Montreal, July 17, 2020 – Thanks to a donation from the Sikh Community of Montreal to the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation, it is possible to purchase a high-performance air filtration unit which will allow transforming a regular room into a negative pressure isolation room and enable safe surgery at Lakeshore General Hospital’s ENT department during times of the COVID-19 pandemic. This donation will also help to alleviate the waiting list created due to surgery cancellations because of COVID-19.
“The ENT department at the Lakeshore Hospital would like to thank the Sikh Community of Montreal for their generous donation. The surgeons in the ENT department are trained in managing complex nasal pathologies, which have the potential to create a lot of aerosols during surgery. These aerosols can infect the healthcare workers with COVID-19. The donated equipment is a specialized air filtration system that is placed between the patient and the healthcare workers to eliminate aerosols generated and thus, protect them from getting infected. This equipment will allow us to continue to provide the best care to our patients, while protecting the medical team,” explained Dr. Rickul Varshney.
“Community service is at the heart of Sikh values. Since the beginning of the pandemic, many community members have taken the initiative to work with local hospitals and support them through this difficult time. Since this spring, the community has raised significant funds to achieve this goal. We are delighted to be able to contribute today with a $6,550 donation to the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation, which will be used to provide equipment that will facilitate their work during this pandemic. The Sikh community is proud to be able to continue to fully contribute to the local community,” added Mr. Taran Singh, spokesperson for the Sikh Community of Montreal.
“The various companies, organizations and individuals which are the wealth of the West Island, have rallied together to support the medical teams of our Hospital during this pandemic. This generous donation from the Montreal Sikh Community is a wonderful contribution to that momentum. I am deeply grateful because thanks to them, the medical staff and patients will feel protected during ENT surgery” said Heather Holmes, Managing Director of the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation.
About the Sikh Community of Montreal
The Montreal Sikh Community is a group of Sikh individuals, associations and organizations, as well as Gurudwaras in the Montreal metropolitan area. Our goal is to highlight Sikh concerns, as well as to create opportunities for collaboration.
About the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation
Founded in 1964, the Foundation’s mandate is to collect the necessary funds to improve patient care at the Lakeshore General Hospital. In this way, it contributes to the purchase of state-of- the-art equipment, major structural renovations, and assists in supporting programs and specialized training for the professional staff, providing funding to initiatives not supported by the government. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation has focused its efforts on supporting medical teams in their fight against the coronavirus. To protect you and those around you, we need to keep our hospital equipped and ready.
Mr. Gurdarshan Malhotra, Mr. Tarn Tej Hundal, Mr Sukhjinder Singh Gill, Mr. Opkar Singh Sandhu
