May 4, 2020
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Foundation of Canada
Attn: Mr. James Lin and Mr. Tom Torng and Ms. Joy Yeh
8850 Osler St
Vancouver, BC V6P 4G2
Dear Friends,
RE: COVID-19 – Purchase of Ultrasound
I wanted to share some wonderful news that was made possible thanks to our friends at Tzu Chi Foundation of Canada. When you made your generous donation to Surrey Hospital Foundation for our Foundation’s COVID-19 Fund, you knew you were making a donation to one of the province’s main COVID treatment centres. You knew that Surrey Memorial Hospital was playing an important and crucial role in BC’s response to COVID-19, especially given the fact that approximately 66% of the province’s active COVID-19 patients (those not yet recovered) reside with the Fraser Health Authority.
And thanks to our expert care, many of the critically ill patients admitted to our hospital for treatment have already been able to return home to their families. As a matter of fact, our outcomes have been amongst the best in the world, so over the next few months our hospital will be involved in more than eleven research studies to better understand how to best treat and possibly even cure COVID. These research efforts will be supported by the Foundation. But the hospital also requested several vital pieces of equipment to help with the treatment of COVID patients and this is here Tzu Chi comes in.
We intend to use your donation to purchase a life saving piece of equipment for our Anaesthesiologists. More specifically, we are using your $50,000 donation to purchase an ultrasound for our COVID 19 Airways Team. This team is made up of highly trained Anesthetists and their role is to open up the airways of critically ill patients using intubation and mechanical ventilation. The ultrasound helps the doctors and respiratory technologists visualize the airways and place and perform the intubation quickly and efficiently for the patients.
Your funds, topped up with other donations, will allow us to purchase an ultrasound machine immediately. The ultrasound is of tremendous benefit to our patients and doctors. We thank you for making the purchase possible and for supporting our efforts to save lives.
With gratitude,
Jane Adams Don Hickling
President & CEO Vice President, Leadership Giving
