The Frank Cowan Foundation has made a two-year donation, totaling $100,000, to Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, to go towards establishment of a new health sciences program to produce skilled respiratory therapists.
The Foundation is able to contribute to various charitable causes because of the success of Cowan Insurance Group (Cowan) and its three companies - Frank Cowan Company, Cowan Insurance Brokers and Cowan Wright Beauchamp. When allocating donations, The Frank Cowan Foundation takes into consideration the particular needs of communities, the concentration of Cowan employees in those communities and corporate involvement in the field associated with the donation.
The $100,000 donation will be applied at Conestoga towards the development of a new, three-year Respiratory Therapist program.
Similar to the program now offered at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), the Conestoga initiative will train students in preparation for professional careers assisting physicians in the diagnosis, treatment and management of patients with cardiopulmonary and associated disorders.
The Frank Cowan Foundation gift will be used to purchase equipment such as ventilators, incubators, anesthesia machines and other types of respiratory apparatus. It will also go towards curriculum development, as well as the purchase of books, periodicals and electronic learning resources to support the program. Both the equipment and the learning resources will also prove of benefit to Conestoga students in a number of other health sciences programs.
Once designed, the Respiratory Therapist program will be assessed for acceptability against national quality standards set by the Canadian Respiratory Association before being offered by Conestoga. The expectation is that Respiratory Therapist will begin in the fall semester of 2006.
CONTACT: Ingrid Town (Conestoga College), 519-748-5220, ext. 3490, itown@conestogac.on.ca ;
Lynne Short (Cowan), lynne.short@cowaninsurancegroup.com