'Love, Scarborough' campaign seeks to close health-care funding gap by raising $100M
Scarborough is asking Toronto to share the love when it comes to hospital donations.
In a new campaign that launched this month, the Scarborough Health Network (SHN) Foundation says their facilities receive less than one per cent of hospital donations in Toronto—even though it represents about 25 per cent of the city’s population.
“The hospitals in Scarborough have been chronically underfunded for decades now. And we see that in the aging infrastructure, and just in the lack of spaces to expand,” Dr. Collette Rutherford, Corporate Chief and Medical Director of Obstetrics and Gynecology at SHN, told CP24 Friday morning.
“These donations are absolutely critical in terms of upgrades, expansions, new programming, and so we're reaching out to Toronto, as a as a larger community, to help us and to support us in raising this $100 million to better serve and continue to provide excellent care to the people of Scarborough.”
The campaign, named “Love, Scarborough,” asks “when will we all be treated equally,” pointing out that most diverse neighborhoods are the most ignored when it comes to healthcare.
The Scarborough Health Network's 'Love, Scarborough' fundraising campaign is looking to raise $100M. (Twitter/Scarborough Health Network Foundation)
Rutherford says that more than half of the one million people who live in the area are newcomers to Canada and about 75 per cent of the population are visible minorities. And yet, these newcomers are being treated in the oldest hospitals.
After reviewing financial data published to the Canadian Revenue Agency, the SHN found that hospital foundations in the City of Toronto received donations of about $1 billion. Officials said the SHN foundation’s share, however, was less than one per cent of that.
The mass media marketing campaign “Love, Scarborough” hopes to change that. In 26 letters—one for every letter of the alphabet—community leaders, patients, doctors, staff and volunteers talk about what the SHN means to them and why they choose to call Scarborough home.
The campaign has been widely supported by various partners, including Bell Media, and politicians like Toronto Mayor John Tory, who last week raised the SHN Foundation’s flag and declared “Love, Scarborough Day.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Record-breaking N.B. lottery winner kept winning ticket on dresser for nearly a year
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.