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The Children’s Hospital of Saskatchewan has a new name following a major donation.

The new hospital in Saskatoon will now be known as the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital after the Jim Pattison Foundation made a $50-million donation to the new hospital on Tuesday morning.

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Pattison, who is originally from Luseland, Sask., is a Vancouver-based businessman and philanthropist, and is the founder, chairman and CEO of the Jim Pattison Group, the second-largest privately owned company in Canada.

“The people in this province are special. I’m glad I had an upbringing in Saskatchewan,” Pattison said.

“Our objective is to take what we do and help others. Giving is a very important part of our lives, it doesn’t have to be money, it can be time.”

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As part of the donation, the CHFS is changing its name to the Jim Pattison Children’s Foundation.

“This is an extraordinary and generous gift that will allow for ongoing, sustainable funding for the new provincial children’s hospital,” Brynn Boback-Lane, the president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan (CHFS), said.

“Mr. Pattison brings with him today funds for new research initiatives, immeasurable support for endowment and fellowships and the ability for the Foundation to ensure that the right equipment and enhancements are in place for Saskatchewan’s youngest patients and moms to be,” Boback-Lane said.

“This will make this hospital truly world-class.” Tweet This

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Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said Pattison’s extraordinary gift will benefit families in the province for years to come.

“Mr. Pattison’s generous donation, together with the $235.5 million contribution from the province, and the impressive fundraising of the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan, will ensure that a world-class children’s hospital will finally become a reality in Saskatchewan,” Wall stated.

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The Saskatoon Health Region also announced over 70 per cent of pediatric specialists have been recruited to staff the new hospital and 13 potential candidates have made a visit to the city since January.

The new 176-bed hospital, which is scheduled to open in late 2019, is now 55 per cent complete.

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