Leaving Surrey

Faced with having to send away critically ill patients to surrounding hospitals, Surrey Hospitals Foundation needed to rally the community to keep care at home.

Despite being the fastest-growing city in Canada, Surrey has had a net decrease in pediatric beds over the past two decades and has only received four new maternity beds in the last 21 years.

Unbelievable, right? But wait—it gets worse.

Due to a lack of government funding, Surrey is also unable to treat the three leading causes of sudden death—major heart attacks, stroke, and stage three trauma. Insufficient infrastructure means critically ill patients are forced to leave Surrey every day to receive urgent care in other cities. Sometimes the extra travel time can mean the difference between life and death.

Our “Leaving Surrey” campaign caught the public’s attention, the ear of BC’s politicians, and opened donors’ wallets by introducing Surrey residents to the panic-stricken world of patients being sent out of the city. Showing first-hand how the additional trauma of leaving home affects a young girl with a life-threatening emergency, a heart-attack victim, and a woman going through labour. The campaign became the catalyst Surrey Hospitals Foundation and city’s healthcare practitioners needed to publicly voice their concerns. And it worked.

In June 2023, BC’s health minister, Adrian Dix, announced he would be expanding Surrey Memorial Hospital and increasing the capacity for more patient care—including two new cardiac cath labs by 2025.

The success of this campaign means fewer residents will have to leave Surrey to receive the urgent care they need.