Glenrose Hospital looks to raise $25M to advance rehabilitation

The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital is seen in an undated photo. (Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital)

The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital has launched a campaign in an effort to raise $25 million to support priority infrastructure, research and patient care needs.

Part of the funds raised, $6.5 million to be exact, will go towards redeveloping the facility’s therapeutic pool.

“Without the pool, I don’t know if I’d be much more than just in a wheelchair,” said Joe Battaglia, an outpatient at the Glenrose. “It’s helped me a lot.”

Battaglia has been a patient at the Glenrose four times – after a hip replacement, spinal surgery, shoulder replacement, and more recently, a leg amputation.

Before the pool closed in 2024, it supported more than 6,000 patients annually.

“It’s good for everybody that comes to the hospital here.”

The Make it Possible campaign is the hospital’s biggest yet, says Glenrose Hospital Foundation president and CEO Mark Korthuis.

“A lot of people internationally think of the Glenrose as a beacon when it comes to specialized rehabilitation care,” said Korthuis, adding that the facility is the largest of its kind in North America.

But redeveloping the therapeutic pool is just the first step of the Make it Possible campaign.

“Through this campaign, we hope to both increase the quality of infrastructure, clinical research and patient care that is provided here, especially amidst all the health-care transformations,” said Korthuis. “There are going to be a number of different high-priority projects that we’re going to be announcing.”

The Glenrose sees about 100,000 patients every year from across the province.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall