Victoria General Hospital workers presented with poinsettias in fundraising campaign

Victoria General Hospital is pictured on May 4, 2021. (CTV News)

Holiday cheer has been delivered to Victoria General Hospital workers.

The hospital auxiliary presented ICU staff with poinsettias Monday as part of its Poinsettias for Patients campaign.

People can buy a poinsettia to keep or donate as a Christmas gift to a hospital worker for $20.

“These are thank-you poinsettias where the community has donated money so that we would buy a poinsettia and give it to staff in the three ICUs,” says Val Smith, past president and campaigner for the Victoria General Hospital Auxiliary.

Each year a different department is chosen to be honoured for their work.

In total, 214 of the festive plants will be handed out to frontline workers in the infant, child and adult ICUs as a show of appreciation from the community.

Each staff member who receives a poinsettia will also get a personalized thank-you card stating why the donor is grateful for their work.

The poinsettias are locally grown at Hilltop Greenhouses.

Proceeds from this year’s Poinsettias for Patients campaign fundraiser will help purchase a medical device called a Bilicheck for $10,000.

A Bilicheck allows doctors to assess the risk of jaundice in newborns using light instead of a needle.

Poinsettias for Patients started in 2010 and has provided such things as a very expensive and complicated stretcher for the emergency room, a treadmill, and renovations to the ambulatory lab where kids get their blood taken.

The Victoria General Hospital Auxiliary is a diverse group of volunteers that are dedicated to raising money to purchase equipment and amenities for the Victoria General Hospital since 1983.