ChangeMontreal.ca

A new interactive Web site, www.ChangeMontreal.ca, was launched today to support Montrealers’ growing desire to contribute to their world-class academic health centre, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). The Web site’s user-friendly and secure platform makes it easy to donate and/or create personalized fundraising pages for the MUHC’s $300-million campaign, The Best Care for Life. ChangeMontreal.ca supports the MUHC’s longstanding roots in the community and offers individuals, groups and businesses an interactive tool to transform health care.

“People are truly excited about the New MUHC and want to know how they can be a part of it,” states the Hon. Arthur T. Porter, Director General and CEO of the MUHC. “I want them to know that The Best Care for Life Campaign offers many possibilities, including the brand-new ChangeMontreal.ca Web site. I invite everyone to check out the creativity and generosity of fellow Montrealers and to create their own fundraising page. What better way to bring our community even closer together?”

Interactive Features Empower the Community
ChangeMontreal.ca’s user-friendly platform lets young and not-so-young Montrealers customize their fundraising page by uploading personal photos and videos or using a video provided by Jean Béliveau and Mutsumi Takahashi, Co-chairs of the public phase of The Best Care for Life Campaign. Fundraisers can also spread the word and achieve their goals with easy links to social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

ChangeMontreal.ca also features a fast, easy and secure mechanism for the public to donate online to The Best Care for Life Campaign, which has already raised $230 million toward its $300-million target. That means anyone who is a friend of the MUHC, including patients, their families and friends, MUHC and McGill alumni, and businesses—here in Montreal or anywhere in the world—can make a safe credit card donation in just minutes.

“These personalized fundraising pages emphasize the grassroots culture of the McGill University Health Centre and show that no contribution is too small,” adds John A. Rae, Chairman of The Best Care for Life Campaign. “Whether it’s the profits from a lemonade stand or large-scale soirée that gathers 2,000 people, every nickel will help change Montreal by building the New MUHC.”

Montrealers joining the grassroots campaign include Montreal Canadiens’ left-winger, Mathieu Darche, who adds: “As a proud McGill graduate and Montrealer, I am thrilled to support The Best Care for Life. It was super easy to create my page on ChangeMontreal.ca, and I encourage Canadiens’ fans to score a goal for health care by helping me exceed my objective and also creating their own pages.”

Other Montrealers leading the way are:
Jean Béliveau, who has created a team page to raise funds;
Trevor W. Payne, founder of the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir, the new Cedars Best Care for Life ambassador for prostate cancer and a McGill graduate, will hold a benefit concert;
Chef Chuck Hughes of Restaurant Garde Manger, who will host a fundraising event and hopes other restaurants will follow his lead;
D.A.D.’s Bagels on Sherbrooke Street in NDG, which will donate 50 cents for every dozen bagels sold on Sundays; and
Collège Saint-Louis student Yifan Jin, from Lachine, is organizing a fundraising show featuring dance troupes from a variety of cultures and backgrounds.

ChangeMontreal.ca is being launched at a very exciting time for the New MUHC, a three-campus redevelopment project to transform health care for generations to come. Single-patient rooms is one of the gold standards for the New MUHC so ChangeMontreal.ca also features an interactive 360-degree tour of a modern patient room that will optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare professionals and improve the patient’s and his/her family’s experience.

The New MUHC is well underway. Construction crews are busy preparing the Glen Campus’ new facilities for ‘The Montreal Children’s Hospital, the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Montreal Chest Institute, Cancer Centre and the Research Institute of the MUHC. Modernization of the Mountain Campus, home to downtown Montreal’s tertiary trauma centre, is moving forward, with state-of-the-art Cardiology and Gastroenterology already completed. The Lachine Campus is also on the cusp of creating a more effective Emergency Room, and centres of excellence in bariatric surgery, geriatrics and ophthalmology.

Join the growing list of ChangeMontreal.ca supporters today! 
changemontreal.ca/fundraisers

About The Best Care for Life Campaign
The $300-million Best Care for Life Campaign is an unprecedented philanthropic effort aimed at raising the funds needed to complete the McGill University Health Centre’s Redevelopment Project on the Glen, Mountain and Lachine campuses as well as the Capital Development Plan. It is a partnership of the MUHC’s charitable organizations: MUHC Foundation, Cedars Cancer Institute, Lachine Hospital Foundation, Montreal Chest Institute Foundation, Montreal General Hospital Foundation, Montreal Neurological Hospital, Royal Victoria Hospital Foundation, and The Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation through its Best Care for Children Campaign. muhc.ca/cause

About the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) One of the world’s foremost academic health centres, the MUHC offers exceptional and integrated patient-centric care, research teaching and technology assessment. Highly committed to the continuum of care in its community and affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University, The Montreal Children's Hospital, the Montreal General Hospital, the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Montreal Neurological Hospital, the Montreal Chest Institute and the Lachine Hospital of the MUHC value multidisciplinary service throughout the lifespan, innovative technologies and practices, strategic partnerships and leadership in knowledge transfer. The MUHC is currently carrying out a $2.25-billion Redevelopment Project on three campuses—the Mountain, the Glen and Lachine—designed to provide healthcare professionals with an effective environment in which to ensure patients and their families benefit from The Best Care for Life. The campuses are also anchored in best sustainable-development practices, including LEED® and BOMA BESt guidelines. www.muhc.ca www.muhc.ca/construction