News Releases
The Montfort Hospital, Queensway Carleton Hospital and the Royal Ottawa Health Care Foundations today announced that the first annual BMO Financial Group Ottawa Healthy Challenge raised more than $100, 000 for their respective hospitals.
Ottawa Healthy Challenge, a celebration of Mind, Body and Community marks the first time that the hospital foundations have joined forces, sharing resources, ideas and the support of BMO Financial Group to encourage Ottawans to lead a healthier, more active lifestyle while raising money to support health care in the community.
For the last six weeks BMO employees and community participants wore pedometers, and measured their steps while collecting individual and corporate pledges and undertaking innovative fundraising initiatives such as silent auctions to raise funds for the hospitals.
Together all participants logged more than 108 million steps exceeding the year-one target by eight million steps.
While raising money was one obvious program objective another was to encourage lifestyle change to active healthy living over the long term. Research shows that a moderate activity such as walking reduces the risk of premature death, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and many other diseases and disorders. Walking is good for the mind as well as the body: People who walk regularly are less likely to show symptoms of depression and anxiety, and more likely to feel upbeat. What's more, walking can help the environment by reducing the time we spend in cars.
According to BMO employee and program participant Angi Anderson this objective was successfully met. "I very much enjoyed this as it made me very aware of how much walking I did everyday. I plan to continue to wear my pedometer”.
“The first year results are incredible and a true testament to the commitment of our employees and the generosity of our customers,” said Jamie McMillan, Senior Vice President, BMO Bank of Montreal.
“It's campaigns like this one that bring communities together,” said Christine Sigouin, President and CEO of the Montfort Hospital Foundation. “We thank BMO Financial Group, their employees and customers for working with us. For our hospitals it means more support for quality health care in our community.
Plans for the future of Ottawa Healthy Challenge include expanding the program to engage more general public participants and creating more sponsorship opportunities for local businesses.
ABOUT OUR HOSPITALS:
Montfort Hospital (www.hopitalmontfort.com)
The Montfort Hospital is the only French language community teaching hospital in Ontario. Fulfilling its double service and teaching mission requires that Montfort have a triple regional, provincial and national mandate. Montfort offers health care services principally to the Ottawa population located East of the Rideau River and to the population of the Eastern Ontario counties of Prescott and Russell. Being the sole major provider of completely 24/7 bilingual health care service in all of Canada, West of Quebec, Montfort has a unique service mission towards Ontario's Francophone community. Its teaching mission in medicine and health sciences also makes it a unique teaching milieu for minority francophones from across Canada. More than 500 students in health sciences and social sciences disciplines, including 80 in medicine, attend Montfort each year, as well as a contingent of 24 residents in family medicine. Montfort's future is extremely promising with a $286 million expansion that will more than double the facilities and the services of the hospital. This expansion, already under way and to be completed by Fall 2009, is one of Ontario's biggest infrastructure projects. Montfort is already confirmed as one of the most efficient hospitals in the province, providing health care services of the highest quality based on the application of best practices in health care.
Queensway Carleton Hospital (www.qch.on.ca)
Queensway Carleton is a community hospital in Ottawa's west end providing a broad range of acute-care services. With 250 beds and over 1,500 health care professionals on staff, Queensway Carleton is the secondary referral centre for the Ottawa Valley. Its cornerstone programs include emergency care, childbirth, geriatrics, mental health, medical and surgical services and rehabilitation. The hospital is a teaching partner with the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine and other healthcare programs and is committed to delivering a high standard of care. Queensway Carleton Hospital will break ground this fall to begin construction on an Early Start Project to build three new operating rooms, part of the final phase of its redevelopment project.
Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre (www.youknowwhoiam.com)
Mental illness will affect one out of every five Canadians at one point or another. The Royal Ottawa is Eastern Ontario's largest provider of tertiary mental health care services and a leading centre of excellence in mental health research through the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research. The Royal Ottawa offers specialized care and treatment programs focused on key types of mental illness, including schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, geriatric illnesses, substance use disorders, mental illnesses affecting youth and psychiatric disorders in people in the criminal justice system. Phase I of the newly built and renamed Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre and Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research opened it's doors on November 1st ahead of schedule and on budget. The final phase of the new facility is due to be completed in the summer of 2007.
ABOUT BMO Financial Group
Since its founding in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group has supported the principles of community reinvestment and corporate and social responsibility to the communities it serves. In 2005, BMO
Financial Group contributed $29.5 million in corporate donations, sponsorships and events in Canada, supporting thousands of communities, charities and not-for-profit organizations across the country.
BMO Bank of Montreal has 25 branches in the Greater Ottawa area.
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