CAs instrumental in Niagara Hospital project

When CAs get moving they can really make things happen. Just ask Debbie Sevenpifer, who is considered the driving force behind a groundbreaking new $759-million hospital complex that will service the patient needs of St. Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake and several other communities in Ontario’s Niagara Region. “I’m not going overboard in saying that the area’s CAs have been at the forefront of donations as well as leadership in organizing the NHS’ fundraising campaigns,” says Sevenpifer, herself a CA, who was president and CEO of the Niagara Health System from 2003 until this month. “In an understandable climate of donor fatigue and thinning wallets, these people have done something the profession should really be proud of.”

From the get-go, Debbie Sevenpifer was sure the CAs in her community would step up with both their time and donations. Durward Jones Barkwell & Co. LLP, Crawford Smith & Swallow and Wormald Masse Keen Lopinski LLP are some of the firms that made donations of $25,000 or more. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, with scores of firms and sole proprietors getting into the act. Of the two Big Four firms, Deloitte & Touche Foundation Canada and KPMG have also made financial commitments to the $40-million It’s Our Time drive for this sprawling 970,000 sq.-ft. St. Catherines site.

The finished complex will be the first hospital in Ontario in which 80% of patient rooms will be private.

View looking West - November 28, 2010

“It is really kind of fortuitous that CAs are so involved,” says DJB’s Rob Neill, chair of NHS’ South Niagara Campaign Team. “The government, hoping to avoid the disastrous cost overruns it has experienced elsewhere in the province, has instituted a rather complex new financing model at NHS that has donors worried about too much private sector control.” Along with campaign leaders in other Niagara communities — two of whom are also CAs — Neill has devoted a great deal of time explaining how the numbers break down and who controls the purse strings. “Everything will continue to be publicly owned, controlled and, of course, accountable to the public,” he says. Adds Sevenpifer: “This kind of commitment to a cause really epitomizes the spirit of volunteerism and interest in community we see in CAs throughout the country. I’m so grateful, but not surprised.”