Barney Ellis-Perry (left), CEO of the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation decorates smile cookies with Trina Knight (right), manager of child, youth and family at NRGH on Tuesday, April 30. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

operating rooms

Annual Smile Cookie campaign helping better light Nanaimo hospital

Apr 30, 2024 | 4:45 PM

NANAIMO — There’s a few extra smiles throughout town this week.

Tim Horton’s locations in Nanaimo are again participating in the annual Smile Cookie campaign, selling the specially decorated treats through Sunday, May 5 with proceeds going to the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation (NDHF).

Trina Knight, manager of child, youth and family at NRGH, said money raised this year will go towards much-needed lighting upgrades to operating rooms at the hospital.

“We have a dedicated operating room for perinatal and some of the equipment is becoming to the point where we can’t get parts or it needs to be replaced. This is a huge piece of equipment and it comes with a big price tag, as well as a renovation as they have to take the old lights out and replace them.”

Knight said the specialized operating room in the maternity ward is especially important, as it means a quicker transition for newborns needing specialized care.

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Having it up and running close by is sometimes life-saving.

“At times when we have emergency C-sections or high-risk deliveries, that happens in that room so that the baby can be immediately taken from delivery to the neo-natal ICU (intensive care unit) where it can receive the care that it gets. We don’t have to transport it from the OR to the NICU.”

Estimated cost to replace the lighting in the hospital’s operating rooms is about $59,000, with the fundraising goal set at $60,000, also in honour of the restaurant’s 60 anniversary.

Barney Ellis-Perry, CEO of the Foundation, told NanaimoNewsNOW working with Tim Horton’s every year means a lot, as it’s a conscious decision by the local store owners to support local healthcare.

“The money means a lot, it does a lot for the hospital, but it’s also great for the Foundation to have the awareness in the community. To have a partner like Tim Horton’s who promotes the heck out of it, they really lean in when they do something.”

Ellis-Perry said over $111 million has been raised through Smile Cookie campaigns nationwide, including nearly $20 million last year alone.

The NDHF has benefited from the Smile Cookie campaign through local Tim Hortons locations since 2010, raising over $280,000 locally in that time.

The Foundation continues to work to support care efforts at the hospital.

Ellis-Perry said they’re working through the latest round of requests and will likely be shifting focus towards future mental health or cancer care supports in the coming years.

The cookies are $1.50 each with money in the past two years devoted to equipment in the new intensive care unit at NRGH.

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