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National Philanthropy Day, celebrated throughout North America on November 15, provides an opportunity for the Ã山ǿ¼é Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences to recognize some of our most loyal supporters. The alumni whose stories we touch on below have donated annually for nearly 200 years combined. Their generosity has opened doors for generations of students, researchers and teachers.ÌýWhile their experiences and motivations for giving vary, each shares a sense of pride and a commitment to giving back.

Express elevator to medical school
Wing-Hong Pang, BSc’65, MDCM’69

Wing-Hong Pang, BSc’65, MDCM’69, jokes that his family could have opened their own specialty clinic and have all positions covered. His mother was a midwife; his father, a general practitioner; and his brothers, an internist and a psychiatrist. He was the only one who left Hong Kong to pursue his education elsewhere and describes his time at Ã山ǿ¼é as freeing.

Despite coming from a family of health care professionals, Wing-Hong found his way firmly on the pathÌýto medicine in his early years at Ã山ǿ¼é. As an undergraduate Science student, he had a job inÌýa laboratory at the old Royal Victoria Hospital. During a staffing shortage, though, he was called upon to take over as the elevator clerk. His new duties involved bringing pregnant women up to the eighth floor to deliver their babies, sometimes in the middle of the night. He remembers that once the winter weather was so terrible that pregnant women had to be transported up University Street by Ski-Doo. While that job turned out differently than he had imagined, he credits it with making himÌýrealize what it could mean to be a doctor, serving people in the community.

Wing-Hong is now a retired pediatrician who remembers his time at Ã山ǿ¼é as the place where he became a physician, a husband, and a lifelong friend to many, which is why he has made an annual gift to what is now the School of Medicine through The Ã山ǿ¼é FundÌýevery year for the past 41 years. On behalf of generations of Ã山ǿ¼é-trained doctors, thank you, Wing-Hong!

Life at the summitÌý
ChaunceyÌýFitzsimmons, BPhysTher’69,ÌýBSc(PT)’79Ìý

The education Chauncey Fitzsimmons, BPhysTher’69, BSc(PT)’79, received at what is now the School of Physical & Occupational Therapy enabled her to launch a long and fulfilling career that led to such faraway places as Dublin, Ireland, London, England, and the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

As a new grad, Chauncey heard two callings, physiotherapy and adventure.ÌýSheÌýset out for London, England, to work at the Royal Free Hospital, managing an outpatient department.ÌýLondonÌýand then Dublin, whereÌýsheÌýprovided rehabilitative services toÌýchildren, served as her homeÌýbaseÌýas she explored Europe on her time off.ÌýRealizing that she preferred working one-on-one with clients to administrative work,ÌýChaunceyÌýbuiltÌýa successful careerÌýproviding hands-on treatmentÌýforÌý38 years before retiring in 2007.ÌýWith typical flair,ÌýsheÌýdecided to mark her retirementÌýwith the challenge of a lifetime: climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.ÌýSheÌýteamedÌýup with her daughter, who had just graduated from a physical therapy program.ÌýTo prepare, Chauncey climbed up and down Mount Royal and Mont-Tremblant with a weighted backpack and special hiking boots.ÌýAfter a year of training, Chauncey and her daughter left for Tanzania, where—inÌýa test of strength and endurance—they were able to reach the summit in nine days.ÌýAt home, Chauncey continues to distinguish herself, as a loyal supporter through The Ã山ǿ¼é FundÌýof the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy (SPOT).ÌýThank you, Chauncey, for helpingÌýSPOT students, researchers and teachersÌýreach new heights!Ìý

From mother to daughter, from nurse to nurse
Sadie Miller, BN’66

Nursing runs in the family for Sadie Miller, BN’66. Among her most cherished possessions are two medallions that look alike but were gifted to her and her mother decades apart.

When Sadie came to Montreal to study, she was following in the footsteps of both of her parents, Cecil H. Turner, MDCM’32, and Sadie Mildred Payne Turner, a proud graduate, circa 1926, of the Montreal General Hospital (MGH) School of Nursing. Sadie trained at the same School as her mother, before completing her education with a bachelor’s in Nursing from Ã山ǿ¼é.

As a reminder of how her life has paralleled that of her mother, with whom she shared a name and a profession, Sadie has a gold chain linking together two medallions. For decades, students of the MGH School of Nursing (or Training School for Nurses, as it was known in Sadie’s mother’s time) received medallions delicately inscribed with their names. They came attached to a pin that could be affixed to one’s clothing, but Sadie transformed hers and her mother’s into pendants so that they could remain side by side forever.

Sadie is a loyal donor to the Ingram School of Nursing via The Ã山ǿ¼é Fund. Thank you, Sadie!

ToÌýcreating the conditions for successÌý
Susan Jane Laschinger, BScN’73, MSc(A)’81

Every year, Susan Laschinger, BScN'73, MSc(A)'81, directs her annual gift through The Ã山ǿ¼é Fund towards the Ingram School of Nursing, where she embarked on her career in academia.

Susan credits her parents, Elsa and Gordon Laschinger, who invested in education for their four children,ÌýwithÌýinstilling in her the importance of education and the willingness to take chances.ÌýThese early lessons motivated Susan to pursue two degrees at what is now the Ingram School of Nursing—and toÌý ‘sayÌýyes’Ìýwhen a unique opportunity presented itself.ÌýShortly afterÌýsheÌýgraduated in 1981, one of the Nursing professors left Ã山ǿ¼é just as a new semester was about to begin. Susan agreed to fill this position to help out and to further her career. It was an unexpected changeÌýin direction as, at the time, she wanted to be a clinical nurse specialist. Not long after Susan had completed her contract, Professor Joan Gilchrist, Director, Ã山ǿ¼é’s School of Nursing, met Professor Alice Baumgart, MSc(A)'64, the Dean of Nursing of Queen’s University while waiting to board a flight. Professor Baumgart mentioned that Queen's was seeking candidates for a new tenure-track position. Professor Gilchrist suggested Susan, who got the position. Although Susan's path to teaching wasÌýhelped along by a chance encounter, she had a very rewarding thirty-year career as a tenured professor.ÌýThe reason Susan continues to donate toÌýthe Ingram School of Nursing viaÌýThe Ã山ǿ¼é Fund every year is because she wants others to benefit from opportunities like the ones she had to learn, grow and take chances.

Thank you to Susan and to all the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends who harness the power of collective giving, year after after year, to shape future-ready students... to create opportunities that open doors... to foster innovation that drives progress... and to power research that changes lives!

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