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Welcome to Harbouring Hope, a podcast brought to you by the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation, hosted by Foundation CEO Barney Ellis-Perry.
In each episode, we’ll take you behind the scenes of the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Oceanside Health Centre, and other facilities supported by our Foundation to explore the many departments, innovations, and dedicated professionals who keep our healthcare system running. From doctors and nurses to administrative leaders and patients with lived experience, we’ll hear powerful stories that reveal both the challenges and the triumphs within our hospital walls.
Most importantly, we’ll shine a light on the critical role our community plays…because behind every success story is a network of generous supporters helping to make it all possible.
Why should I support health care when it's government funded and I pay so much tax? It's not simply transactional with equipment. It's creating awareness. It's delivering that message. It's showing that we have strength, that we have the political will. And that gets the attention of the Minister of Health and that gets the attention of the Premier. And that gets the attention of the Minister of Infrastructure. And they are the
people that control the purse strings and they are the ones that make the decisions on where the capital flows. You know, we are in, as local community advocates, hand-to-hand combat trying to win funding for our friends and family and neighbors here, North of the Malahat, so that it doesn't end up in Surrey or somewhere else where there may be more political will.
Welcome to Harbouring Hope, a podcast brought to you by the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation. I'm Barney Ellis-Perry, CEO of the foundation and your host for this series. We're on an exciting journey with our dedicated donors who you will hear from throughout this series as they share why it is in our nature to give and their collective vision for improving health across Central and North Vancouver Island.
In each episode, we'll take you behind the scenes at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Oceanside Health Centre, and other facilities supported by our foundation to explore the many departments, innovations, and dedicated professionals who keep our healthcare system running, from doctors and nurses, to administrative leaders, and patients with lived experience, we'll hear powerful stories that reveal both the challenges and the triumphs within our hospital walls.
Most importantly, we'll shine a light on the critical role our community plays because behind every success story is a network of generous supporters helping to make it all possible. Today, we are joined by the Chair of the Board for the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation, Tony Harris. Let's get into our conversation. Today, I have the distinct honour of speaking to my boss, Tony Harris, Chair of the Board of the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation.
Tony is one of the most passionate advocates for healthcare I've ever met. He's also an incredibly passionate advocate for philanthropy. And this comes from a lineage, from his father who played a founding role in the foundation and creating the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation as the kids would say back in the day.
And Tony has picked up that mantle and taken the foundation to the next level and is inspiring people across Central Vancouver Island to be more philanthropic, to be more engaged in their communities, to take the time to volunteer and to really be selfless like Tony is. So Tony, it's a big honor to have you here today. We really appreciate it. So maybe you could tell us a little bit about yourself and your origin story of how you got roped into all this and why we get to have so much of your time and your brain. Thank you very much, Barney, for that kind introduction.
First, I would like to say that I don't think of myself as your boss. I think of myself as your teammate. And it's an honour to play on the same team, working towards the same cause. I'm the Chair of the Board of the Hospital Foundation and we are a volunteer board. So it's something I really enjoy, taking time to work on this
initiative and to do it with a teammate like Barney. I guess for me, this all begins in a hospital bed in NRGH on June 13th, 1983 when I was born, one of five kids to be born to my parents, Tom and Christine here in Nanaimo. And my parents obviously relied on the hospital for bringing us into the world and subsequently have relied on it so many times
throughout the years and indeed in healthcare in the region. So growing up, experiencing, you know, the hospital and medical from my perspective, it just was a thing. And then I started to see my dad be really involved in the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation in the early 90s. And it was always a thread that ran through our
ethos as a family, which is to give back to our communities that we serve. And seeing my dad's involvement in the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation and the way he'd speak about how healthcare in our community touches everybody. So it's sort of that one thing that if you give your time back to, you know that it's touching everybody in a way. And I really liked that. As you've, you know, ramped more into your engagement with healthcare in the hospital and the surrounding healthcare through your personal family foundation,
can you tell us a little bit about what you've seen from the terms of the state of public healthcare on the island and in Nanaimo and how that energizes you? Healthcare is a fundamental aspect of being Canadian, universal healthcare. It ought to be there and it should be there for everyone when we need it. We don't know when we're going to need it because we don't know what's around the next bend, but we know we need it. What I've seen over the last particularly 10 years is
the overwhelming pressure that has been building on the medical system across Canada, but I think acutely North of the Malahat, is crumbling the foundations of the infrastructure, the physical infrastructure, but also the human capital infrastructure. Our healthcare professionals are incredible. They are the most passionate, selfless, caring, committed people that are in it for the right reasons,
and they deserve a system that's there for them to support them, give them the tools and the facilities that they need to deliver the care. But I feel that the bureaucracy of delivering a public service at this magnitude has become mired in being too top-heavy and as a result, taken away from the core purpose of delivery. And so I think that there's structurally some
changes that need to be made. And that's a very high level discussion for government. Tony is right. Our frontline workers are amazing and their commitment to community wellness is honestly what holds this whole system together. But human infrastructure is one thing. What about the physical infrastructure? We have, you know, a facility in NRGH, which is the tertiary hospital for care beyond community care North of the Malahat that was built 50 years ago, 350 beds, just not
capable of serving the community the way it's grown to be what it is today. More than half of the population of Vancouver Island lives North of the Malahat, nearing half a million people. We two hospitals in Victoria that deliver a higher standard of care in much newer and appropriate facilities than the one hospital North of the Malahat at NRGH that is, as I said, over 50 years old and, you know,
dramatically too small and limited in what it can do. And we have a physical plant that is literally crumbling under the pressure, the weight of a rapidly growing region, one of the fastest growing regions in the country, and indeed one of the oldest demographics in the country. So when you sort of compound the pressures that we face as a community, it's a uniquely difficult situation that Nanaimo has relative to other communities
that certainly need infrastructure investments and investments in healthcare across this great nation, but people need to wake up and realize this region isn't just a small town on Vancouver Island. It's a fundamentally important region to the nation building that is happening. And it's high time that the attention is met with investment at all levels of government. Tony does a lot of work for this community. And speaking of government, in 2018, Tony ran for the BC Liberals in a by-election in hopes of gaining a provincial seat. Although he was unsuccessful,
much of his campaign was focused on tackling the ever-rising challenges in healthcare in the region, specifically the need for a new intensive care unit for Central Vancouver Island, because the one serving this community was proven to be the worst in Canada. Right before the eve of the election, the government in power at the time did commit to building a new ICU for our community, which was phenomenal. I asked Tony to explain further how the government plays a role here and why the community needs to pay attention
and continue to hold any government accountable to improve healthcare for Central Vancouver Island. A comment was made to me a couple of years ago and it sort of came via a concerned citizen, someone else that's highly engaged in the community, but it came from officials in government. Effectively, the narrative was the political will doesn't exist in Nanaimo. And we've intuited that for a long time. And I think that it's because when...
This is my commentary, but when any community in a democratic system continually and repeatedly sort of votes the same way, you find that the party that repeatedly gets voted for is less inclined to make
major investments in that region because it is almost like a foregone conclusion that they're going to continue to win that safe seat and representation in government. That's obviously counter to what ought to be happening, for that rewarding that loyalty of a base. But then also on the flip side, the other parties that might contend that seat would think, what's the point in making commitments or promises to an area where it's just a foregone conclusion we're never going to win. So I believe and it's intuited for a long time that
this region has been in that state of flux because it hasn't been in play. But what we've seen now repeatedly over the last seven or eight, 10 years even, is that this region is very much in play. And that's because the demographics are changing. We aren't the same place that we were 20 years ago. The main question I wanted to ask Tony during our time together was a question that I'm sure is on a lot of folks' minds when they are thinking about donating to the foundation.
Why should I support health care when it's government funded and I pay so much tax? It's fair. I mean, we have seemingly an unlimited demand for the services and an always greater desire to have better, faster, more available care. And I think the government is doing their best. And to my point earlier, could efficiencies be achieved?
Should there be a review of how we do the delivery? Absolutely. However, we are operating within a system. It's an imperfect system and we do fund it all as taxpayers. People, you know, should think holistically about community building and when we enhance the level of care in our community, we in turn make it a better place to live with better jobs and it's more attractive for diverse type of person and
it just enriches our community. So it's not simply transactional with equipment. It's creating awareness. It's delivering that message. It's showing that we have strength, that we have the political will. And that gets the attention of the Minister of Health and that gets the attention of the Premier. And that gets the attention of the Minister of Infrastructure. And they are the
people that control the purse strings and they are the ones that make the decisions on where the capital flows. You know, we are in, as local community advocates, hand-to-hand combat trying to win funding for our friends and family and neighbours here North of the Malahat so that it doesn't end up in Surrey or somewhere else where there may be more political will. There is no question that this population North of the Malahat is more in need
of a higher standard of care and new facilities and a catheterization lab and a patient tower than anybody else in British Columbia. And I'm just absolutely committed and dedicated to that. giving to your Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation is more than a transactional exchange of value for a piece of equipment that otherwise might come in through the typical stream down the line. It's bigger
than that and the dollars go to work to create this awareness and to build this machine to be so loud that we can't be ignored. And that has been, you know, our message and fundamentally woven into our strategic plan over the last number of years. Yeah, so well put. I think one of the really interesting aspects of it is we have been able to use the generosity of our donors to really bring forward conversations
such as the cath lab conversation. When I started, I was told there'll be a cath lab in the new patient tower. When are we getting a new patient tower, I don't know. Now we've been able to bifurcate that. We've been able to, because we have several million dollars that has been pledged for a cath lab, we've been able to expedite that whole conversation and get Island Health to really think about creating an interim cath lab measure now while we're on the journey to a new patient tower. But we need that now.
And that is, I think, 100% because of the generosity of donors that have helped us drive that. So it's important that we advocate, and that's such a huge part of it, but we're advocating in a way that I think is slightly unusual because we're saying we're going to help the community, it's going to put their money where their mouth is. And that's what's been happening. And that's exactly what happened with the new Windsor Plywood Foundation Critical Care Building for the ICU and the High Acuity Unit is, you know, there was the advocacy work that was done and then it was also
$10.5 million was donated by the community. I echo your sentiment of like, yeah, it's not perfect, but if we want to make change, this is how we do it. We're proving that it gets done when we have donors come to the table. And it's really powerful to stand shoulder to shoulder as a community and give our time, talent and treasure and see the impact that it has. I think that we have a community that has always been passionate about
this region and when given permission to activate their voice and when given a vehicle to do that, they're incredibly effective. And I, you know, I'm confident that all levels of government are now recognizing the importance of this region. They are hearing loud and clear the voices. They know that we won't be taken for granted any longer.
And I'm really proud of the work that so many passionate Islanders North of the Malahat are doing to engage others and raise awareness because this is all grassroots stuff at the end of the day. You know, our team is the tip of the spear in many respects, but ultimately we need to pass along the message for everyone else to evangelize it up to the legislature in Victoria and beyond. So I'm convinced that people are
awake now to what's going on. Absolutely. And with everyone listening today. So thank you everyone for listening in on this. Really appreciate it. Come to our website, sign up for our newsletter if you're not already. Look at how you can get involved, how you can advocate, how you can donate and how you can tell your friends. We'd really love to hear from you and see you at our activities. And thank you for taking the time to spend with us today. So thank you, Tony. Totally appreciate it. Thank you for joining us today on Harbouring Hope.
To learn more about the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation, please visit nanaimohospitalfoundation.com. I'm your host, Barney Ellis-Perry. If you are a current or future partner of the foundation, thank you. With your unwavering support, we are delivering a new standard of care for all who call this amazing region home. Together, it's in our nature to give.
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