Give To

Foothills Medical Centre

When you make a gift as a grateful patient or family member, you have the opportunity to express gratitude and share messages of thanks to staff who made a difference to you. Your gift will make a difference to care today – and into the future for others!

 

ABOUT FOOTHILLS MEDICAL CENTRE

Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) is the tertiary specialized referral centre for Southern Alberta, Southeastern British Columbia, and parts of Saskatchewan. It is home to the largest integrated teaching and research collaborations in Canada alongside the University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, resulting in medical innovation across a variety of cross-functional teams.

The Foothills Medical Centre is the single Southern Alberta hospital for a wide range of specialty services including trauma, clinical neurology, cardiac sciences, tissue and organ transplantation, complex general oncology surgery, and cancer care. Within these areas of care there are a number of subspecialties in which teams are world-class leaders.

 

Spotlight Specialities

  • Southern Alberta Trauma Program
  • Cardiac Surgery and Interventional Cardiology
  • Neurosurgery
  • Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT)
  • Thoracic Surgery
  • Critical Care —Neonatal Intensive Care; High Risk Labour & Delivery; Adult Intensive Care (Neuro, Trauma, Coronary and Cardiovascular)
  • Transplant Services and Southern Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Program
  • Burn Unit
  • Calgary Stroke Program
  • Specialty Women’s Health
  • Diagnostic Imaging and PET Scanner
  • Cancer care

Quick Facts

1966 Opened

1,103 Beds

15,000 Staff

1,700 Physicians

46,400* Patients Admitted
*2019/2020 data

85,000+ Emergency Visits

21,000 Surgeries

5,900+ Births

230,995* Medical outpatients (per year)
*2019/2020 data

Support Foothills Medical Centre

Recovery from a brain emergency is possible

The lives of healthy, active people can change in an instant – mere seconds – as a result of a brain emergency. Your gift to Calgary Health Foundation this holiday season will help our family of hospitals improve neurocritical care specialty services.

Supporting frontline care

Health care heroes continue to care for us in our greatest time of need. Your donation will help our care teams as they remain tirelessly committed to ensure that every person receives the best care they need when they need it.

Together we gave every newborn a fighting chance

In Calgary, 1 in 8 infants are born premature and require the lifesaving support of the city’s Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Your generosity helped us reach our goal of raising $66m to get these newborns just what they need: the expansion of the Foothills NICU, funding for family-centered care initiatives and investment into preterm birth research.

"I had prepared my overnight bag, but was not prepared for what was about to come. We were impressed at how diligent the communications between physicians and hospitals had been. When the Foothills team was aware of my specific case when I arrived at the hospital, it reduced my fear of delivering so prematurely,”

Tess Harvey

Foothills Medical Centre

Stories

Breakthroughs happen and lives are transformed at Foothills Medical Centre every day. Here are just a few examples.

Life changes in an instant

Young, healthy and strong, Terry’s life changed in an instant. At just 27 years old, Terry was in an accident that changed his life and that of his wife, Carly.

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When two passions come together

Melanie Zhao began her nursing career in Cardiology and Internal Medicine in 2018. A graduate from the University of Calgary, she always found herself loving the learning aspect of her studies and thought that teaching nursing in the future would be a path she would like to explore.

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An interview with a grateful mom

Sarah, at just 35 years old, was found in her home unconscious with her young son by her side. She was rushed to the hospital where doctors began to try and unravel the complexities of her neurocritical emergency.

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NICU care takes a village

Seventeen years have passed since Heather Bala-Edwards left the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Foothills Medical Centre with her new baby, Adam, in her arms. For Heather, it feels like a lifetime has passed since that time but reliving the memories makes it feel like yesterday for her.

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The dedication of friends and family

Audrey and Doug had just celebrated their son Ryan’s 32nd birthday. Following the celebration, Audrey and Doug then left to go on their trip to Australia, but their trip was cut short as they received a call that would forever change their lives.

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Awarded for a passion in Cardiovascular Nursing

In June of 2022, Kelsey Neale was awarded the Florence and Lloyd Cooper Alberta Registered Nurses Educational Trust (ARNET) scholarship for her research surrounding delirium following cardiovascular surgery.

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We could thank them for a lifetime

Today, Blair is a bright, healthy, and vibrant young boy who recently celebrated his third birthday. But he spent the first 94 days of his life in the Foothills Medical Centre’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after being born at just 27 weeks, 4 days, weighing 1,234 grams.

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Giving has always come naturally to Shelley Smith

January is all about saying thank you to all of our donors who we appreciate so much! Without donors like you, we wouldn’t be able to do the necessary work to advance and revolutionize health care outcomes.

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Stephanie Felesky, helping to make the lives of families better

As a mother of three children, Stephanie had an emotional tie with the Newborns Need campaign and the Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and excitedly volunteered as a co-chair. Her youngest child spent the first 12 days of their life in the NICU.

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Leadership investment will ensure the future of Southern Alberta’s critically ill newborns are not determined by the condition of their birth

TransAlta is investing $2 million in the future of Southern Alberta families with their generous donation to Calgary Health Foundation’s Newborns Need campaign.

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$10M investment from the Taylor Family Foundation ensures a bright future for Southern Alberta’s critically-ill newborns.

Fully funded, Calgary Health Foundation’s $66M Newborns Need fundraising campaign will create a 58 bed, leading-edge, level 3 NICU at Foothills Medical Centre.

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When Sarah had a brain injury, her life changed in mere seconds

At just 35, Sarah Reid suffered a stroke that left her unconscious at home with her four year old son, Kolten, helplessly at her side. When Kolten was two, his father suffered a catastrophic brain injury and within two short years passed away.

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A neurological emergency changed everything in an instant for Rick Weich

Neurocritical care saves lives and is an essential link to the chain of survival and recovery after facing neurological injuries.

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Celebrating 25 years in Trauma Operating

In 2013, Calgary Health Foundation funded the second Interventional Trauma Operating Room (iTOR) in the world, right at Foothills Medical Centre. The only other iTOR was located in Sydney, Australia.

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Laura’s Mental Health Journey

Laura, a mother of two and grade 5 teacher, was always hard on herself and didn’t know why it took her a lot of mental energy and work to do well in school compared to her peers. But after the birth of her second child just prior to the global pandemic, the pressures increased and she experienced a mental health crisis.

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Music Therapy improves how patients experience health care

Thanks to an ongoing partnership with the National Music Centre/Studio Bell, JB Music Therapy and the generous support of our community, we’ve made it possible to provide life-changing experiences for patients through music therapy in our hospitals.

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Innovative neuroscience research, care and education

Proceeds from Enerplus’ Touch of Tartans fundraising events over the past five years have supported the vital work of University of Calgary neuroscientists Dr. Alim Mitha, his colleagues, and students as they continue to make new discoveries to treat people with brain aneurysms.

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Kate Fischer, a lucky mom who’s paying it forward

As a mother with two young children, Kate Fischer eagerly volunteered for the Newborns Need campaign to make big changes in maternal and newborn health.

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You won’t know when you’ll need care

Marilyn and Garth were visiting a relative at Foothills Medical Centre when they passed by a “tiny, bare bones” Health Trust (now Foundation) office. That was 20 years ago.

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Carewest staff go the extra mile for grateful car accident survivor and his family

In October of 2020, 20 year old Julian was in a horrific car accident while on his way home from celebrating a friend’s birthday. For the first week in his long recovery, Julian received care at Foothills Medical Centre, before being transferred to Carewest Glenmore for specialized care of the Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Unit (MSK).

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Collaborating for change

Diagnosis versus identity. Patient is versus patient has.

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BMO Financial Group donates $600,000 on World Prematurity Day

In honour of World Prematurity Day on November 17, BMO Financial Group made a donation of $600,000 to support Canada’s busiest neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Foothills Medical Centre.

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BMO Financial Group supports busiest NICU in Canada with $600,000 donation on World Prematurity Day

Support for our tiniest and most fragile newborns propels fundraising for Newborns Need campaign.

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Honouring family in loss: Harold Kearl’s story

This Remembrance Day, we acknowledge one of our donors Harold Kearl, a veteran, a husband, a father and a supporter of music therapy.

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Daddy’s Girls: The King’s Corner

As expectant parents to triplets, Shane and Tanya were eagerly anticipating meeting their three daughters at the 34-week gestation milestone; a delivery plan was in place, and a Caesarean section was scheduled in advance, due to the complicated delivery that commonly accompanies the arrival of triplets.

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From Near or Far, Calgary’s World-Class Health Care Supports Our Tiniest Patients

When Kristine Russell gave birth to her daughter Ellie after an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery, she and her husband Steven had no idea that the Southern Alberta Neonatal Transport Services (SANTS) team would have such a huge impact on their lives.

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Community-focused science to help families predict and prevent preterm birth

Largest project of its kind in Canada launches in Calgary

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Stephenson Cardiac Imaging Centre

Creating opportunities for personalized health care delivery by facilitating internationally renowned cardiac research with support exceeding $7.7M towards the Stephenson Cardiac Imaging Centre.

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Cardiac Hybrid Operating Room

Giving cardiology patients better outcomes when minutes count with $5M in support to create a specialized, hybrid operating room at Foothills Medical Centre that facilitates multiple procedures in one place.

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New Pregnancy and Infant Loss Clinic opens at Foothills Medical Centre

An enhanced Pregnancy and Infant Loss Program at the Foothills Medical Centre’s Early Pregnancy Assessment Clinic  provides new space and increased privacy for women and families who’ve experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death.

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Advanced trauma centre saving lives at Foothills hospital

A specialized health unit at Foothills Medical Centre has been saving dozens of lives.

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Run for Women, an Exercise in Mental Health

For people like Krystin, going through the challenges of the pandemic has meant relying on learned coping strategies, her support system and online counselling visits for maintaining her mental wellness.

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Salima’s NICU Story

“They bring so much joy to my life. I can’t imagine what would have happened to them if it weren’t for the amazing health care we have”

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Yalda

Shortly after Yalda gave birth to her son, she noticed she didn’t feel quite right. She’d chalked her sadness and trouble concentrating up to a typical bout of the “baby blues.

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McTavish

When Lindsay and Mike McTavish imagined how life was going to be with their unborn son, they pictured something sweet. Sure, there’d be the sleepless nights and diapers, but on the whole it would be filled with the typical magic parents talk about.

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The Jansens

There’s not much that can prepare a family to go from enjoying a Stampeders’ game day and BBQ, to seeing their newborn baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, all within 12 hours. For Maya’s family, a significantly premature delivery meant the stakes became much higher than the rivalry between two CFL teams on one July afternoon – it became a matter of life or death.

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