A $720,000 donation from the RBC Foundation announced today will help with renovations to patient ensuite bathrooms at Nicola Valley Hospital in the nearby community of Merritt.
The Nicola Valley Hospital patient washroom renovation project was budgeted and approved for Interior Health in April 2024 and officially begins in December 2025. The project will increase the size of all eight patient ensuite washrooms by widening the doorways and improving accessibility.
“The current bathrooms have narrow entrances and are not wheelchair accessible, so navigating the floorplan poses safety risks to patients and staff,” said Coleman. “With this generous donation from the RBC Foundation Community Spaces Grant we will be able to contribute to the project of renovating these bathrooms.”
“These upgrades will give patients better privacy, more dignity and an improved safe space to heal, while creating a more favourable environment for the staff who care for them,” added Coleman.
Additional funding for the project is also provided by Interior Health and the Thompson Regional Hospital District.
“We are truly grateful to both the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation and the RBC Foundation for their generous support and funding partnership,” said Karen Cooper, Executive Director, Clinical Operations, Thompson Cariboo, Interior Health. “Their contribution will help enhance patient comfort and safety at Nicola Valley Hospital.”
Merritt is one of more than 35 Canadian towns and cities being impacted by a donation from the 2025 RBC Foundation Community Spaces Grant (formerly the RBC Foundation Community Infrastructure Fund), designed to fund retrofits, repairs or upgrades to existing public community buildings and spaces, as well as construction of new public spaces that reduce environmental impacts of their operation and/or improve its building accessibility. In total, $16.2 million in single and multi-year donations were awarded this year; 27 to support projects related to improving accessibility and 19 grants to support projects related to improving sustainability.
“From wheelchair ramps to solar panels to emergency systems, the RBC Foundation Community Spaces Grant is in place to increase environmental sustainability and improve the accessibility of the buildings where Canadians gather,” said Carmen Stossel, Regional Director, Community Marketing & Corporate Citizenship, RBC “Donations are making community gathering places more accessible or sustainable in locally relevant ways.”
The RBC Foundation Community Spaces Grant (formerly the RBC Foundation Community Infrastructure Fund) is open to hospitals, cultural institutions, community centres and other registered charities in Canada. The amount of funding is based on the organization’s size, reach, and regional population. Projects must be completed within the approved funding term. Applications will reopen in November 2025. For more information visit rbc.com/communityspacesgrant