Update: Thank you to everyone who donated to this gift match! You helped us raise $250,204.80 for researching Humber’s Elderly Assess and Restore Team (HEART)! The gift match has now ended. 

Humber’s Elderly Assess and Restore Team (HEART) identifies senior patients at-risk for functional decline and works with them to maintain or even improve their levels of independence while they are at Humber River Hospital.

The Paul B. Helliwell Foundation has generously stepped in to match all donations supporting a research study on HEART. Between now and December 31st, 2019 when you donate to HEART research, the Paul B. Helliwell Foundation will make an additional donation at 3x your gift amount to Humber River Hospital Foundation – that’s 4x the impact of your gift!

HEART is working: 100% of HEART patients have been released with at least the same level of function as they had when they were admitted, and 34% of these patients were discharged with better functional skills! Since the program launched in September 2018, monitoring has shown that HEART is optimizing patient function, reducing length of stay by an average of five days, and facilitating home discharges.

But we need your help: We need to conduct more research to evaluate the full impact of HEART, to study the difference between patients who had access to HEART and those that did not. To date, only 12% of eligible patients have been able to access the HEART service, and yet the HEART program is allowing senior patients to go home up to five days earlier with less likelihood of having to return to the Hospital.

“I know first-hand how hard it is to have senior family members in hospital,” says Dr. Julie Gilbert, Research Director & Chair at Humber River Hospital. “HEART might be the difference between someone returning home and someone needing long-term care. We have every reason to believe that HEART works. Rigorous research is going to give us evidence, and enable the program to grow so that it can make a difference for more people.”

We need additional clinical resources for the HEART Program to be available to more senior patients. Help us fund HEART research so we can build the business case for growing the HEART. Your donation can improve the lives of more frail seniors, maintain their ability to live at home, and help them go home sooner.

“We need to respond to an aging population. Please join us.” says John Jenah, President of the Paul B. Helliwell Foundation. “We’re very excited that funding this research will catalyze change in seniors care.”

Your donation will help frail elderly patients transition home. Donate today to multiply the impact of your gift!

The Paul B. Helliwell Foundation has a history of supporting innovating, leading-edge technology and programs at hospitals including Humber River Hospital. We are excited that this investment will provide a catalyst to launch research in seniors care.