Brit Smith and Homestead Land Holdings make major donation to KGH

Patients and families in Southeastern Ontario will soon benefit from a major donation announced today at Kingston General Hospital. Britton Smith and Homestead Land Holdings have announced that they have donated $3 million for a second Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine at KGH. Combined with 500 other donations towards the second machine, this announcement has pushed the campaign past its $6 million goal.

“The hospitals are important institutions in our community,” Smith says. “Many of Homestead’s Kingston area tenants work in Kingston’s hospitals, and most will receive care in them at one time or another.”

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine is one of the most technologically advanced pieces of equipment in the hospital. It supports the care of all types of patients, ranging from complex cancer, cardiac and pediatric patients, to the hockey player who hurt a knee during a game.

Unfortunately, because there is such a demand for MRI scans at KGH, it also means there can be a long wait to receive an exam. At any one time in our region, 850 to 1,000 people are waiting to be booked for a hospital MRI. The more urgent cases are given priority on the current MRI, with less severe patients having to wait for their procedure. Currently, the MRI at KGH runs at full capacity seven days a week from 7 a.m. until midnight on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. It still isn't enough to meet the need in our area.

“Thanks to the incredible generosity of Brit Smith and Homestead, we are going to be able to provide better access for people who require the most complex MRI studies in our region. This pledge is a gift of outstanding care,” says Leslee Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer of KGH. The Board of Directors of KGH has agreed that the room housing the new MRI will be named in honour of Homestead Land Holdings Ltd. for the next 35 years.

This is the third largest donation that the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation has received in its 10-year history – and the largest from an individual or business. Homestead and the Britton Smith Foundation have donated over $1.3 million to KGH in the past.

“We are thrilled about moving forward with this initiative which will dramatically shorten wait times for patients waiting for complex MRI studies required for diagnosis and treatment planning,” says Dr. Annette McCallum, Head of Diagnostic Radiology for the Kingston hospitals and Queen’s University. “We are profoundly grateful for Mr. Smith’s generosity which will benefit the community of Kingston and the larger catchment area serviced by the MRI suite at Kingston General Hospital, for years to come.”

Planning is underway for the related construction, as a new room to house the MRI will be built in an area near the existing machine. The project will happen in phases in order to ensure as little disruption as possible to the delivery of complex MRI services through the existing machine. It is anticipated the second MRI will be up and running within 24 months.