for them, their loved ones, neighbours, co-workers or friends.
Help Patients Heal Faster with a Gift to Robotic Surgery
One of our ongoing equipment needs is for the specialized instruments that are required for each robotic surgery. Through the generosity of our donors, we’ve been performing more than 350 robotic procedures a year for patients living with cancers of the head, neck, lungs, chest, bladder, kidney and prostate. We’re also seeing the benefits of robotic surgery for patients undergoing partial knee replacements. Because of the smaller incisions that are made with a surgical robot, patients experience less blood loss and trauma, fewer infections and fewer days spent in Hospital. In essence, patients undergoing robotic surgery heal faster and go home sooner. While robotic surgery is being recognized as the new standard of care globally for prostate cancer, it’s not yet funded by OHIP. But you can help us to continue to improve the care of our patients by making a gift to support robotic surgery equipment.
Help Create a Breast Diagnostic Centre of Excellence at St. Joe’s
One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime, but early screening and detection gives women the very best chance possible for treatment, recovery and remission. That’s why we’re raising funds for diagnostic imaging equipment that will help to create a one-stop centre of excellence for breast cancer screening right here at St. Joe’s. By adding Contrast Enhanced Mammography and MRI Breast Coils to our standard mammograms and MRI scans, we’ll enhance our capacity to detect breast cancer more definitively and at its earliest stages. A gift to this equipment campaign will not only improve outcomes for the women we serve, but it will help to reduce the wait times, worry and anxiety women feel while undergoing testing and seeking the answers they need.
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Bringing a CT Scan Suite to the Emergency Room
When emergencies happen, every second counts. That’s why we’re raising funds to build a home for a new CT Scanner INSIDE our Emergency Room (ER). Right now, if it’s not clear what’s wrong with a patient in the ER, they’re transported to Diagnostic Imaging for a CT scan. The scan is reviewed by a radiologist before being sent back up to the ER to help the doctor make a diagnosis. All of this needs to happen before a care plan is put in place and a patient can be treated.
If we put a CT scanner right inside the ER, our care teams will be able to get the answers they need sooner, allowing the right decisions to be made quickly. This will help save precious time and precious lives.
Having an additional CT Scanner on site at St. Joe’s won’t just help patients in the ER, it will also help the Hospital to catch up on the backlog of scans that were put on hold during the peak of the pandemic. The total project cost is estimated to be $1.8 million, and we’ve already raised more than $750,000. Your gift can help build a home for a CT in the ER at St. Joe’s.
Building the Best Space for Babies Born at St. Joe’s
Not only does our Hospital help to deliver 3,600 babies each year, but we’re also one of only five Hospitals in all of Ontario to be accredited with the World Health Organization’s Baby Friendly Status. And while the care delivered by our multidisciplinary team of obstetricians, nurses and midwives in our Birthing Unit is exceptional, it’s the space on the unit itself that is in need of an upgrade to maximize patient comfort while increasing functionality for our care teams, too.We’re raising funds to refresh and renew our 11 labour and delivery rooms. We’re planning to install new flooring and wall décor that will support infection control practices while also creating a modern and serene environment for expectant families. We’re also putting a sleep chair recliner in every room so that loved ones can stay by the side of their laboring partner or family member throughout the birthing process. By removing excess storage cupboards and reconfiguring the rooms, we’ll also create more space for our clinicians and care teams to deliver the very best care to expectant parents and their newborns. Help us give new families and their babies the best start possible in a Birthing Unit built just for them.
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The shadow pandemic of a mental health crisis is here. Following the anxiety, isolation, depression and substance use amid the COVID-19 pandemic, our Hospital is seeing an unprecedented rise in demand for mental health and addictions care. That’s why we’re reaching out to the community to raise funds to support, equip, and expand our mental health and addictions services—so we can make them more accessible to everyone who needs them.
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For Everyone:
St. Joe’s has emerged as Ontario’s second largest provider of mental health and addictions care. We serve a population of more than 1.6 million people across the Ontario West region and help people from the age of 17 on with an array of specialized programs for youth, adults and seniors. So, no matter whether someone is living with anxiety or anorexia, depression or dementia, a substance use disorder or bi-polar disorder, St. Joe’s is here to help.
For Youth:
Our fundraising priorities include supporting the work of our Youth Wellness Centre in the downtown core which provides mental health and addiction care for youth; and raising funds for the new Young Adult Substance Use Program which aims to prevent early experimentation from becoming a life-long battle with addiction. Both programs are aimed at youth aged 17 – 25, because it’s this vulnerable age group that is frequently affected by substance use and suicide. From an inclusivity lens, we’re also helping to fund programs that are designed to meet the unique needs and experiences of our LGBTQ2SI+ and BIPOC communities.
For Frontline Workers & First Responders:
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is one of five Ontario hospitals providing specialized mental health care and support for frontline healthcare workers and first-responders like firefighters, paramedics, police officers and more. For years, these professions have struggled with the effects of what they see every day. With increasing frequency and severity, frontline workers are experiencing anxiety, depression, fatigue and posttraumatic stress disorder which have been amplified even more by witnessing the devastation the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our most vulnerable communities.
Every day, there are more than 770 researchers and staff hard at work at St. Joe’s conducting research studies. With centres of research excellence in lung and chest health, kidney and urinary disease, mental health and addictions, robotic surgery and the evaluation of medicine, we’re making sure that every research study performed has the power and the promise to enhance the care we provide to patients at St. Joe’s.
Want to know what we mean by that?
Some of our researchers are finding new ways to use our surgical robots on cancers in patients that were previously thought to be inoperable, others are exploring the potential of cannabis use to treat insomnia in those living with depression, and still more are testing new treatments for pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, COPD and more. This is the kind of research that your donations make possible.
