Step into Groves Memorial Hospital and on a wall of donors you will notice two names listed: Jayne and Rob MacKenzie.
Monthly donors for over 10 years, the couple was added to the donor wall along with other big donors after the new hospital opened.
“It didn’t really sink in that we had that much money to be on the wall because we don’t classify ourselves as ‘well-off’ or anything,” said Jayne MacKenzie. “That was pretty special, we took a picture of our names on the wall.”
Moving to Fergus 27 years ago, Jayne and Rob knew there was a hospital in the community, but only visited for minor issues. Eighteen years ago, Jayne was diagnosed with breast cancer and was treated at Groves.
“That was the first time I had ever gone to Groves for a serious thing, I was 37,” said Jayne. “Going in and getting such great care, I was like, ‘I really need to be trying to make a bit of a difference.’”
Around 2007, Jayne decided to put together a fundraiser at a truck show called the ‘Double D’s Purple Bra Campaign’ to raise money for the hospital's oncology unit. The concept was to attend the truck show and collect donations in the cups of the bra.
“We walked around the truck show, in front of Zehrs, and people could put money in the cups,” said Jayne about the campaign, which raised $500. “It was fun, because the community came together as these people were walking around the truck show, guys and girls were walking around with these purple bras, collecting donations.”
After that, Jayne said she met the chair of Groves Hospital Foudation at the time, Ted Ecclestone, who asked if she was interested in volunteering with the foundation.
“When I was bringing the money to Groves, he asked whether I would like to be on the committee sort of thing, and I believe his first question was, something along the lines of, ‘Do you think you could fundraise for Groves?’” she said, recalling the conversation.
"I said, 'Well, if I can walk around a truck show with bras in my hands to bring you this $500, then yeah, I think I can do that."
Jayne would remain on the board for nine years, including acting as chair for two of them. In 2014, the foundation nominated her for the Citizen of the Year award from the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce, which she ended up receiving in 2015.
When the foundation was collecting donations for the current hospital building, Jayne said there came a point where she and Rob decided to ‘put their money where their mouth is’ and begin making monthly contributions.
“It’s funny because you practice what you preach,” said Jayne about becoming monthly donors. "I can't go to somebody in the community and say, 'Why don't you give monthly to Groves?' If I wasn't doing it myself."
Later on, both would go on to receive additional treatment at Groves. Jayne was diagnosed with multiple myeloma five years ago, and Rob was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2018.
"I feel that donating to Groves Hospital is important as it has always been there for our family, especially the life saving immunotherapy or chemotherapy that Jayne and I have received at Groves to treat our cancers," said Rob, "Our daughter was born at Groves and our son had an emergency appendectomy a number of years ago, so all members of our family have benefited from Groves."
As monthly donors, Jayne said she and Rob have selected for their money to go toward new equipment for the hospital. Jayne mentions the government does not provide funds for that.
“The government doesn’t cover any equipment cost,” said Jayne. “If you envision the brand new hospital, envision no flooring, no light fixtures, no equipment, no paint, just a shell of a building, that’s all the government helps to fund, and they don’t even fund the whole building. Everything else is community funded.”
While donations have gone to larger pieces of equipment for the hospital, like a CT scan and a full-field digital mammography (also called a digital mammography), Jayne mentions they are also used to buy smaller equipment, like IV pumps or heart monitors.
Development and communications officer at Groves Hospital Foundation, Monica Kwok, said monthly donors have a big impact and help the hospital achieve its goals.
"Monthly giving is a great way to spread your giving over the course of the year, or longer, and allows you to manage your budget and support the hospital at the same time."
Today, Jayne receives monthly maintenance treatment from Groves Hospital. For her, continuing to support doctors, nurses and staff is more important now than ever.
“I can’t say enough about the staff and the care in the 27 years that we have been here, it is phenomenal," said Jayne.
“I’m using the services, they’re helping to keep me alive, it’s important to give back to them."
