Two former healthcare professionals at Windsor Regional Hospital are donating $1.5 million to support the birthing process at the Windsor-Essex Acute Care Hospital.
The donation is from Dr. Tony Pattinson, an OB-GYN and former department chief who retired last year, and his wife, Mary Pattinson, a retired emergency nurse who also worked with her husband in their joint fertility practice.
The donation will be used for vital equipment and technologies in an operative birthing suite in the new hospital, which will bear the name Dr. Tony and Mary Pattinson Operative Birthing Suite.
It will serve as a dedicated space for obstetric surgeries such as C-sections, emergency C-sections, and other high-risk births, located right next to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Mary Pattinson says this is a bit of a legacy project.
"We love this community; it's been wonderful to us. It's a way for us to still be here for them, while we're not working for them anymore, to say we're still here and we still support you," she says.
"We know what it's like to get there, how important that moment is. Many of our couples end up in the C-section room because of multiples or complications. It's very important to us that the room is well equipped and ready for anything, and they have the best chance to make a family in that room," she says.
Pattinson says they are happy to see their name on a room in the hospital.
"That's awesome, but I'd like to see a lot of people have their names on rooms in the hospital. This is sort of a kickstart. We can't be passive about this as a community; we have to get involved and start to think about how we can make a better healthcare system in our community and whether we can donate to that," she says.
The new Windsor-Essex Acute Care Hospital will be located at County Road 42 and the 9th Concession.
Construction is expected to begin by 2026.