IKEA Canada is helping to make hospital stays a little more like home.
The retailer has transformed four new self-care hospitality suites for women with high-risk pregnancies at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, part of Sinai Health System.
The suites provide accommodation for high-risk pregnant women who are not acutely ill, but may need immediate access to care.
IKEA Canada donated home-furnishing products and décor for each room including beds, chairs, couches, tables and wall art. Each suite was designed in collaboration with various hospital departments to ensure each item adheres to hospital safety and quality regulations. Interior designers and staff at four IKEA locations in the Greater Toronto Area helped design the suites.
Mount Sinai approached IKEA about designing the suites, said IKEA spokesperson Stephanie Kerr.
“We had a little bit of money left over from our existing CSR budget and thought that it would be a really good fit,” she said.
“Children and families are the most important people in the world to IKEA… We see ourselves as the leaders of ‘life at home,’ so we’re really pleased that we can give these families the comforts of home during a really stressful time when they’re actually away from home.”
Kerr added that Mount Sinai is a regional high-risk hospital, meaning families come from all over Ontario and out-of-province. “So, this was a nice way for our GTA-based stores to be a part of something that’s even bigger than just the GTA,” she said.
IKEA Canada has a number of corporate social responsibility initiatives. This past May, the retailer celebrated its 20-year partnership with Tree Canada, and to date has donated more than $750,000 to the tree-planting organization.
Also in May, IKEA Canada donated $100,000 to aid in the relief efforts of the wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta. Last December, the retailer donated $180,000 in support of Syrian refugee resettling.
