By Rhonda Massad
While the announcement was made in early February, that the Medtronic Foundation would be donating a USD 100,000 to NOVA West Island, the celebration took place last Friday.
The Medtronic Foundation chose NOVA in recognition of their continued commitment and joint mission to expand and improve access to quality healthcare for the underserved communities.
“We do not receive Government funding,” said Tom Thompson, NOVA’s President of the Board, “we pay for these much-needed services with money that we raise in the community. Medtronic is part of that community and has been an incredible supporter of NOVA with a donation of $50,000 a couple of years ago and another $100,000 now.”
According to Thompson, Medtronic does not stop with their financial contribution.
“We are extremely grateful for their support not only financially, but in other ways as well. I know Medtronic employees have volunteered at our Day Centres, attended our Golf Tournament and have had collections for the Thrift Shops.”
NOVA’s primary mandate is providing in-home palliative and cancer care.
“We are currently following more than 200 clients,” Thompson explained of the ever-growing need. “One of the subsets of our Cancer Care is our transportation program where we drive clients to and from oncology appointments. We are the only organization which does this free of charge, and the feedback we received tells us this is an essential service.”
NOVA provided 2,500 rides this past year, a little under seven rides per day 365 days a year.
To find out how you can volunteer or donate, please visit www.novawi.org/home
