IWK Foundation receives $25M donation for mental health, addictions services

Mental health and addictions services for youth in the Maritimes are getting a significant boost.

The IWK Foundation has received a $25-million donation from Myron and Berna Garron. It’s the largest donation the foundation has ever received and the single largest individual donation to health care in Atlantic Canada.

Myron and Berna Garron are are pictured at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, N.S., on Sept. 9, 2024. The couple donated $25-million towards supporting a reimagined therapeutic environment for mental health and addictions intensive services.

“Their generosity will once again save and change lives, not only today, but for years to come,” said IWK Foundation President and CEO Jennifer Gillivan.

The money will go towards supporting a reimagined therapeutic environment for mental health and addictions intensive services. The foundation said this is the final component of its “Mental Health and Addictions Ecosystem,” which it said is the first of its kind in the world.

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“Our strong connection to the Maritimes and our long-standing history with IWK Health has made today’s investment in IWK mental health intensive services a natural continuation of what we proudly began 10 years ago with the opening of the Garron Centre,” says Myron and Berna.

“We believe in the IWK and its incredible care teams. We are honoured to continue to change the future of mental health care for Maritime children and youth by supporting a healing environment for mental health intensive services.”

The Garron Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, also known as the Garron Centre, opened 10 years ago. It provides child and adolescent mental health acute inpatient care for children and youth up to 19 years of age.

“We have learned a lot from our Garron Centre where a state-of-the-art environment has led to outstanding care and outcomes,” says Dr. Alexa Bagnell, IWK chief of psychiatry.

“We have the people and the wonderful teams to make intensive mental health and addictions services transformation possible. We now need to focus on our spaces to support the delivery of excellence in care for our children, youth and families who need more specialized and intensive treatment. We know experiences matter and having a welcoming and inclusive space accessible to more young people brings hope and caring when it is needed the most.”

Myron says not only is it the IWK and what it does that encourages them to donate, but the people that work there as well.

“They’re doing such a great job that you just want to help as much as possible,” he said.

“We’ve heard so many cases of children, young children, struggling just to stay alive. They have deep, deep problems that they can’t solve, so anything that we can do to help alleviate these problems that these little kids have, and as they get older, the problems get bigger,” said Berna. “So, to me this is a wonderful legacy for us to leave in Nova Scotia.”

Myron and Berna are known for donating $50 million to the Toronto East General Hospital in 2015, where their son Michael – who died from cancer at the age of 13 in 1975 – was born.

Just three years prior, the pair donated $10 million to the IWK to improve its mental health unit, the neonatal intensive care unit and the women’s health facilities.

During their 2015 donation in Toronto, Myron was quoted saying, “If you have access of what you need, it becomes a responsibility to put that money to good use,” – something he still stands by today.

“Well, it’s true. I mean, what’s the point of the money. You can’t have it sitting around. It would have to be put to good use. It’s useless otherwise,” said Myron.

The pair has deep roots in the Maritimes, with Westport, N.S., being Myron’s hometown.

With their donations, the pair hopes every child in need of mental health care has it accessible to them.

“That they can get care to help them cope with this problem that seems to be a worldwide thing,” said Berna. “Wherever you go, you hear about the mental health of kids.”

The IWK Foundation supports the IWK Health Centre, a Halifax hospital that serves women and children from the Maritimes. The foundation says it contributed over $25.2 million to the IWK Health Centre in 2023.

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