Join the #HealthCareHighFive Challenge

Donate. Post. Tag!

Donate your chosen denomination of $5, post a photo or video on social media of your most creative high five using the hashtag #HealthCareHighFive, and tag five friends to do the same.

Have a look at some creative high fives in our gallery below:

Inspiring stories of care and resilience

Throughout the campaign, we will share incredible stories of patients surviving and thriving after devastating accidents, overcoming disease and complex conditions with the specialized care provided by the medical experts and teams at VGH, UBC Hospital and GF Strong Rehab Centre. Read some stories below or follow us on our social media channels.

Angelita, 76, was at her home one late September afternoon when suddenly she felt an intense pain in her abdomen.

Frantic, she called her daughter Melanie, who immediately rushed her to the local hospital. They never could have anticipated what happened next.

Angelita suffered a life-threatening aneurysm that required world-class care inside a donor-funded state-of-the-art Hybrid OR.

Read Angelita’s story

21-year-old Mary Salas woke up one morning with her right hand numb, hours later she was fighting for her life in the ICU at VGH.

Mary suffered from severe brain inflammation and refractory seizures which required neurosurgery and a coordinated effort to unmask a rare disease that was plaguing her. Today, Mary has a new lease on life – thanks to the medical experts at VGH and donor-funded technology that helped saved her.

Read Mary’s story

“RTs see the sickest of the sick. The place where I spend most of my time is in the Intensive Care Unit — the ICU — where I place patients on mechanical ventilators, also known as life support.”

Dave Sahadeo is a Respiratory Therapist at VGH who had to make sacrifices to keep his family safe while working to save others during COVID-19.

Read Dave’s story

“I’ll never forget the day that we went into the office,” Busey says. “[My doctor] looked me in the eye and said Shell, you got cancer. That was one of the scariest times in my life.”

Shell Busey, former host of BCTV’s Home Check, learned this first-hand. When a routine check-up revealed a prostate cancer diagnosis, he came to the Vancouver Prostate Centre for surgery.

Read Shell’s story

 

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

YouTube event

On September 24, we had our High Fives for Health Care video premiere event. This special feature celebrates our health care heroes and shares inspiring stories of innovation, dedication, and recovery taking place at VGH, UBC Hospital and our health care centres. We also highlight the power of philanthropy and how donations truly make a difference in transforming health care.

Watch now 

Donor dollars at work

Every day, health care heroes at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), UBC Hospital and GF Strong Rehab Centre, as well as those in the clinics serving Vancouver residents – whether in the Downtown Eastside or the Grandview Woodlands neighbourhood – are providing care and investigating treatments and cures.

Donations to High Fives for Health Care support the most urgent needs of our health care workers, purchasing vital equipment and supporting innovative research projects to transform health care and save lives.

When you make a gift to support our highest priorities, you have an immediate and tangible impact on patient care. For example, enabling the purchase of essential equipment such as a new state-of-the-art ventilator for a patient in the Intensive Care Unit or a specialized instrument in the hands of our surgeons. You also provide essential funding to support our most promising research initiatives in cancer, stroke and dementia, to name a few.

Your generosity will help touch the lives of many British Columbians. With your help, our care teams will have the tools and support they need to keep our community healthy. Donate now.