Our mandate is to raise funds for health & wellness priorities, such as services, equipment & education for Airdrie & the surrounding community.
Our Origin Story
The Airdrie Health Foundation was established after a five-year-old boy named Lane Bates became suddenly and seriously ill during the night in 2009. Because Airdrie had no 24-hour emergency medical care, it was impossible for Lane’s parents to access the necessary medical help in time to save their son.
A year after Lane’s passing, the Bates family was again in need of medical care in the middle of the night for one of their daughters. This time they needed to travel at night to Didsbury Hospital in a massive snow storm. This is when they knew something needed to change!
Lane’s mother, Michelle Bates, co-founded the Airdrie Health Foundation to prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedies. Beginning as a grassroots organization in 2010, the Airdrie Health Foundation was established as a registered charity in 2013. After seven years of work acting as a strong community voice, the Airdrie Health Foundation successfully gained 24-hour Urgent Care for Airdrie in 2017.
Our Mandate
The Airdrie Health Foundation is a charitable foundation created to raise funds for the Airdrie Community Health Centre, Urgent Care, Mental Health and other high priority health care needs.
Our mandate is to raise funds for health and wellness priorities, such as services, equipment and education for Airdrie and the surrounding community.
Michelle Bates
Vice Chair,
acting Executive Director
Erin Symcox
AHS representative
Jody Cunningham
Board member
Rod Morison
Board member
Abena Twumasi-Smith
Board member
Margie Yellowega
Board member
Dr. Vitesh Sheopershad
Community member at large
Staff Team
Karen Filbert
Fundraising Manager
Our Core Values
The Airdrie Health foundation believes that every Airdrieonian deserves health care in their community when they need it. As Alberta’s fifth largest city and no hospital, the AHF will continue to work with stakeholders to enhance health care for our residents and continue to raise funds to support all our public health services and programs at the Airdrie Community Health Centre and Mental Health Care Clinics that otherwise would not be funded in our community.
