Reprieve coming for hard-hit Brampton health care workers

Brampton continues to be one of the hardest-hit communities in the country for COVD-19 and frontline health-care workers have borne the physical and emotional toll of caring for patients for more than a year.

With providing relief in mind, William Osler Health System Foundation has launched a Compassion Fund with the goal of raising $1M to help support the most urgent wellness and respite needs of staff, physicians and volunteers across Osler’s three hospital sites.

“In addition to managing exceptional patient volumes due to COVID-19 and treating patients who are sicker than ever before, our frontline workers stepped into the role of family members to support patients. They’ve held the hands of people in their last moments when loved ones couldn’t be there,” said Ken Mayhew, president and CEO, Osler Foundation.

“They are our health care heroes—without a doubt. They are physically and emotionally tired, but they are committed and resilient. They’ve done an amazing job over the past year and we are proud to be able to help support them in this way.”

Donations to the Osler Foundation Compassion Fund will help support services such as on-site counselling, 24-hour respite resources and wellness programs to keep frontline workers at Osler strong. The Compassion Fund will also support equipment needs across Osler hospitals to ensure workers have the tools they need to continue delivering quality health care throughout the pandemic and beyond.

“Health care requires you to give a lot of yourself, every day and, over the past year, our teams have given everything they have to continue to deliver quality, compassionate care,” said Dr. Naveed Mohammad, president and CEO of William Osler Health System. “We are committed to supporting the well-being of our workforce to keep our team Osler Strong.”

To make a donation to William Osler Health System Foundation’s Compassion Fund, visit oslerfoundation.org/covid19.