Community health and wellbeing initiatives

Through support to key fundraising campaigns, Saskatchewan Blue Cross helps to raise the profile of important initiatives while contributing critical funding where it’s most needed. Select examples of foundations include:

Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital (JPCH)

Share the Love, JPCH Radiothon, and the Jeans and Jewels Gala events, amongst others, which provided lifesaving equipment, connected patients with family-centered care, and enhanced innovative research.

Royal University Hospital

Greek Gourmet Feast and FFUN Spirit Champions Golf Classic events, which helped to build and equip new state-of-the-art operating rooms, reduce wait times and save more lives.

St. Paul’s Hospital

Mistletoe Charity Ball and Gift Basket Campaign which raised funds for a Diagnostic Imaging Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner upgrade, which will reduce patient exam time by up to 40%.

Saskatoon City Hospital

The Enchanted Forest Holiday Light Tour which supports the Equip for Excellence campaign to enhance healthcare at Saskatoon City Hospital through the purchase of equipment, resources and technology.

Hospitals of Regina

The Four Seasons Ball raises funds to support pediatric care programs at Regina’s hospitals to deliver the best care to children in southern Saskatchewan.

Our support to hospital foundations ensures that residents have access to the care they need, when they need it. This includes helping to fund lifesaving equipment and technology, upgraded facilities, and medical training that improve the quality of patient care.

This funding helped provide much-needed equipment such as wireless fall prevention systems for dementia patients, operating room and labour & delivery head lamps, health beds for mental health patients, renovations and equipment purchases to create a new Ambulatory Care Clinic.

Foundations supported in 2022:

• Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation
• St. Peter’s Hospital Foundation
• Kipling and District Health Foundation
• Melfort Hospital
• Weyburn & District Hospital Foundation
• Humboldt District Hospital Foundation

A family with a sick child can experience extremely challenging times, often spending long periods away from home and suffering from the stresses that illness of a loved one
can bring. That’s why Saskatchewan Blue Cross supports Ronald McDonald House Charities Saskatchewan (RMHC-SK), which provides safe and comforting spaces for families caring for their sick child.

Saskatchewan Blue Cross has assisted with numerous initiatives including the Adopt-A-Room Program, Shuttle Program, Family Programming, Food Programs, and the Volunteer Program. Saskatchewan Blue Cross has also sponsored the Home for Dinner signature event, which raises much needed funds for facilities in Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

Blue Cross of Canada supports Make-A-Wish®, which creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness. Saskatchewan Blue Cross is pleased to work with the local Saskatchewan Make-A-Wish chapter on the Wish Heroes campaign to help kids have something to look forward to so they can focus less on their next treatment.

Med.Hack(+) is an event designed to solve challenges in healthcare through the use of technology. Saskatchewan Blue Cross was pleased to be the title sponsor for this event, featuring a diverse group of students, technologists, health care practitioners, researchers and bio-med specialists who brainstormed ideas over two days and nights to affect change in healthcare.

2022’s pitches included a centralized prescription repository, apps for mental health assessment and matching participants to medical research studies, the elimination of intra-hospital fax communications in wards and labs, an immersive virtual reality for long term care residents, and many more.

For more than 30 years, STARS’ success has been grounded in community partnerships and donations. The profound impact STARS has on rural communities
in our province includes flying more than 1,000 missions annually in Saskatchewan
in situations when seconds save lives.

Through participation in Rescue on the Prairie in 2022, Megan Douglas, SVP and Chief Brand & Commercial Officer of Saskatchewan Blue Cross joined a group of four other community leaders in Saskatchewan who traded in their daily work attire for flight suits to climb onboard the STARS helicopter and be transported to a remote location to compete to raise $50,000 each in support of the provision of STARS life-saving services well into the future. Megan and her teammate, flight nurse Jenny Thorpe, raised more than $80,000 including a $30,000 contribution by Saskatchewan Blue Cross.

The fundraiser raised over $326,000 in total to support STARS’ critical and often
life-saving operations, essential for so many rural communities within our province.

The annual “Your Voice Your Choice” program involved consultations and surveys with clients and our advisor partners to direct funds to health and wellness causes we jointly care about. In 2022, support was provided to:

• The Circle Project
• Hope’s Home
• White Buffalo Youth Lodge
• Canadian Mental Health Association – Saskatchewan Division
• Saskatoon Community Clinic
• Regina Community Clinic
• Elmwood
• Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service
• Diabetes Associations
• Lung Association
• Prairie Harm Reduction

Saskatchewan Blue Cross was the title sponsor of the MS Walk in Saskatchewan. Employees, family and friends welcomed the opportunity for the first in-person walk since the pandemic began. Participants came together across the province to raise awareness and funds for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and through volunteerism. In 2023:

• The Saskatoon walk raised $42,231 with 130 participants.
• Regina featured 128 participants raising $38,400.
• An additional $15,700 was raised by 67 participants at virtual events across Saskatchewan.

The United Way Day of Caring is an opportunity for businesses to enable their employees to experience the rewards of volunteerism and to demonstrate the difference they can make in our community by working together. Saskatchewan Blue Cross was the title sponsor in 2023. Volunteer teams from a number of organizations donated their time, energy, and skills to 15 community projects in the Saskatoon area. Saskatchewan Blue Cross employees helped plant a community garden at the front of the YMCA Downtown. Our employee volunteers also enhanced one of the outdoor playground areas of the YMCA Childcare Centre by planting flowers, herbs and vegetables.