February is Heart Month and Canadian Pacific (CP) announced two major charity partnerships that will benefit the beautiful hearts of children and adults in Ottawa through the 2017 CP Women’s Open and CFL regular season, playoffs and Grey Cup.
The overall campaign, titled “Beautiful Hearts”, will support the refurbishment of facilities that patients use every day at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and University of Ottawa Heart Institute and celebrate the resiliency and spirit of the human heart.
CHEO is the official beneficiary of the 2017 CP Women’s Open at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, August 21-27. The University of Ottawa Heart Institute will benefit from all funds raised through our partnership with the CFL throughout 2017.
“CP is excited to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary in the nation’s capital while supporting two world-renowned hospitals by bringing the best LPGA golfers and CFL players together,” said Keith Creel, CP President and CEO. “Through CP’s community investment program, CP Has Heart, the ‘Beautiful Hearts’ campaign will bring crucial support to both CHEO and the Ottawa Heart Institute this year.”
Each year, CHEO touches the lives of more than 500,000 infants, children and youth from Eastern and Northern Ontario, Western Quebec and Nunavut. To better care for all of these patients, CHEO will be embarking on a $1.8 million project to upgrade the hospital’s Catheterization Lab and Interventional Suite. A redesigned space, specialized equipment and pediatric specific training will be critically important elements in the health and wellness of CHEO’s patients.
“Technological advancements offering the clearest and most concise images for our doctors are a vital element of the Catheterization Lab and Interventional Suite upgrade that will be funded with the help of CP’s ‘Beautiful Hearts’ campaign,” said Kevin Keohane, CHEO Foundation President and CEO. “The result will be a technologically advanced suite that will allow doctors and technologists to more accurately diagnose, and more gently treat, vulnerable young patients.”
Born with a rare type of congenital heart malformation, Zander Zatylny underwent two open heart surgeries by age one. Now seven, Zander has had eight stents placed into both his right and left pulmonary arteries to improve blood flow. He requires regular monitoring and will need future interventions. He will benefit first-hand from real-time, 3D imaging that will guide his physicians during future procedures.
As children grow into adults, their care transfers to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Four days after her birth in Vancouver, Olivia Hiddema had her first open-heart surgery. At age two, Olivia and her family moved to Ottawa where the doctors and nurses at CHEO monitored her regularly as she progressed through childhood. When Olivia turned 18, she graduated from CHEO to the Adult Congenital Heart Clinic at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute where she underwent a second open heart surgery at age 20.
Olivia will directly benefit from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s largest expansion in its 40 year history, adding 145,000 square feet of state-of-the-art clinical space to the existing facility. This expansion will allow the Institute to continue to serve the cardiac care needs of Canadians, as the referral centre for hospitals throughout Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, Nunavut, and for many more patients from coast-to-coast who come to Ottawa for life-saving procedures.
“The next five years will be the most exciting of the Institute’s history,” said Jim Orban, President and CEO of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation. “Partnerships like the one with CP Has Heart are vital to the Institute’s evolution and support like this ensures that world-class cardiovascular treatment, programs and patient care are available today, shaping the lives of so many Canadians tomorrow.”
This week, as part of the Ottawa Heart Institute’s “February is Heart Month” campaign, CP is matching donations to a maximum of $7,500, turning your support into up to $15,000 for the Heart Institute. Donate at FebruaryisHeartMonth.ca.
For every retweet, Facebook share or ‘love’ reaction of the “Beautiful Hearts” video from the @CFL, the League will donate 50 cents to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
Stay tuned to @CPhasHeart on Facebook and Twitter and at CPHasHeart.ca to see how you can further contribute and help both charities in the coming months.