Humber River Hospital has received an early Christmas present courtesy of the Ford family.
Doug Ford and his mother Diane dropped by the construction site for the hospital’s new Keele Street facility on Wednesday morning to present President and CEO Dr. Rueben Devlin with $90,000 in donations - $40,000 of which is from the sale of Rob Ford bobbleheads and $50,000 of which is a personal donation from the Fords.
The money will go towards construction of the hospital’s new facility, which has been billed as North America’s first fully digitized hospital.
“I don’t think people realize how great this hospital is. It is the best hospital in North America and we are here to support it,” Doug Ford told CP24. “If everyone at a grassroots level donated the $10 or $20 that a few thousand people donated for Rob’s bobbleheads it would help the hospital tremendously.”
Rob Ford checked himself into Humber River Hospital in September after he felt unwell during breakfast and was later diagnosed with liposarcoma – a rare and aggressive form of soft tissue cancer.
Though the former mayor was subsequently transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment, Doug Ford told reporters that his family hasn’t forgotten about the vital help Humber River Hospital provided his brother in his initial moment of need.
“I find it hard to always ask for money but I don’t find it hard to ask for money for Humber River Hospital,” he said.
According to Devlin, the donation from the Ford family will be “earmarked” for some of the technological innovations inside the new hospital.
Included among those innovations will be Skype capability in rooms so patients can easily speak with their doctor or nurse and robots that can deliver supplies to staff.
“Every process that we do in the hospital is going to be automated from the delivery of supplies to the provision of health care,” Devlin said.
The new Humber River Hospital is expected to open on Oct. 18, 2015.
The Fords, meanwhile, are expected to present a second donation from bobblehead sales to Mount Sinai Hospital at a later date.
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