November 10, 2008/- The largest and most important health care fundraising campaign in Southeastern Ontario has reached another major milestone. Today, at the official groundbreaking of the KGH redevelopment project, the $70 million Together We Can campaign announced it had reached the $57 million mark.

“We’ve been busy in the last few months. We started with our public launch in June at $52 million. By September 22nd, we’d hit $55 million. Now, thanks to the generosity of our donors, we’ve reached $57 million. This is something our community can be proud of. We’re on our way to changing tomorrow’s health care,” said Ian Wilson, Chair of Together We Can.

The $2 million increase includes a number of contributions from businesses and community groups which will be announced and celebrated in the weeks ahead.

The Together We Can campaign is raising money for hospital redevelopment, equipment, research, and staff education at all three university hospitals of Kingston – Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston General Hospital and Providence Care.

While the campaign continues to meet with broad public support across Kingston and Southeastern Ontario, Wilson said the work is far from finished.

“This coming year will be a critical year for Together We Can. It will be a challenge, but with the help of our friends and supporters I know we will continue to meet with success,” said Wilson.

Together We Can is expected to last at least two more years.

The provincial government has agreed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the redevelopment of the hospitals – the biggest change in health care in Southeastern Ontario in a generation. The province will pay for 90 per cent of the eligible redevelopment construction costs at the three hospitals, if the community will pay the remaining 10 per cent plus the cost of the equipment for those facilities.

Redevelopment will have an impact across the region. The three hospitals serve more than 500,000 people in Southeastern Ontario. About half of all visits to the hospitals come from people outside Kingston.