2022-23 Impact Stories

Seniors Health & Wellbeing

Protecting and improving the health and wellbeing of seniors in our province is of fundamental importance. It’s an investment that not only ensures the best possible care for our parents, grandparents and elders today, but also helps innovate seniors care that will benefit all of us as we age.

Funding for seniors’ health improves well-being. From specialized recreation equipment to enhanced dementia care, donors like you help seniors at Covenant sites across Alberta enjoy a better quality of life.

Virtual reality headsets fuel residents’ joy Covenant Foundation donors help residents have joy-filled virtual reality experiences at Covenant Health’s Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre.

Palliative Care

We’re privileged to support patients and families during emotional journeys as they face the realities of a serious or terminal illness and the possibility of losing a loved one. With 96 palliative beds across Alberta, the goal of Covenant’s internationally recognized palliative care program is to relieve symptoms, stress and pain to help people live as well as possible. Your gifts make a tremendous difference!

Tile tales: Helping families heal through art

Donor generosity lives on as gratitude in the hearts of families who enter the Grey Nun's palliative care unit 43 with uncertainty and grief but leave with a loving form of healing through art that lasts a lifetime.

Loving Dad Honours Daughter with Palliative Gift

Inspired by his late daughter's giving nature and the compassionate care she received in Covenant's palliative care, Tiberio Goulart donates to advance care for others.

Mental Health & Addiction

With mental illness affecting one in five Albertans during their lifetime, your support makes a life-changing difference for thousands of patients and their families every year. From enhancing the purpose-built mental health unit at the new Misericordia emergency department to advancing seniors care at Villa Caritas – Alberta’s only stand-alone geriatric mental health hospital – your generosity impacts Albertans and their Covenant healthcare teams when it's needed most. 

Misericordia's new ED will bolster mental health care

When the Misericordia’s new ED opens in late 2023, patients and their families will receive care in a private environment tailored to their needs – thanks in part to donors like you.

Supporting team mental health 

Your generosity helped support five crucial programs that addressed the emergent mental health needs of Covenant staff and frontline healthcare workers who worked tirelessly to care for Albertans during the pandemic. 

Rural Care

When you invest in rural health, you help address unmet needs in communities, reduce medical transfers and costs, enable families to stay close to home for greater support, and improve patient and resident satisfaction and health outcomes. With support from community partners like you, we invested in piloting and growing the innovative Breathe Easy Program that helps return Albertans with chronic lung disease to their highest possible functional capacity and quality of life, while also decreasing emergency visits and hospitalization. 

BREATHE program pilot supports seniors' well-being in acute care. 

Covenant Foundation donors support improved quality of life for patients at St. Joseph's General Hospital in Vegreville. 

Innovative gaming system helps patients with dementia

Patients with mid-to-late-stage dementia at Covenant sites, such as Villa Marie in Red Deer, are benefitting from a donor-funded Tovertafel gaming system that helps improve patients' physical, cognitive, social and emotional wellbeing.

Women & Children's Health

Historical gaps in women’s health research and clinical treatment of women have negatively impacted the opportunity for women worldwide to live their healthiest lives possible. Your support helps create better equity of care, advancing the health and wellbeing of women in our province today and for generations to come. 

Your support also impacts thousands of children at Covenant facilities every year – from the tiniest babies needing critical care, to kids needing emergency room visits, vulnerable children experiencing food insecurity and high-risk teens facing mental illness, violence and substance misuse.

Generous support transforms care for critically ill babies 

Thanks to donor generosity, three new specialized vein viewers are helping reduce invasive procedures and improve comfort and care for babies in the Misericordia Community Hospital neonatal intensive care unit.

Saving and savouring the moments that matter most

With the help of donors like you, Covenant Health hospitals have provided enhanced care for Karen Schiltz and her family for decades in their moments of greatest need, enabling three generations to enjoy more time together. 

Spiritual Care & Mission

Spiritual health is as important as our physical and mental health to our wellbeing. It can help us achieve peace and find hope and comfort — especially in the hardest medical times when we’re at our most vulnerable. Your generosity helps ensure multi-faith spiritual care for thousands of patients, residents and families and their healthcare teams every year. 

New multipurpose space benefits residents - body, mind and soul

Thanks to more than $817,000 in donor support, a new, multipurpose space at Youville Home in St. Albert enables residents to engage in therapeutic programs, social gatherings and indoor activities that improve their health and wellbeing - body, mind and soul.  

Donor support helps palliative staff thrive

With donor support, we invested in a program facilitated by chaplains at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre to help support the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of palliative care staff and ensure they can provide the best care possible for patients and families.