Barrett Family Foundation Makes Historic Gift to Help Build Extraordinary in Healthcare

TORONTO, July 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a defining moment for healthcare, the Barrett Family Foundation has made a transformative donation to St. Joseph’s Health Centre—part of Unity Health Toronto—to create the Barrett Centre for Quality Improvement (BCQI). This incredible act of generosity enables one of the most ambitious quality improvement programs ever undertaken at a Canadian hospital.

Powered by this extraordinary gift, the BCQI will engage equip and empower staff, physicians, learners, and patients and families to work together to transform care. Rooted in the eight dimensions of quality defined by Unity Health Toronto—efficient, timely, effective, safe, integrated, equitable, patient- and family-centred care, and provider wellbeing—and LEAN Six Sigma Quality Improvement methodologies, the BCQI will drive meaningful and sustained change at every level.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Barrett Family Foundation for investing in quality improvement in community hospitals,” said Dr. Sharon Straus, Chief Medical Officer of Unity Health Toronto. “Community hospitals are where most Canadians receive care and this gift allows us to improve care by investing in projects led by our frontline care providers.”

The BCQI will:

• Build quality improvement capacity across the organization, offering training, coaching, and resources for staff and physicians—including physician, nursing, and allied health champions and opportunities for patient engagement;
• Invest in a range of co-created quality improvement projects annually, each designed to improve patient outcomes and operational efficiency;
• Engage with physicians, nurses, allied health providers staff, patients and their families to collectively identify key quality improvement initiatives;
• Host an annual symposium and other knowledge-sharing activities, helping share successful improvements with other hospitals;

“This isn’t just about doing better—it’s about building a culture of improvement and innovation that lasts, we call that building extraordinary,” added Maria Dyck, President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation. “The BCQI will make healthcare better not just for today’s patients, but for generations to come.”

While major investments in quality improvement have traditionally been concentrated in academic settings, the Barrett Family Foundation’s visionary support signals a powerful shift: that innovation is generated in community hospitals also.

“This gift will help make St. Joe’s—and all of Unity Health—a proving ground for what’s possible in healthcare quality improvement.” said Straus. “Because when you start with compassion, and back it with innovation, extraordinary happens here.”

As the BCQI takes shape, future stories will reflect the improvements that will come thanks to this incredible investment.

About St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation
St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation inspires community philanthropy to support compassionate physical, emotional, and spiritual care at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, a proud part of Unity Health Toronto. St. Joseph’s Health Centre Toronto is a Catholic community teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto and accredited with exemplary standing by Accreditation Canada. For over 100 years, St. Joe’s has been serving the health-care needs of the diverse communities of southwest Toronto. To learn more about how to support the best care experiences in the west end of Toronto, visit www.supportstjoes.ca

For more information, please contact:
Trina Klinck | Vice President, Communications & Donor Engagement
St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation
M: 647-272-6290
tklinck@stjoestoronto.ca

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