Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Saint-Eustache Hospital Foundation (FHSE)

The Saint-Eustache Hospital Foundation (Fondation Hôpital Saint-Eustache – FHSE) is a hospital foundation created in 1986 by local entrepreneurs to support the mission of the Saint-Eustache Hospital, which serves more than 300,000 people in the Lower Laurentians. The foundation mobilizes individual donors, companies and community partners to finance medical equipment and major projects that are not fully covered by the Québec Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).

Since its creation, the FHSE has granted more than 25 million dollars to its sole beneficiary, the Saint-Eustache Hospital. Its contributions include large-scale investments such as CT and MRI scanners, a gamma camera for the nuclear medicine service, a three‑storey medical building, cancer and dialysis centres, as well as numerous pieces of high‑tech diagnostic, surgical and monitoring equipment.

The foundation’s primary role is to fund the acquisition of priority equipment identified by the hospital and the CISSS des Laurentides. Each year, hospital departments submit detailed needs to the CISSS, which draws up a prioritized list of items to be purchased by the foundation. The FHSE then evaluates what it can commit to based on its fundraising results and submits a proposed purchase list to its board of directors for approval.

On this basis, the foundation typically invests around $500,000 per year in medical equipment, covering a wide spectrum of specialties such as imaging, oncology, nephrology, pediatrics, obstetrics, emergency care and internal medicine. In addition to purchasing equipment, the foundation helps finance construction and expansion projects, including the cancer centre and external dialysis centre and, more recently, the nuclear medicine service, where it co‑funded both infrastructure and technological systems.

The FHSE does not operate open-call grant competitions; instead, it acts as a strategic financial partner of the hospital and the CISSS. Funds are directed to projects that improve access, quality and safety of care for the local population: shortening wait times, bringing specialized services closer to home, enhancing diagnostic capabilities and improving the comfort and safety of patients and families.

Annual reports and achievement pages detail the amounts committed each year to equipment purchases and transfers made to the CISSS des Laurentides. The foundation emphasizes transparency toward donors and partners by reporting on funded projects and publishing infographics and impact summaries that illustrate how donations are transformed into tangible improvements in care.

The foundation is governed by a volunteer board of directors and managed by a small professional team dedicated to fundraising, partnerships, communications and event organization. It relies on a diversified portfolio of activities: lotteries, golf tournaments, foundation week, corporate campaigns, community events and planned giving. Community partners organize their own benefit initiatives, with proceeds channelled through the foundation to the hospital’s priority needs.

Through this structure, the Saint-Eustache Hospital Foundation plays a central role in the regional health funding ecosystem, channelling philanthropic resources into concrete, high‑impact projects that complement public health system investments.