Longtime RVH supporter and Barrie resident David Crook has made another transformational investment in local healthcare, donating $1-million to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre's (RVH) Cardiac Care Unit to help meet the region's growing need for advanced cardiac services.
The gift will support RVH's efforts to expand cardiac care capacity, including plans for a third cardiac catheterization lab (cath lab), as demand for life-saving heart procedures continues to rise across Simcoe Muskoka.
For Crook, the donation is deeply personal.
“I’m a Barrie boy all the way,” he says. “There’s not a day that goes by when I’m not grateful to be from here.”
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The donation was celebrated alongside longtime friends and leaders from RVH and RVH Foundation. It reflects a lifelong commitment to community service that Crook says began with lessons learned from his parents.
His father, Leslie, served as a pilot with both the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War and was shot down in 1941. While recovering in hospital, he met Gertrude Bertram, whom he later married. Together, Crook's parents instilled in him the belief that supporting the community should be intentional and ongoing.
“My parents taught me that giving back to your community was the right thing to do,” David says. “It should be part of your budget.”
That philosophy has guided Crook throughout his life and his long relationship with RVH.
He has supported the hospital since 1985 and, in 2015, made his first $1-million donation to help establish advanced cardiac care services at RVH. Since opening in 2018, the program has provided care to thousands of patients across the region.
Growing demand creates urgent need
Today, RVH's two existing cath labs are operating at capacity. When the cardiac program was originally developed, space was reserved for a future third lab in anticipation of regional growth and increasing demand for cardiac care.
That need has arrived.
Cath labs enable specialized cardiac teams to perform minimally invasive procedures, including rapidly locating and opening blocked arteries during a heart attack, when every second counts.
“Without another cath lab, patients will face longer waits and longer drives for care,” says Gail Hunt, President and CEO of RVH. “We’re incredibly grateful to David for seeing the need and stepping up for his community. His generosity brings us one step closer to ensuring more patients can receive this critical, life-saving care right here at home, when every minute matters.”
A personal understanding of care close to home
Crook's commitment to expanding local cardiac care is also rooted in his own experience as a patient.
Years ago, while travelling in the United States, he suffered a heart attack and underwent treatment far from home. Without family and friends nearby, he experienced firsthand the challenges of recovering away from his support network.
“I know what it’s like to need cardiac care away from home,” he says. “I had to go through treatment and recovery alone. I never want anyone to experience what I did. Having your family and friends near you is so important to recovery.”
That experience reinforced his belief that access to advanced healthcare should be available close to home, allowing patients to remain connected to the people and community that support them during some of life's most difficult moments.
“David understands something that is at the heart of what we’re working to build at RVH: people shouldn’t have to leave their community to access the advanced care they need,” says Pamela Ross, CEO of RVH Foundation. “His generosity means more patients can face some of the most difficult moments of their lives with their families, their friends, and their community close by. That is an extraordinary gift to this region.”
Investing in the community that shaped him
For Crook, the donation is another way to support the community that has been central to his life.
As the region continues to grow, he hopes his gift will help ensure more people receive critical cardiac care without having to travel outside the area.
“There’s a saying when you’ve had a heart attack: time is muscle,” he says. “If this gift means people don’t have to travel south for care and these services can continue to be offered locally, my gift will have done its job.”
