MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2011

Community Care Golf Tournament Targets Brockville Cardiovascular Program

Brockville—The 2011 Community Care Golf Tournament Committee announced this week the tournament’s new medical cause and major benefactor: Most of the proceeds raised at this year's event will be donated to the Brockville Cardiovascular Program at Brockville General Hospital.

When the Prostate Cancer Research Golf Tournament was discontinued last year, Cathy Thomas, manager of the Brockville Highland Golf Course that hosted the tournament, decided she wasn’t ready to just stop raising funds for health care in the Brockville district. Thomas’s father, Charlie Guy, started the tournament in the mid-1990s, and both decided to look for a new medical cause for the event.

They chose the Brockville Cardiovascular Program (BCP), a new rehabilitation service for people recovering from cardiac surgery, cardiac angioplasty or stenting. Opened in 2009, the BCP is free for patients referred to the program and offers six- and twelve-week programs designed to assist with the post-operative journey to full recovery.

The BCP receives no government funding, and is entirely supported by generous individuals, businesses, and groups such as the Community Care Tournament Committee.

Brockville Police Chief Adrian Geraghty, this year's chairman, says he had no hesitation taking the chair for such a worthy cause. “The BCP and the other groups we’ll support offer important services to this community.”

It’s also special, he says, to see three clubs come together to make the event happen—the Brockville Lions Club, the Brockville and District Civitan Club, and the Brockville Kinsmen Club.

“This is a unique event,” says Kinsmen President Don Russell. “We’ve never worked together like this before. It’s a great opportunity, and a great cause to work for. Plus,” he smiles, “we get to play golf.”

Pulling the clubs together was easy, says Brockville Lions Director Mike Galbraith. Everyone wanted to contribute to a good cause for Brockville and area, something really needed. “And February is heart month,” he adds. “The BCP was a good fit all round.”

“When Cathy Thomas asked us to participate in the new tournament,” explains Courtney Lepage of the Brockville and District chapter of Civitan International, “we said ‘why not?’ We didn’t want the tournament to stop.”

The Community Caring Tournament is set for August 26th at the Highland Golf Course. Twenty per cent of the proceeds will be split between the clubs and used to support their respective community programs. The remainder—eighty percent of funds raised—will be donated to the Brockville and District Hospital Foundation to support the Brockville Cardiovascular Program.

 

All for a good cause: (seated) Dr. Jay Bhatt, BGH internist; Michael Galbraith, Brockville Lions Director; (standing middle row, left to right) Ray Marshall, BGH President and CEO; Joan McLaughlin, Brockville and District Hospital Foundation Executive Director; Margriet de Bruyn, BGH Director of Critical Care; Cathy Thomas, Brockville Highland Management; Ted Hughes, Lions District Governor; Adrian Geraghty, Brockville Police Chief and Tournament Committee Chair; (standing back row, left to right) Ross Brown, Brockville Lions President; Don Russell, Kinsmen Club of Brockville President; and Courtney Lepage, Brockville and District Civitan Club International.

For more information, please contact:

Joan McLaughlin Executive Director Brockville and District Hospital Foundation 613-345-4478 mcljo@bgh-on.ca

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