Bethesda Foundation builds on Garth Reimer’s legacy

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This article was published 07/09/2023 (619 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The death of Garth Reimer at the age of 69 on Aug. 27 was a blow to the entire Steinbach area community, but the health foundation that he helped build up will be a legacy that lives on for generations through the work it does.

“Garth was an amazing advocate for health care in Steinbach. He made sure people knew how important it was, and he made people knew how they could contribute,” said Bethesda Foundation board vice chair Chris Goertzen.

Reimer became the board chair in 1997 after his father and Bethesda founder PJ Reimer passed away. The foundation was founded in 1980. Garth Reimer stayed on as chair until shortly before his death.

Reimer’s last major capital project announcement was this April with the news that the Province was on board with the new three-unit surgical centre at Bethesda Regional Health Centre. The foundation is going to contribute $8 million over 10 years.

New board chair Darrel Penner worked with Reimer on the board for those 26 years.

“As a leader he was very focused on the Bethesda brand,” said Penner.

He said that brand became synonymous with integrity that was trusted by donors and governments alike, which in turn helped the foundation form from one that helped with hospital equipment like CT scanners, into one that for the last two decades can raise money for much larger major capital projects.

Penner and Goertzen said they and the rest of the board are busy carrying on this legacy, soon meeting with Southern Health to discuss ideas on expanding their health campus even more.

“When it comes to the foundation members that are around the table, I think they very much reflect the same view that Garth had. That is that health care is worth investing in, worth investing time, asking donors for dollars, and building those relationships,” said Goertzen.

“He was really keen on having a good team around the table, and that hasn’t changed,” he added.

Penner said the foundation had put a lot of fundraising campaigning on pause during the pandemic, and held off a bit longer so the new Southeast Event Centre could search out the limited donor dollars in the community. But he explained they are going to be back at full fundraising efforts starting early next year.

“When we paused our goal was $15 million. Out new campaign is going to be $22.5 million,” said Penner.

“Fundraising’s hard work,” he added.

Just some of the things built from past fundraising includes many millions of dollars for a cancer care and obstetrics wing at Bethesda hospital, new emergency department, a crisis stabilization unit on Main Street, a primary care centre, a large addition to Rest Haven Care Home, and the surgical centre.

Penner explained why the foundation made the switch around 2005 to focusing on big capital projects.

“I think we just felt we could make a bigger difference, a bigger impact on health care,” said Penner.

Bigger fundraising meant bigger leverage when it came to government interest according to Goertzen, who was mayor of Steinbach from 2006-2018 as Bethesda grew.

“There was a recognition, specifically by Garth but others on the board at that time, that other levels of government – provincial government specifically – was in charge of these projects in large part. And if we wanted to have influence on the quality of these projects, on the scope of these projects, if we wanted to make sure they actually came to our community and were built, we needed to change our strategy,” said Goertzen, who joined the board in 2019.

“And when you look at any community in Manitoba, there’s no community that has a hospital foundation as strong as Bethesda is, and that goes in large part to the work of Garth and Darrel and others in those early years,” added Goertzen.