Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation

Canadian frontline healthcare workers are caught in a fight with COVID-19 and need our support. In response, the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation has joined multiple other hospital foundation leaders across Canada to launch The Frontline Fund - a way for all Canadians and Canadian corporations to arm frontline healthcare providers with the supplies, supports, and research funding they need to fight this public health emergency and to support northern communities and indigenous health.

"We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with 75 hospitals and their foundations across Canada in this united, nationwide fundraising effort," said Sharlene Rutherford, President and CEO of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation. "Now more than ever, Canadians are urged to come together in one consolidated effort to support our frontline care providers, including our very own healthcare heroes at the Royal Alex."    

The important work taking place to care for patients during a pandemic means unprecedented stress and strain, both of which are shouldered by the healthcare workers on the frontline. When Canadians donate to The Frontline Fund, they provide relief to these valiant caregivers through three key pillars:

Supplies: From personal protective equipment (PPE) like masks, disinfectants, and disposable clothing; to life-saving ventilators and testing equipment; to the digital infrastructure needed to enable virtual patient care, frontline healthcare workers need more tools to do their jobs and keep Canadians safe.

Supports: Being on the frontlines of this pandemic takes a huge toll. Gift cards, peer-to-peer mental health support, and hotel rooms near the hospital will help our frontline workers protect their families, get much needed rest, and prepare themselves for the effort ahead.

Research: Hospitals like the Royal Alex are conducting vital research like clinical drug trials to discover therapeutic breakthroughs and intense vaccine development efforts.

The Frontline Fund is grateful to its founding partner donors for their generous early support. These include lead Financial Institution donor TD Bank Group with a donation of $1 million, Maple Leaf Foods with a donation of $2.5 million and the CMA Foundation, with a donation of $5 million for a combined total of $8.5 million in contributions to date.

Michael McCain, CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, made a generous donation on behalf of the company in hopes of inspiring others to give. "Our governments are doing everything they can to help, but they can't do it alone," said McCain. "Our healthcare workers are not just on the front lines - they are the last line of defence against COVID-19 and without them, we are hopeless. We need to do everything we can to support them right now."

The Frontline Fund has partnered with CanadaHelps.org to make it easy and efficient for Canadians to get involved. All donations from individuals will flow through Canada Helps and be aggregated so that funds given remain in the province of the donor.

Individuals and corporations can donate to The Frontline Fund by visiting FrontlineFund.ca. Thank you for your support of this unified effort of support.