Face to Face: Elaine Canning
For as long as Elaine Canning has lived in South Delta, she’s devoted her time and energy to the Delta Hospital.
The current spokesperson and past president of the Delta Hospital Auxiliary is a bundle of energy, and that enthusiasm for the hospital often proves infectious.
She’s part of the reason the hospital auxiliary has close to 500 volunteers, and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for the Delta Hospital.
For Canning, being married to a high-ranking RCMP officer meant having to pick up and move with each new assignment. As a result, Canning, who grew up on Prince Edward Island, has seen much of what Canada has to offer, from Newfoundland to British Colombia.
But when Canning and her husband moved out west to Tsawwassen in 1992, she knew she’d found her home.
Given her family history, it was only natural for her to help out with the hospital.
“There’s doctors and nurses galore in my family,” she says. “I’ve been involved in the community and healthcare my whole life.”
Thanks to the efforts of Canning and countless other volunteers, the Delta Hospital Auxiliary is one of the most successful in the province.
The Delta Hospital Auxiliary paid for, built, and runs the hospital’s café, and donated $1 million to the hospital’s new ER, as well as $250,000 for upgrades to the residential care centre.
“We are pretty well organized, so we raise a lot of money, a lot more than most hospital auxiliaries,” says Canning.
The Auxiliary owns the property its three thrift shops are located in, which means it doesn’t have to pay for rent.
That allows the Auxiliary to donate $65,000 to Mountain View Manor residential care facility every year, and contributes training grants to hospital staff who want to upgrade their skills. Then there’s the bursaries available for local students planning to study healthcare.
The auxiliary even helped found the hospital, by starting fundraising efforts in 1969.
For Canning, there’s a very real benefit to volunteering with the hospital auxiliary.
“Everyone uses the healthcare system sooner or later,” says Canning. “That’s why we need to care for the hospital that cares for us.”
• To learn more about how you can volunteer with the Delta Hospital Auxiliary, visit deltahospitalauxiliary.org
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