A $1.25 million donation to Kingston Health Sciences Centre will bring new X-ray systems and emergency diagnostic tools to emergency rooms in Kingston, Ontario, speeding up care for more than 650,000 people across southeastern Ontario.
The gift, announced on June 8, 2026, comes from local philanthropist Stephen Sorensen through the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation. It will pay for five pieces of equipment chosen by frontline staff to fill real gaps in emergency care at both the Kingston General Hospital Emergency Department and the Hotel Dieu Hospital Urgent Care Centre.
Two fixed digital X-ray systems will be installed, one at each site. A mobile bedside X-ray will let staff take images without moving critically ill patients. The funding also covers a video laryngoscope for airway management, a fiberoptic nasopharyngoscope camera for examining the nasal passages, throat, and vocal cords, and a transesophageal ultrasound probe for rapid heart imaging during cardiac arrest and other life-threatening emergencies.
“As the trauma centre for southeastern Ontario, our Emergency Medicine teams must be able to act quickly, and to do that, accurate information is crucial,” said Dr. Kyla Caners, Head of Emergency Medicine at KHSC and Queen’s University. Dr. Omar Islam, Head of Radiology, added, “Access to the right diagnostic tools at the right moment can fundamentally change outcomes in health care.”
Dr. David Pichora, KHSC’s President and CEO, said Sorensen’s approach goes beyond writing a cheque. “Mr. Sorensen didn’t simply fund equipment — he helped shape a solution.” Sorensen calls his method “Targeted Clinician-Based Philanthropy,” working directly with doctors and nurses to identify needs and fund projects ready to go.
Sorensen is a long-time supporter of Kingston hospitals. His past gifts include $100,000 for HeartFlow AI cardiac imaging, making KHSC the first in Canada to use it, and $500,000 for a portable MRI in the Intensive Care Unit. He also backed a second MRI at Breast Imaging Kingston and helped build a second Interventional Radiology suite.
