On Sept. 12, Kingston Lions Club members presented University Hospitals Kingston Foundation and Kingston Health Sciences Centre a $200,000 cheque going towards Ophthalmology and the Children’s Cancer Fund.

The Kingston Lions Club is donating their largest gift to date – $200,000 – to Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) to help support families with children facing cancer treatment and community members with vision issues.

“We’ve always supported health care. We’ve been doing it for years,” says Eldon Polk, a past president of the Kingston Lions Club. “We are fortunate to have our health and we can help out other people.”

Vision care and childhood cancer are two global causes that are important to Lions Clubs around the world, including the Kingston Lions Club. KHSC’s Ophthalmology department is receiving $150,000 to purchase new equipment, while the Children’s Cancer Fund is receiving $50,000 to support the community’s youngest cancer patients and their families.

“It is a lot of money, but medical technology nowadays is a lot of money,” says Dr. Stephanie Baxter, Medical Director of Ophthalmology at KHSC. “Many of our machines cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollar range. So this $150,000 donation will definitely help us acquire new diagnostic testing equipment to provide better patient care.”

Patty Jansen is a POGO (Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario) Interlink Nurse at KHSC who helps children and families access support and services. She said the Lions Club’s donation to the Children’s Cancer Fund helps families going through a very difficult time.

Patty noted it is common for one parent to have to leave their job when their child is diagnosed with cancer, which can create financial hardship. Children can spend months in the hospital getting treatment, and the $50,000 donation helps families cover a wide range of expenses like travel costs, medications, tutoring (because the kids can’t attend school), and wigs for young patients who lose their hair.

During a ceremony on Sept. 12 at the Royale Place Retirement Living building on Princess Street, the room was filled with yellow vests and joy when Kingston Lions Club members presented a cheque to KHSC and University Hospitals Kingston Foundation (UHKF) officials.

The Kingston Lions Club is part of an international organization of about 49,000 clubs around the world and are known for their charitable giving and community support. The Kingston Lions Club was founded in 1936 and is no stranger to supporting our community’s health-care system.

Since 1991, the Kingston Lions Club’s support for KHSC and Providence Care has totaled more than $390,000. Some of their major donations include $110,000 in 2017 to KHSC Obstetrics and Gynecology which was used to acquire water labour tubs, and $100,000 towards a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine in 2015.
 
“Our motto is ‘We Serve’ and what better way to serve than to support the hospital,” says Judy Lamarche, a director with the Kingston Lions Club. “People need to know that hospitals don’t get everything from the government. So it’s important for everyone to give. We have to raise money to support the hospital.”