In partnership with staff across Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) and Providence Care, the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation (UHKF) runs a popular series of behind-the-scenes health care tours that have demonstrated the power of bringing staff and donors together.
“Our tour participants already have an attachment to health care when they climb aboard the bus,” says Marie MacKenzie, Senior Development Officer with UHKF. “But in a couple of hours, with so many new stories to share with their friends and family, they disembark as some of our most generous givers, and vocal advocates.” Mackenzie recalls one donor who made a leadership gift to the MRI at the KGH site as a result of attending one of the tours. “To this day he tells people that he made his gift because he got to talk to the people in the MRI suite about the need.”
Launched in 2014 to help UHKF build donor relationships and strengthen community awareness about health care needs, the tours are fueled by the combined generosity of McCoy Bus Service—a family owned and operated local business—and the willingness of staff at KHSC and Providence Careto share their insights and expertise. “Staff are the best storytellers,” says MacKenzie, “and they have an incredible capacity to bring donors right to the heart of the story and the mission.”
Past tour stops have included KHSC’s Clinical Laboratories, the Ear Nose and Throat Clinic at the HDH site, the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario, and Providence Manor. Tours are conducted during the early evening hours and are often divided into smaller sub-groups when entering clinical areas to minimize disruption and protect confidentiality.
UHKF has announced new stops this spring that include tours of the patient therapy areas at Providence Care Hospital, KHSC’s gold standard treatment for high-risk skin cancers at the HDH site, and stroke treatment at the KGH site. The next bus is scheduled to run on May 28, 2019 from 3 to 6 p.m.
For more details and to confirm your spot, click here.
Space is limited, book your VIP seat!
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