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.
“We are pleased to support the redevelopment of the Foothills NICU, at Canada’s most in demand centre for neonatal care in southern Alberta,” said John MacAulay, Regional President, Prairies Central, BMO Bank of Montreal. “BMO’s Purpose is to Boldly Grow the Good in business and in life, for customers, employees and communities. This includes creating better access to care to improve health outcomes for vulnerable infants, their mothers and families.”
BMO Financial Group’s 200 year legacy of funding initiatives that are focused on making tomorrow better means families of premature infants will have brighter days ahead.
Foothills Medical Centre is home to Southern Alberta’s only in-born Level 3 NICU, where the most premature and critically-ill newborns begin their lives.
Built nearly 25 years ago with only 39 beds, it’s much smaller than similar NICU’s across the country. While Foothills’ care outcomes are among the best in the country, the existing NICU can’t accommodate for the innovations and best practices that have become today’s standard of care. The Newborns Need campaign hopes to redevelop the NICU into a two story, 56 bed unit that will be able to accommodate the growing demand, integrate new technologies and put the whole family at the centre of care for their little ones.
The birth of a new child is a joyful, exciting moment after nine months of wait and worry. But for some families, it’s the beginning of a series of stressful and uncertain events.
Over 2,000 of newborns and their families will require specialized care within a NICU in Calgary each year because they are born too sick, too small or too early. This equates to the highest rate of preterm births across the country! It’s because of donors like BMO Financial Group that we are able to transform care for neonates and their families.
You can join BMO and help support newborns and their families too!
