The Smile Cookie campaign generated a record-breaking $72,000 for the Norfolk General Hospital Foundation.
The donation will kick off the emergency department campaign to upgrade the patient bedside monitoring equipment, said a news release from the foundation.
Norfolk’s local Tim Hortons owners Grant and Cheryl Nelson; Steve and Shaun Salverda and Mary Blackmore and Kaer Saffouri “came together to support their local hospital,” said the release.
The patient monitoring system in the emergency department is at the end of its service contract and parts are no longer available through the manufacturer, so maintaining the system is costly, said the release. The cost of the system is $360,000.
“Monitor failures will impact patient care, with no ability to monitor cardiac rhythm or other vital signs at the beside or centrally,” said Adam Isaacs, director of the emergency department and ICU.
Locally, Tim Hortons stores have donated nearly $400,000 to the Norfolk General Hospital Foundation since the program’s inception.
“We are so grateful to our Norfolk Tim Hortons teams,” said Penny Bellhouse, executive director of the foundation. “You step up every campaign and show the community how much you care.”