Sask. Children's Hospital Receives $50 Million Donation

Saskatchewan's Children's Hospital has a new name, thanks to the largest-ever financial gift to the Children's Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan (CHFS).

Tuesday morning the provincial government announced that the Jim Pattison Foundation had donated $50-million to the Saskatoon facility, which will now be named the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital. In addition the CHFS will now be known as the Jim Pattison Children's Foundation.

“We want to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation for this extraordinary gift that will benefit the children and families of Saskatchewan for generations to come,” Premier Brad Wall said in a news release. “Mr. Pattison’s generous donation, together with the $235.5 million contribution from the province, and the impressive fundraising of the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan, will ensure that a world-class children’s hospital will finally become a reality in Saskatchewan.”

Pattison, a native of Luseland, SK, is a Vancouver-based businessman and philanthropist. He is founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the Jim Pattison Group, the second largest privately-held company in Canada.

The Jim Pattison Group owns and operates businesses in number of different industries, including the Save-On-Foods grocery chain.

The government adds that with two years remaining before the hospital opens its doors, the Saskatoon Health Region has recruited more than 70 per cent of the pediatric specialists it will need to staff the province’s new maternal and children’s hospital.

Construction of the new 176 bed, 409,032 square foot hospital reached 55 per cent completion at the end of April. The Government of Saskatchewan is contributing $235.5 million toward the total project cost of $285.2 million, and $21.4 million will come from interest in investments by the Saskatoon Health Region.

In addition, the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan is contributing $75 million through their capital campaign.

The project remains on time and on budget, and is scheduled for completion in 2019.