Community Grants at Work

Debbie Gates
Communications and Education Manager
Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation

With more than 90% of Canadians requiring orthopaedic treatment at some point in their lifetime, the community grants funded by the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation through its signature fund-raising event, Hip Hip Hooray! play an important part in the delivery of health care locally.

A portion of all proceeds from Hip Hip Hooray! events are made available to the communities in which they are raised. Each community’s Disbursement Committee recommends the use of these funds for the highest benefit according to local need and within the areas of research, professional and patient education, and patient care.

Here are a few examples of donor dollars at work in various communities across Canada in 2005:

Advancing Research
Halifax, NS: Funded a research project with Perioperative Blood Conservation for $5,000 and donated $4,100 to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital for orthopaedic research.

Vancouver, BC: Supported six research projects with awards of $3,000 to $5,000 each to explore diagnostic techniques and new surgical procedures for various orthopaedic treatments.

Enhancing Education
Calgary, AB: Provided funds to assist with Glen Edwards’ Day, an annual bone and joint education course, often involving international speakers and visiting professors, that strives to improve and update the knowledge and skills of orthopaedic surgeons and residents through lectures, laboratories and breakout sessions. Funded the Dr. Gary Hughes Public Education Forum, “An Afternoon in Arthroplasty”, which offered information concerning hip and knee replacements, arthroscopy and arthritis to patients and their families. Assistive support for ‘Bone-anza’ a workshop for orthopaedic nurses from Banff, Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer that endeavours to improve their knowledge and skills.

Hamilton, ON: Provided support to a one-day information session, ‘Day in Arthroplasty’, focussed on educating and empowering patients, and the general public, about total joint replacement surgery.

Saint John, NB: Assistive support provided to several orthopaedic nurses to write the CONA exam and to two operating room and two casting room technicians to attend workshops. Support of these educational endeavours improves their knowledge about orthopaedics, enables them to learn about new materials and new techniques, resulting in improved patient care.

Promoting Community Care
Sault Ste. Marie, ON: Purchase of hip cushions which are given to every total hip replacement patient at Sault Area Hospital. Patients have info on post-op hip precautions at their fingertips and the purchase decreases the cost of post-op equipment for patients.

Kamloops, BC: Presented a cheque for $22,000 to the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation to be used for orthopaedic equipment at the hospital.

Ottawa, ON: Donated $36,125 to the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute toward the purchase of a computer navigation system to improve accuracy of doing total joint replacements.