New year begins with donation to South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation

PENTICTON – The new year has begun on the right note with a big donation for the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation.

Roy and Marlene Phillips have contributed $30,000 to the medical foundation’s hospital care tower equipment campaign.

They are grateful for the treatment their grandson received when he underwent open heart surgery one week after being born at Penticton Regional Hospital. Their grandson had been diagnosed with a heart problem shortly after his birth in Penticton and flown to B.C. Children’s Hospital for the surgery.

Roy also had heart problems which were diagnosed at Penticton Regional Hospital. He’s been healthy in the 25 years since that episode, and both he and Marlene are thankful for the care received at the hospital.

The couple moved to the Okanagan in 1966 and relocated to Penticton in 1977. Roy bought the Grove Motors car dealership on Front Street, which he owned until the late 1980s.

Construction of the patient care tower at Penticton Regional Hospital is expected to begin this spring. The money raised by the foundation will be used to provide equipment for the new tower. The fundraising goal is $20 million.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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Steve Arstad

I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.

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