Just days off the 2020 Inspiration Awards, the Royal Ottawa Foundation team packed up their notebooks, laptops and their courage, leaving the office for what was anticipated to be a few weeks of working from home.
One year later, everything has changed and nothing has changed at the same time.
In this unprecedented year, the Royal Ottawa Foundation wants to acknowledge the multitude of sacrifices made by our donor community. Continuously inspired by the reinvention and resiliency required to allow this dedicated team to continue their mission of raising money and mental wellness awareness.
Despite the annual work plans that had to be re-written, budgets recasts and revenue hoped for forecasted - the Royal Ottawa Foundation held to the mission of supporting and serving the community. With this optimism, there were several opportunities to adapt and innovate.
New platforms were adopted for virtual events and engagement (with record results!) and patients began to receive their care online (a thank you to Telus for their partnership with tablet donations).
This led to over 30,000 virtual visits since April of 2020, which does not include those done over the telephone.
Despite the need for mental health services increasing, most services were forced to temporarily close.
To meet the rising demand, the Royal Ottawa Foundation put out a rallying cry to support a new rapid access clinic, known as “C-PROMPT” at The Royal to quickly address those urgent mental health needs. The clinic ended up serving over 900 patients in four months.
This clinic has now evolved to become the Prompt Care Clinic, which is based around a similar model to C-PROMPT. This clinic will provide specialized mental health assessment and therapy for individuals with a mental health illness. The services are complementary to other hospital and community-based mental health services and are available by referral from a family doctor or psychologist.
You’ve read the headlines; there is every indication, both internationally and across Canada, that there will be a higher demand for mental health services long after the pandemic has ended. As a result, to help address this need, The Royal has launched a new five-year strategy, reflecting input from hundreds of clients, families, physicians, clinicians, scientists, staff, and community partners.
The pandemic road has been long with ongoing and unexpected turns. As we move into the spring season and a vaccination strategy in Ontario coming together, there is renewed optimism. However, we must remain vigilant and steadfast in keeping one another safe.
The Royal Ottawa Foundation is proud of all we have accomplished and hope you will continue to put your faith and philanthropic dollars in our organization as we continue to provide better mental health access, care and new possibilities.