Hospital foundations continue to help Alberta's health-care system. Here's how they work

Hospital foundationsare indispensable to the health-care system in communities across Alberta and the country.

TakeWainwright, Alta., for instance.

Late last year people in and aroundthe town, about200 kilometressoutheast of Edmonton, raised $2.2 million for a new CT scanner for the Wainwright Health Centre.

The effort,led by fundraising efforts of the Wainwright and District Health Foundation, earnedthe community headlines across the province.

Butwhy does a foundation need to raise money for medical equipment when Alberta Health Service (AHS) is publicly funded?

The answer is priorities.

What is a hospital foundation?

A hospital foundation is a non-profit attached to a major hospital in a city or town that funds research and other enhancements to health care through donor support.

Funding projectscould targetequipment, programs, renovations, research and education in the community and across the province.

How do they function?

In Alberta,69 hospital foundationssupport AHS hospitals and other facilities. Other foundations do similar work, likethe Covenant Foundation that supports Catholic hospitals and facilities operated by Covenant Health.

Hospital foundations receive a grant from the provincial government covering rent and paper. It doesn't cover salariesas all positions are voluntary.

"From there we rely solely on public donations," Bill Lawson, chair of the Wainwright and District Health Foundation.

The foundation hosts an annual gala and other fundraising events throughout the year, Lawsonsaid.

What is their relationship to AHS?

Hospital foundations are independentfrom AHSand are registered with the Canadian Revenue Agency. Through the objects of their bylaws, they support the sites and programs of AHS.

Where AHS can't fund a project right away or if it's low on the priority list, hospital foundations step up to cover the cost.

This practice is universal, especially in the western world, said Christopher McCabe, professor of health economics at the University of Alberta.

"Some [foundations] are focused on raising money to support research, asthe University of Alberta Hospital Foundation, historically has put a lot of money into research rather than buying frontline clinical care equipment," he said. "Others are purchasing incubators or dialysis machines or CT scanners."

How do foundations prioritizefundraising efforts?

Alberta's 2021 health budget is $23 billion, not including COVID-19 impact. That's an increase of $900 million over the previous year.

McCabe said despite health care being the biggest single-ticket itemon the province's budget, AHS can't be all things to all people.

"We can't put a fully functioning university-like hospital in every small town," he said.

Although the system could be better, right now the province has to prioritize based on population and need, McCabe said.

Foundations will often askdoctors at thehospital and those who sit on theboard to recommend projects.Those projects are then presented to AHSfor approval.

"The needs of all communities must be considered in a context of competing priorities, finite resources, and clinical needs," Heather Kipling, communications director for AHS wrote in an email.

What other projects are being workedon?

The Wainwright Health Centre's new CT scanner is now sitting in itsfront lobby.

The hospital isrenovating space to accommodate the machine using money raised by the foundation andexpects to start using the scanner bythe fall.

Besides the CT scanner,the hospital foundation in Wainwright also took responsibility for replacingthe hospital's outdatedlaparoscopy tower diagnostic equipment used to examine the organs inside the abdomen.

The current laparoscopy tower doesn't work well and doctors often have trouble reading the screen, said Jamie Malone, the hospital'ssite manager.

AHS won't replaceit until it's no longer functioning.

"Who knows when that is," Malone said.