Image Credit: RIH Foundation

By James Peters / Chad Klassen

RIH Foundation

Domtar, Unifor team up for record-setting donation to RIH Patient Care Tower

Nov 22, 2019 | 3:34 AM

KAMLOOPS — It was a historic day at Royal Inland Hospital, as Domtar and Unifor combined to donate $1 million to the new Patient Care Tower that’s scheduled to open in 2022.

The two parties formed a unique partnership with Domtar stepping up with $500,000 and Unifor matching with its own half a million dollar donation.

“When we brought this to our membership, it was unanimous,” said Unifor Local 10-B President Rene Pellerin. “They wanted to give back to the community. They work here, they live here.”

Many Unifor members, including 350 that work at the pulp mill, have leaned on Royal Inland Hospital at one point or another. Domtar also recognizes the importance of the hospital, and now the new Patient Care Tower will transform.

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“The hospital benefits all our workers, their families, and this hospital is not a Kamloops hospital, it’s a regional hospital. They serve a lot of the communities around Kamloops,” noted Domtar general manager Jean-Claude Allaire. “It’s not every day, it’s not every 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years that you’re building a tower like this.”

The $417 million tower will be nine stories and add nearly 300,000 square feet of health care space to the hospital.

“Our emergency department is doubling in size, we have new single-patient rooms, (10) brand-new operating theatres, a new labour and delivery area for new moms and babies, a neo-natal intensive care unit,” said RIH Chief of Staff Todd Ring.

The donation is the most in Unifor’s history and Domtar’s largest donation to a hospital in Western Canada. It was all coordinated through the RIH Foundation, which is heading up the fundraising effort for the new tower.

“The money is going towards equipment in the hospital because that’s what we’re raising money for,” said CEO of the RIH Foundation Heidi Coleman. “They will get naming. They love the atrium, but that’s not yet been approved by the [health] minister. That’s a great space because the atrium is where people will come together.”

The foundation hopes the $1 million donation encourages other local businesses to step forward to help fund portions of the Patient Care Tower.

OTHER NOTABLE DONORS

Afternoon & Evening Auxilary – $2.5 million (July 2019)
Kelson Group – $1.5 million (Sept. 2019)
Stollery Foundation – $750,000 (Nov. 2019)
Ralph Emsland – $500,000 (Nov. 2019)
Warner Rental – $500,000 (Aug. 2019)