Our History

Welland Hospital Foundation was established in 1979 by a group of dedicated volunteers as a separate corporation to raise funds for Welland County General Hospital. It was managed and run by volunteers until 1990 when its first Executive Director was hired.

Today the Foundation is governed by a 12-member volunteer Board of Directors, in partnership with the foundation staff to continue the philanthropic legacy of those who came before them.

The Foundation has raised millions of dollars for the Welland Hospital Site since it was established and has co-ordinated four successful capital campaigns for the Niagara Health System – Welland Hospital Site (formerly Welland County General Hospital).

The Welland Hospital Foundation is also working in conjunction with the other local foundations and the Niagara Health System Foundation on the It’s Our Time Campaign.

The It’s Our Time Campaign launched in 2004.

The Foundations supporting the Niagara Health System (NHS) are working together on a Niagara-wide campaign to raise $40-million to help fund new facilities and equipment and renovations to existing NHS facilities.

The campaign is structured into three volunteer fundraising teams. Each team raises funds for improvements and new equipment at their respective sites and to support the regional Walker Family Cancer Centre and regional Cardiac Catheterization Unit at the new Health-care Complex, now under construction in St. Catharines.

Of the $40-million campaign goal, $25-million will support programs and services at the new Health-care Complex and Walker Family Cancer Centre in St. Catharines.

This complex will serve as a new community hospital for the residents of St. Catharines, Thorold, Pelham, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Lincoln, replacing the St. Catharines General and Ontario Street Sites. The complex will also provide the infrastructure for new and expanded regional health-care services not currently available in Niagara.

The new complex will house a regional cancer centre, regional cardiac catheterization lab, regional mental health centre and a regional dialysis centre. These new health-care facilities and services will help to attract and retain nurses, doctors and specialists for Niagara.

To sustain health-care services and provide new programs throughout the region, improvements at NHS sites are urgently needed. Fifteen million dollars of the $40-million raised through the Its Our Time Campaign will provide enhancements at the Greater Niagara General, Port Colborne General, Welland and Douglas Memorial Hospital Sites.