With the Rio Olympics in full swing, the legacy of a previous gold medalist is helping premature babies at London's Children's Hospital get the nourishment they need.
The Sandra Schmirler Foundation donated $11,875 to the Children's Health Foundation on Friday. The money will be used to purchase five Medela Symphony Preemie Breast Pumps for babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Children’s Hospital.
“This generous gift from the Sandra Schmirler Foundation will help our region’s most fragile infants to receive all of the amazing benefits their mother’s milk can provide, helping them to grow up healthy and strong,” says Susan Crowley, President and CEO, Children’s Health Foundation. “We are truly grateful to the Sandra Schmirler Foundation for showing their dedication to neonatal health care over the past 15 years, creating a welcoming and life-saving environment in our NICU.”
Roughly 900 premature and critically ill newborns from across southwestern Ontario and parts of northern Ontario are treated at Children's Hospital's NICU.
Curling champion Sandra Schmirler won gold at the 1998 winter Olympics. She died from cancer in 2000 at the age of 36. The Sandra Schmirler Foundation was created one year later and has donated $825,000 to Ontario hospitals.
