Hope for Health Research Foundation


The charity dedicated to funding critical medical research.

IN HONOUR OF THE EVERYDAY HEROES,THE MEDICAL WORKERS

AN EVENING OF ENTERTAINMENT, MOTIVATION AND INSPIRATION
WITH

Tuesday, August 26, 2003
7:00 pm - 11:00 pm
The Hummingbird Centre
1 Front St. E., Toronto, Ontario
Help Support the Fight Against Disease
CLICK HERE FOR TICKET INFORMATION

For immediate release July 21, 2003
Contact: Dara Rowland 416-916-7377

HOPE comes to Toronto August 26, 2003

Gala evening raises funds for SARS research and honours Toronto health care workers

TORONTO. Hope for Health Research Foundation, the Canadian charity dedicated to funding critical medical research has officially declared war on SARS. HOPE, a gala evening featuring Chicken Soup for the Soul co-creator Mark Victor Hansen and the world music band that caught the ear of David Bowie, Mamma Tongue, will honour the health care workers who put their lives on the line to fight the recent SARS outbreak in Toronto. All entertainers are donating their time, and the Hummingbird Centre is donating space to aid the Foundation in its cause. The event is set for 7 p.m. at the Hummingbird Centre on Tuesday, August 26, 2003.

Supported by Canadian corporations and individual tickets purchased for health care workers who wish to attend, 80% of the funds raised at HOPE will be directly allocated to SARS fundraising and research initiatives under Dr. Andrew E. Simor (Head, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases consultant, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre), and Dr. David Patrick (Director, Communicable Diseases and Epidemiology Services, B.C. Centre for Disease Control). These two doctors and their facilities have joined forces in an Accelerated Vaccine Initiative (SAVI) to rapidly develop an effective vaccine for SARS that will contain future outbreaks in Canada and around the world.

The Hope for Health Research Foundation was incorporated by Dr. Erle Strauss on October 1, 2000 for the purpose of supporting research to identify a cure for lymphoma. Dr. Strauss, whose life was dramatically affected by lymphoma cancer, wanted to pay back the dedicated and caring health care professionals involved in cancer treatment and prevention. The goals of Hope for Health are to receive contributions and to maintain a fund to provide gifts of capital and income to qualified recipients who are directly involved in research into prevention, treatment and cure of cancers and other diseases such as SARS. Hope for Health has supported Dr. Neil Berinstein's Advanced Therapeutics program at the Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre, where a state-of-the-art translation research program aimed at developing better treatment for patients with cancer by exploring the use of immunotherapeutic approaches. The Foundation's interactive web site serves to further communication between doctor and patient and allows visitors to support medical research. A group of professionals, including Dr. Erle Strauss, Dr. Bill Gentles, former head of bio-medical engineering at Sunnybrook, retired Canadian entertainment lawyer Bernard Solomon, cause related marketing professionals Michael Morris and Norman Evans, Director administrates the Foundation's work and financial allocations.

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Dr. Andrew Simor is available for medical related, general news media interviews

For details and/or interviews concerning Hope for Health Research Foundation contact: Dara Rowland, Dara Rowland & Associates
416-916-7377

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MISSION STATEMENT 
Build a coalition to help the medical community win the war against disease.

VISION

It takes more than hope to cure disease, it takes attitude, determination, will, research, money and information. Patients especially need information from other patients, and doctors who have dealt with similar situations. Hope for Health is building a referal network to provide this kind of information.

MANDATE

The mandate for Hope for Health is to share their own stories of success and work towards creating more health survivals. It is also raising money for research, fellowships and equipment that the medical community simply can't afford by cutting through the always frustrating bureaucracy faced by doctors and patients alike.