Solcz Family Foundation donates $15M to new Windsor-Essex hospital

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A multimillion-dollar boost announced Monday for Windsor’s planned regional acute care hospital is the largest-ever private donation in Windsor-Essex history, according to recipients.

The Solcz Family Foundation is pledging $15 million to the new hospital to be built at County Road 42 and 9th Concession — a gift hospital leadership said will have an impact on the community for “generations to come.”

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In recognition of the gift, the hospital’s family birthing and pediatric care centre, and its pediatric emergency zone in the emergency department, will be named after the Solcz Family Foundation.

“The Solcz Family Foundation is thrilled to make this gift to the new hospital project. We are strong believers in the need to support our community,” said foundation executive director Kyrsten Solcz.

“The new hospital will transform health care for children, youth, families and all members of the Windsor-Essex community and serve as a testament to what we can achieve when we come together with a shared purpose.

“We hope our gift will inspire others to support this critical project to provide a state-of-the-art medical facility for patients, families and our dedicated medical professionals.”

Located on a 60-acre site, the new hospital will be more than 50 per cent larger than both of Windsor Regional Hospital’s existing campuses combined. Its price tag was pegged at around $2 billion.

The Solcz donation “will provide critical funding for equipment and technologies,” hospital proponents said.

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“We are incredibly grateful to the Solcz Family Foundation for their extraordinary support and leadership. A gift of this size is unprecedented in this region,” said David Musyj, interim president and CEO of London Health Sciences Centre, who is overseeing the new Windsor-Essex hospital’s creation.

“Solcz family members have long been philanthropic leaders in the Windsor-Essex community, and we are honoured by the family’s commitment to the new hospital. This gift will have an immense impact on our community for generations to come.

“Thank you again to the Solcz family for your remarkable commitment.”

To announce the donation on Monday, Musyj was joined at the future hospital’s site by members of the Solcz family, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Health Minister Sylvia Jones, and other community and hospital leaders.

“On behalf of the province, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to Solcz Family Foundation for your incredibly generous donation for the new Windsor-Essex hospital,” said Premier Ford.

“Your support builds on our government’s investments to date in early planning and will have a lasting impact on patients across the Windsor region, for generations to come.

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“The new, state-of-the-art acute care facility will bring much-needed hospital beds and expanded services, ensuring that more people can access the quality care they need, closer to home.”

Since its inception in 2016, the Solcz Family Foundation has awarded more than $7.8 million to more than 50 charities. The $15 million donation to the new Windsor-Essex hospital now comes on top of that.

The foundation primarily supports projects and programs that benefit children, youth, and families.

This week’s hospital donation will go towards the purchase of equipment in both the Solcz Family Foundation Family Birthing and Paediatric Care Centre and the Solcz Family Foundation Pediatric Emergency Zone.

The family birthing centre and paediatric care centre, the hospital said, will span an entire floor of the new hospital and will provide child and maternal care from pregnancy and delivery to neonatal and paediatric care.

The paediatric emergency zone will be located within the emergency department and provide care to children and youth who need urgent or emergent medical care. The zone will eliminate the need for children to wait in large waiting rooms with adults following triage.

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