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Hopsital Celebrates Opening of the Gulshan and Pyarali G. Nanji Orthopaedic and Plastics Centre

Lead donors Gulshan and Pyarali G. Nanji opened the new Orthopaedic and Plastics Centre named in their honour at North York General Hospital on November 28, 2006.

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From left: David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal and Deputy Government House Leader (MPP Don Valley East); Gulshan and Pyarali G. Nanji, and Bonnie Adamson, President & CEO, North York General Hospital.

From left: Dr. Greg McCain, Division Head, Plastic Surgery, Gulshan and Pyarali G. Nanji, and Dr. Maurice Bent, Division Head, Orthopaedic Surgery.

Participating in the ribbon cutting ceremony were, from left: Dr. Maurice Bent, Division Head, Orthopaedic Surgery; Ingrid Perry Peacock, President & CEO, North York General Hospital Foundation; Bonnie Adamson, Hospital President & CEO, Charles E. Beall, Chair, Foundation Board of Governors; Pyarali and Gulshan Nanji, lead donors; Gordon F. Cheesbrough, Chair, Hospital Board of Governors; David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal and Deputy Government House Leader (MPP Don Valley East); Shelley Carroll, Councillor, Don Valley East; Janet Scrafield, President, Volunteer Services; and Dr. Greg McCain, Division Head, Plastic Surgery.

Excerpt from remarks given at the official opening of the Gulshan & Pyarali G. Nanji Orthopaedic and Plastics Centre:

Bonnie Adamson, President & CEO, North York General Hospital:

...Welcome to the formal celebration and opening of the Gulshan & Pyarali G. Nanji Orthopaedic & Plastics Centre. Please join me in acknowledging our honoured guests:
The Honourable David Caplan - Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal, Deputy Government House Leader and MPP, Don Valley East
Shelley Carroll, Councillor, Don Valley East Ward 33
Janet Scrafield, President of North York General Hospital Volunteer Services, and our other donors present today, including David Pretty, Marilyn and Ross Durant, the Nelson Arthur Hyland Foundation, and Friends of the Hospital, and the lead donors for our wonderful new Orthopaedic & Plastics Centre: Mr. Pyarali Nanji, Mrs. Gulshan Nanji, Mr. Azim Nanji, Nimi & Serge Simard,
and the Nanji's grandchildren, Shahid, Natasha, Alisha and Iman.

To all in attendance — including Charles Beall and Gordon Cheesbrough, Chairs of the Foundation and Hospital Boards of Governors — thank you for joining us for this momentous occasion.

Exactly six months ago today, the Nanjis and I stood near here to start constructing something new — by destroying something old. With the swings of our hammers, we symbolically started the transformation of our old Fracture Clinic to this state-of-the-art facility.

Just half a year later we stand at the entrance to a bright and brilliant future for Orthopaedics and Plastics at North York General Hospital.

The story of the Nanji family can be told through the core values of our hospital. Listening to his heart, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau helped the Nanji family, and many families like them, escape the destruction of their lives in Uganda to begin anew in Canada. Learning, through dialogue and reflection, the Nanji family built their new life in Canada. Leading by example, they showed great courage, making their lives and the lives of people around them better. Serving patients, families and others with kindness is a direct result of the Nanjis' decision to give back to their community and their country. On behalf of the patients and families we serve, I would like to sincerely thank Gulshan and Pyarali Nanji and family for listening, learning, leading and serving.

Thanks to you, we will be better able to serve tens of thousands of orthopaedic and plastics patients in the years ahead. This is an exceptional legacy for which we are very grateful. Thank you.


Charles Beall, Chair, North York General Hospital Foundation Board of Governor::

Ladies and gentlemen, honoured guests, good afternoon. Four decades ago, North York General Hospital was created by concerned citizens, eager to ensure that a young and growing community had outstanding health care close to home.

Our hospital's earliest supporters were The Friends of North York General Hospital. These dedicated people were the first members of what would become the North York General Hospital Foundation.
The Oxford Dictionary defines 'foundation' as the solid ground or base on which a building rests. Throughout the past four decades, our Foundation has worked tirelessly to ensure that we are true to, and uphold, that definition. We have done so by fostering better care for patients and families by encouraging support from our community.

North York General Hospital is a community teaching hospital built by its community for its community. It would not be the hospital it is today, without the support of people who embrace the spirit of giving back … across generations. Just as our hospital has grown and become more diverse in its services and its people, so too has the community we serve.

Prime Minister Trudeau's humanitarianism 34 years ago led to Canada being a better country, and to north Toronto being a better community — thanks to the vibrant presence of the Ismaili community.
Ismaili-Canadians have established many institutions characterised by an ethos of self-reliance, an emphasis on education, and a pervasive spirit of philanthropy.

It is this commitment to the dignity and relief of humanity that highlights the Nanji family's outstanding generosity. Grateful to a country that gave them a new home when theirs was torn from them, they have given back a hundred fold.

Their contributions to North York General Hospital, for the relief of pain and suffering and the improvement of patient and family care, magnify the deeply ingrained tradition which shapes the social conscience of the Canadian Ismaili community.

Gulshan… Pyarali … as Foundation Chair, I am honoured to be here today to say, "Thank You!" for your leadership … for your belief in our hospital … and for your philanthropy.

I would also like to offer a very special thanks to the members of Volunteer Services, lead today by Janet Scrafield and her Executive — they are the legacy members of the Friends of North York General Hospital about whom I spoke earlier.

Volunteer Services' financial support and dedicated volunteerism in the Orthopaedic and Plastics Centre makes this an even more special place for outstanding patient and family-driven care.

Ladies and Gentlemen: 40 years ago, friends helped create a strong foundation for our hospital.

Today, we recognize our friends — the Nanji family, Volunteer Services, David Pretty, Marilyn and Ross Durant, the Nelson Arthur Hyland Foundation, Canada Colours and Chemicals Limited, Biomet Canada Inc., and others who have helped create an Orthopaedic and Plastics Centre that will last 40 years more. Thank you.

Gordon Cheesbrough, Chair of the North York General Hospital Board of Governors:

Good afternoon — I extend greetings from the hospital's Board of Governors, many of whom are with us today. Today marks a major milestone in the history — and the future —of our community teaching hospital's work — serving our patients and families with kindness. The Nanji family's philanthropy is the finest example possible of how important community support is to our hospital. Four decades ago, our Fracture Clinic was built to see 3,000 patients annually.

For many years, it served to meet the needs of our community. As time passed, our community grew — as did the needs of our patients and families for top-notch Orthopaedic and Plastics care.

Unfortunately, our clinic's space could not keep pace with the growing demand. Our staff and physicians now treat more than 14,000 patients annually. Despite the constraints of that space, they have continued to provide superb follow-up care for patients with medical problems including fractures, total joint replacements, reconstructive surgery, lacerations and ulcers. Some of the most talented plastic and orthopaedic surgeons and allied health care staff in Canada work here.

Today, thanks to the stellar generosity of the Nanji family, we celebrate the opening of the new Gulshan & Pyarali G. Nanji Orthopaedic and Plastics Centre.

This superb centre will be five times the current size … it will have increased privacy for patients … and larger waiting and treatment areas. It will also include four separate treatment areas, including a paediatric room, a separate plaster and casting area and an assessment area for patients receiving physiotherapy.

All of this was made possible, in large part, by our lead donors, the Nanji family and by the support of our other donors, including Volunteer Services.

Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of the Board of Governors of North York General Hospital, our staff, physicians and volunteers, and most importantly, on behalf of the patients and families we all serve, I extend our sincere thanks to the Nanji family and to all our donors for your exceptional philanthropy.

Your generosity will continue to make an incredible difference in the decades ahead. This gift of vastly enhanced patient care is priceless and we are deeply grateful. Thank you.