As you know, government funding is not enough for lasting excellence in healthcare. Please consider making a gift of $35, $50, $100 or a gift of your choosing so we can provide the exceptional care our children and grandchildren deserve.

Your donations help patients like six-year-old Alexandra Kennedy. The Oshawa youngster was nervous about having her tonsils and adenoids removed, but the medical staff that cared for her quickly put her at ease. She remembers that they always took the time to greet the many stuffed animals that covered her bed. "It was reassuring for us to see that our granddaughter was so well cared for," says Jack Reid. "We'll always remember their kind and gentle demeanour."

Grade 8 student David Conti of Whitby was in hospital after breaking his femur in February when he slipped off a snow bank. "It all happened in the blink of an eye," says his mom, Dale. "He underwent surgery and had a plate with 14 screws and 47 staples put into his leg." David stayed in hospital five nights. "Medical staff was so accommodating and so good to him," says Dale. "Physiotherapy came to help him learn how to walk with crutches."

Of course, LHO welcomes even younger patients; delivering 2,345 babies in 2008 and helping parents prepare to take their bundles of joy home. Some newborns, like tiny Reese Maich, spend their first weeks and even months in our hospital under the watchful eyes of dedicated doctors and nurses.

Reese was born in February, about one-and-a-half months early. Due to medical complications, her mother, Cheryl, was unable to carry her to term and underwent an emergency cesarean section. Cheryl and her husband Kraig visited their little girl several times a day and were thrilled to see her move from an incubator to a cot.

But they also needed to be home to care for their two-year-old son. "It's hard when you want to be in two places at the same time," says the Bowmanville mother. "I was able to call the hospital at any time and the nurses would tell me how Reese was doing, which was so reassuring. It made it a lot easier."

OHF is counting on you to help raise $110,000 to help paediatric patients like Alexandra, David, Reese and so many others through our ambitious My Health My Hospital - Building Today for Excellence Tomorrow Campaign.

In keeping with LHO's philosophy of family-centred care, the new paediatrics department will feature a family lounge and new family resource room, as well as additional isolation rooms for infection control and an expanded day surgeries department.

A new birthing area will feature a 15-bed labour birth and recovery unit. A much-anticipated ‘care by parent' room will give parents whose newborns must stay in hospital for extended stays the opportunity to care for their child with some support before taking them home. It's an important opportunity for them to build confidence so they can concentrate on loving their child.

Caring donors like you will help make the new Paediatrics Department and Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit a welcoming place with state-of-the-art technology where our children and grandchildren can receive the care they need right here in our community - close to loved ones who provide the comfort and support in the special way that only families can provide.