Hassan and Reham Donate $120,000 in Support of QCH’s Top Priorities

Dr. Hassan Sannoufi still remembers the feelings of hopelessness he felt as a child after his father was diagnosed at the age of 38 with life-threatening heart disease.

Because his family was living in Syria, where medical services lagged behind other parts of the world, his father decided to travel to North America, for surgery. “He wanted to give it his best shot.”

Relatives prepared eight-year-old Hassan and his brother for the worst. “That was the norm at that time in the Middle East, in third-world countries; nobody came out of the operating room after open heart surgery and they expected the same outcome.”

While the other kids played in the neighbourhood, Hassan kept busy reading medical journals and other materials about health, the human body and heart disease.

Fortunately, his dad — a civil engineer — survived. As for his health crisis, it inspired Hassan to become a physician, driven by his passion for saving lives.

Hassan and his wife, Reham, co-founders and CEO of La Vie Executive Health Centre, together made a $120,000 pledge at our Visionaries Breakfast held last March. It wasn’t the first time they have stepped up as community leaders. They raised significant funds for our hospital during the pandemic.

The couple has committed to supporting QCH for years to come. “We’re hoping next year to come to the same breakfast event and announce an even larger donation,” said Hassan.

“Our vision is to be able to one day donate $1 million annually to Queensway Carleton Hospital.”

It’s been 27 years since Hassan and Reham first came to Canada, a country they knew little about — except that it held more potential than Syria in helping them to reach their goals. The couple didn’t have much when they arrived — only about $7,000 in the bank — but they were ambitious and determined.

“We were embraced by Canada and its people,” said Hassan, who quickly came to respect and admire the country’s culture and values.

Hassan, who immigrated as an international medical graduate, eventually completed his family medicine residency at Dalhousie University in Halifax and went on to achieve official certification in emergency medicine.

It was Dr. Andrew Falconer, our current president and CEO, who hired him to work in the emergency department at QCH in 2007.

Hassan is no longer a full-time physician at QCH but his courtesy privileges mean he can still visit his patients at the hospital.  “Every time I go there, I get goosebumps,” he said of his enduring connection. “I still think of it as my second home.”