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Tree of Dreams reaches new heights in Penticton

This holiday season there will be not one, but two giant trees aglow at Penticton Regional Hospital.
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Workers will be attaching lights to the massive construction crane at Penticton Regional Hospital to help promote the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation’s annual Tree of Dreams campaign.

This holiday season there will be not one, but two giant trees aglow at Penticton Regional Hospital.

As it has for the past 11 years, the rooftop tree at PRH will be lit for the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation’s Tree of Dreams fundraising campaign.

This year, with construction now underway on the hospital’s $312.5-million expansion project, the 55-metre tall construction crane working on the new six-storey tower will also soon be adorned with Christmas lights which will be switched on Nov. 29 at 4 p.m.

Read more: Crane in Penticton skyline means hospital progress

This marks the second consecutive year the Tree of Dreams campaign has focused on the SOS Medical Foundation’s $20-million drive to provide the medical equipment for the PRH expansion.

Carey Bornn, the Foundation’s executive director, says although the campaign is off to a fantastic start, with $12 million in donations and pledges already received, there is still a long way to go.

“We have received terrific community support for the PRH tower,” he said. “Now, we hope to duplicate that success for a second year through our Tree of Dreams campaign.”

The PRH project includes 84 new single-bed rooms on the tower’s top three floors, new ambulatory care clinics, surgical operating rooms and more — to be completed by early 2019.  Phase 2 will see the emergency department expanded to almost four times its current size.  A six-storey parkade will also be constructed immediately south of the new tower.

Tree of Dreams brochures have been mailed to residents throughout the South Okanagan-Similkameen. To donate, please mail a cheque to the SOS Medical Foundation, 550 Carmi Ave., Penticton, V2A 3G6; stop by the Foundation office beside the front lobby at PRH; phone 250-492-9027; or donate online at www.sosmedicalfoundation.com.