Halifax, NS (June 2, 2019) – The Maritime community has shown just how deeply it cares about the IWK, pledging a record-breaking $6,719,186.35 in support of the 35th IWK Telethon for Children on CTV. The live broadcast from the IWK Health Centre in Halifax and remote locations in Sydney, Saint John and Charlottetown wrapped up on Sunday evening.
“What Maritimers have shown us once again is that they want to be part of team IWK—they give so generously because they want to be there for our region’s children and families ensuring they have access to nothing less than the best care at the IWK,” says Jennifer Gillivan, President & CEO, IWK Foundation. “Celebrating 35 years of Telethon is an amazing accomplishment for our community. We are so grateful to every donor and every volunteer who has made this event so successful. And we could not do it without the incredible support of our broadcast partner, CTV.”
The IWK Telethon is the IWK’s largest annual fundraiser and supports the most urgent priority needs of the IWK Health Centre. This year, donors to the Telethon purchased important pieces of equipment including new smart beds for the IWK’s inpatient unit. Equipped with intuitive advanced technology, focusing on patient safety, nursing safety and ease of use, these beds can also send alarms and messages wirelessly to the existing IWK monitoring system and nurses’ mobile devices.
“What an amazing showing of generosity by Maritimers, for Maritime children! It’s remarkable what we can accomplish when we work together,” says Trent McGrath, Vice President and General Manager, CTV Atlantic. “The partnership between CTV and the IWK is one of our most important community relationships and one our entire staff takes a great deal of pride in. We’re happy to do our part as the telethon broadcast partner because every one of us have, or know someone who has, needed the IWK. We pitch in because those children – our children – deserve nothing less than the best.”
Donations can still be made to the IWK Foundation by calling 1-800-595-2266 or visiting www.iwkfoundation.org/donate.
-30-
About IWK Foundation
The IWK Foundation is a champion of excellence in women's and children's health and medicine and works in partnership with the IWK Health Centre to support their vision of providing quality care to women, children, youth and families in the Maritime Provinces and beyond. Our donors are passionately committed to making a difference for Maritime families, contributing more than $15 million in support of the most urgent care priorities at the IWK last year. Funds raised also support the IWK's global leadership in research and knowledge sharing, which in turn improves lives worldwide. For more information, visit www.iwkfoundation.org.
About CTV News
CTV News is Canada’s most-watched news organization both locally and nationally, and has a network of national, international, and local news operations. CTV News operations include CTV NEWS CHANNEL, BNN Bloomberg, CP24, and information programming, including CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH LISA LAFLAMME, CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH SANDIE RINALDO, W5, POWER PLAY, and QUESTION PERIOD. Flagship news sites include CTVNews.ca, as well as CP24.com and BNNBloomberg.ca, and are complemented by the CTV News, CP24, and BNN Bloomberg apps, and text-over-video product, ON THE GO, which provide a direct connection to Canada’s most trusted news anytime and anywhere. With a perspective that is distinctly Canadian, CTV News brings Canadians the international and domestic news stories of the day and is the #1 news organization in Canada.
For more information, please contact:
Kelly Duggan
Communications Specialist
IWK Foundation
902-220-8029
kelly.duggan@iwk.nshealth.ca