MEDIA RELEASE
KGH wins national ‘passion’ award
Cited as patient- and family-centred care role model for hospitals around the world
November 21, 2014 - Kingston, ON—Kingston General Hospital (KGH) is one of 10 Canadian
organizations to be honoured as 2014 Canada’s Passion Capitalists, a national award program
celebrating organizations that have achieved long-term success by creating ‘passion capital’ – defined
as the energy, intensity and sustainability to overcome adversity and achieve outstanding results.
The winners, announced yesterday live on Business News Network (BNN) include, among others:
WestJet, Canadian Tire Corporation, Canada Goose and Sleep Country. In all, 40 entrants applied
from across Canada including three other hospitals: Bridgepoint Healthcare (ON), IWK Health Centre
(NS) and Hôpital Pierre-Boucher (QC). KGH was the only hospital in Canada to win.
“We are extremely proud to be named a national winner and to be among such an impressive group
of fellow finalists whose passion and culture is so well-known to Canadians,” says Leslee Thompson,
President and CEO of KGH. “This award is particularly special and close to our hearts because it
recognizes the shared passion, purpose and dedication that drives each of us to transform the patient
and family experience at Kingston General Hospital every day.”
To be eligible KGH had to demonstrate the seven principles of passion capital, as outlined in Paul
Alofs’ book Passion Capital: The World’s Most Valuable Asset. Those principles are: a well-defined
set of beliefs; a high-performance culture; the courage to take risks; a strong brand and reputation;
masterful allocation of resources; a long-term strategy aligned with the brand; and persistence.
According to the national judging panel, what set KGH apart is its patient-centred culture, courage and
overall transformation over the past five years. “The turnaround Kingston General Hospital has
accomplished could not have been possible without Passion Capital,” says Paul Alofs, President and
Chief Executive Officer, The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and Author of Passion Capital, the
book that inspired the awards program.
“The hospital engaged not only their employees, but patients and the entire community in establishing
a new patient-centric creed, developing a new culture based on it, and embedding it in their
operations in bold and innovative ways,” he says. “In doing so, KGH has transformed from a hospital
with massive challenges to one of the best hospitals in Ontario, and is now a role model for hospitals
around the world who are seeking to enhance the patient experience.”
Canada’s Passion Capitalists is presented by Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions and Richardson
GMP, in partnership with BNN and Canadian Business magazine.
To view BNN’s announcement of KGH’s win, visit: www.bnn.ca and click ‘Special Coverage’.
KGH’s win is also featured in the winter edition of Canadian Business magazine, now on newsstands.
Interview availability:
Canada’s Passion Capitalist Awards Program sponsor Knightsbridge will present KGH with the award
on December 1, at which time media will be invited to complete stories. Media will be contacted with
further details on or by November 28.
Media Contact
Jennifer Anselm
Strategic Communications Advisor, Media & External Stakeholder Relations
Kingston General Hospital
613-549-6666 ext. 3565
[email protected]
ABOUT KGH
Kingston General Hospital is a community of people dedicated to transforming the patient and family experience
through innovative and collaborative approaches to care, knowledge and leadership. As southeastern Ontario’s
leading centre for complex-acute and specialty care, and home to the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario,
KGH serves almost 500,000 people through its Kingston facility and 24 regional affiliate and satellite sites. Fully
affiliated with Queen’s University, KGH is a research and teaching hospital which is home to 2,400 health-care
students and 175 health researchers. KGH is ranked as one of Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals by
Research Infosource. To learn more, visit www.kgh.on.ca or join the conversation at www.kghconnect.ca