Billionaire Jim Pattison today announced that he is giving $30 million to Royal Columbian Hospital to help the facility fund the second phase of its redevelopment, which includes building an acute-care tower that will be named the Jim Pattison Acute Care Tower.
Pattison is known for his philanthropy, which has often focused on health facilities. For example, in 2017 he donated $75 million to the St. Paul's Hospital Foundation to help it build a new hospital. That same year he gave $50 million to what was the Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan before it was renamed Jim Pattison Children's Hospital.
Royal Columbian is undergoing a $1.49 billion redevelopment to improve critical-care services in B.C.'s most populous health region, Fraser Health.
The hospital's second-phase construction is set to be complete in 2025, with an acute-care tower being the project's most distinctive feature.
(Image: Jim Pattison (right) stands next to a rendering of Royal Columbian Hospital. On the left is Jeff Norris, CEO of the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. Standing behind the rendering is Dr. Sukh Brar, who specializes in cardiac and anesthesia at the hospital | Jerald Walliser)
BIV asked Pattison why he is passionate about donating money to improve health-care services.
"Sooner or later, whether you're rich or you're poor, and no matter what your life is, or your job, a lot of people may sooner or later need a hospital," he said.
"That's why we selected, a long time ago, that one of the key areas that we want to support are hospitals."
He said that he receives hundreds of requests for money every month and that the philanthropy flows through his Jim Pattison Foundation. There is no rough percentage of requests that he approves and funds, as all donations are made on a "case-by-case basis," he said.
His foundation has a committee that reviews requests and the two most prominent people in determining whether to fund requests are his longtime assistant Maureen Chant, and his daughter Cindy Lambier, Pattison said.
The foundation, which he owns entirely, also has 10 directors that approve donation requests, Pattison said.
He said he was honoured to join thousands of other donors to Royal Columbian who have already stepped up to provide money to ensure that B.C.'s health-care system remains sustainable.
Royal Columbian Hospital CEO Jeff Norris thanked Pattison for what he called a "historical" donation.
"This gift, the largest in our region’s history, will ensure we can provide exceptional care to the patients who rely on the [Royal] Columbian," Norris said in a statement.
"Upon completion, the Acute Care Tower will further elevate the lifesaving care Royal Columbian Hospital already delivers to patients across the province.”
He said major improvements are being made in his hospital's ability to service patients.
Royal Columbian is the regional referral hospital for cardiac, trauma, neurosciences, high-risk maternity and neonatal intensive care. It provides care to some of the most critically ill and injured patients throughout the province.
The new acute-care tower will include what the hospital calls "an interventional super floor" that features operating rooms and suites for interventional radiology and cardiology, a new emergency department, with its own imaging unit, and new larger maternity, pediatric, and neonatal intensive-care units. It will have multiple floors for acute and critical-care patients. The tower will almost double the hospital's footprint, by increasing capacity at the hospital to 675 beds.
Pattison, 94, founded and owns B.C.'s largest privately held company, the Jim Pattison Group, which employs more than 51,000 people worldwide and has around $12.7 billion in annual sales.
Pattison told BIV that he is in good health.
"'I'm grateful to the good Lord that my health is excellent," he said. "I've never felt better."
