Avery Brohman is CEO of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation.
Courtesy Avery Brohman
Avery Brohman is no stranger to moving mountains.
After raising $40,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters while obtaining her public relations diploma in Guelph, Ont., she went on to spend the next 20 years in leadership positions at some of the most reputable and respected non-profit organizations across Canada, all before joining the Victoria Hospitals Foundation in 2018.
Under her guidance as CEO, the foundation has more than doubled its annual impact at the Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals.
And Avery does it all with a passion for bringing out the best in the community.
"I lead with heart - I care deeply about the work I do and those who benefit from it," Avery says.
This year, the foundation raised enough to double Victoria General Hospital's surgical capacity for Island women facing gynecologic cancer; Miracle Gala donors contributed a whopping $1.7 million. The result funded a second operating room with a suite of leading-edge, minimally invasive surgical equipment. For women who normally have to wait up to four months for surgery, it will be a game-changer.
However, as always, Avery is looking ahead.
"It was a milestone for women locally, so that felt very good, but the truth is we've just begun to advance women's health here," she notes. "If you were to ask any gynecologist or an obstetrician, they'd tell you they work in a very underserved area of health care, so I'm motivated to help them."
Rates of gynecologic cancers have increased by almost 50 per cent over the past decade, and the demand for advanced care is rapidly increasing. Annually, more than 500 women receive gynecologic oncology surgeries at VGH.
For Avery, the biggest fundraising challenge is to help people understand that government funds only cover essentials in hospitals - not the advanced tools, equipment and research that transform care.
"In simplified terms, basic healthcare is free. But if you want advanced healthcare and you want the best healthcare, it's philanthropy that moves the needle," she explains. "Once people understand that, it becomes easier. It becomes a collaborative approach."
The Victoria Hospitals Foundation's 'It's Time' campaign is geared towards innovation, particularly in surgery, with a focus on enlarging a robotics program that will expand hospital capacity, increase access for patients, and ultimately recruit and retain the "best and brightest surgeons" on Vancouver Island.
"We want to have advanced healthcare locally that you would find in the best hospitals across North America," Avery adds.
It builds off the career milestone she's most proud of: bringing surgical robotics to the Island.
Victoria is now one of just two sites in B.C. that has a surgical robot.
"We had surgeons waiting 17 years for this moment. So many surgeons and caregivers are trained on robotics, and when they get placed in a site or hospital that doesn't have the tools they were using, it can be challenging. Bringing such innovation to a community hospital was transformational. We want to be a centre of excellence for surgical robotics."
In such a high-stakes, high-profile job, passion is integral to success and Avery attributes hers to two different reasons.
When she joined the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), something ignited in her.
"I was moved by being able to support someone's life and essentially save lives."
Then, her father passed away eight years ago. Watching him receive around-the-clock care in hospital was incredibly emotional, but also proved pivotal.
"It dawned on me that I'd like to give back my skills to a hospital," she notes. "Seeing what they did for my father, I knew that it would be the next step in my journey."
Greater Victoria is now her home in every sense, and she's created the footing she needs to give her job her all.
"I dedicate a lot of myself to this role. It's personal. It builds confidence in the community when they know me and they trust me. But my home life brings me so much balance," she says. "My husband, Eric, is an executive who desires balance too, and he means the world to me."
That balance is found through a shared love of travel, a network of friends who care deeply about the community, summer nights at Royal Athletic Park (they're HarbourCats season ticket holders) and a nine-month-old border collie named Meadow.
"We call it the home team - me, Eric and Meadow."
As Avery moves forward, elevating care at Greater Victoria's two busiest hospitals, she does so through a place of groundedness, emboldened by the tangible impacts she sees in the community each and every day.
"Health is such a cornerstone of a community. By giving back to our hospital foundation, you're helping everyone in this community," she notes. "Along with my team, we're driven to deliver on sustaining consistent growth as local healthcare needs grow, and we've got strong momentum in the community right now."
Time and time again, she is reminded that pivotal moments don't happen alone; they happen when enough members of a community act with strength and shared purpose.
"A community united for healthcare can do so much. Experiencing first-hand how transformative and life-saving one single gift can be is not something everyone experiences, and we have the great honour to witness these everyday miracles. The relationships we have with our donors are never taken for granted; they are a treasure to us all."