Today, on the United Nations International Day of Older Persons, Michael Garron Hospital Foundation is delighted to announce it has been selected as a recipient of $500,000 from the Slaight Family Foundation to support a new model of healthcare for isolated seniors in East Toronto. This donation is part of a $15-million investment in 12 Toronto hospitals and four national organizations as part of the Slaight Family Foundation Seniors Initiative.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the Slaight Family Foundation’s leadership and long-standing support of Michael Garron Hospital,” says Mitze Mourinho, President, Michael Garron Hospital Foundation. “Their vision and philanthropy is helping us tackle one of the most pressing health issues affecting the East Toronto community, where more seniors live alone than elsewhere in the city.”
Through this investment, Michael Garron Hospital will be working collaboratively with WoodGreen Community Services and St. Michael’s Hospital to ensure socially isolated seniors in East Toronto can access the healthcare and social supports they need by breaking down the traditional barriers between healthcare institutions and social service providers—because good health requires both. It will also enable communication between front-line healthcare providers and social services, making navigating the system easier. And by providing wraparound health and social supports, the collaboration will decrease hospital admissions and keep seniors where they do best: at home in the community.
The gift follows the June 2019 historic announcement of $15 million to create the Allan Slaight Seniors Fund at the United Way Greater Toronto.
The Slaight Family Foundation’s Seniors Fund is comprised of three components:
- The Community Component, administered through the United Way Greater Toronto, called the Allan Slaight Seniors Fund. This program supports new programs and services at the community level, particularly focused on the poor and frail elderly.
- The Hospital Component, which will create new models of care between hospitals and community partners enabling new and increased support to seniors. It is also aimed at reducing emergency visits of seniors to hospitals, providing needed support to caregivers and developing new models of health care using innovative technology to support seniors right in their own homes.
- The National Component, creating new and expanded services from four national seniors’ organizations allowing for new models and mechanisms for seniors’ support right across the country.
Seniors are the fastest growing part of our population yet a very under supported sector,” says Gary Slaight, the Slaight Family Foundation. “Finding new ways of supporting seniors – particularly those who have trouble accessing our health and social services due to poverty or other barriers – is essential to helping to keep seniors healthier longer and in their own communities.”