GPRC gets $500K donation for new Evaskevich Centre for Health Research and Innovation | Grande Prairie Daily Herald Tribune

A half-million dollar donation to Grande Prairie Regional College will have a lasting impact on the Peace Country.

The generous donation by Paul and Coreen Evaskevich, the largest individual donation ever given to the college, will help establish the Evaskevich Centre for Health Research and Innovation. The state-of-the-art centre will be located in the college wing of the new Grande Prairie Regional Hospital.

Its mandate is to research in the area of rural, northern and Indigenous health to benefit health care programming now and in the future. The Evaskevich Centre for Health Research and Innovation will also develop, sustain and implement and research program in partnership with industry and health services partners in northwestern Alberta.

Form more than three decades the Evaskevich family has been friends and partners of the college. Paul served on the GPRC Board of Governors from 1982-85 and was the recipient of the Centennial Award at the President’s Ball in 2005 and was given the Board of Governors Award of Distinction in 2008 at the President’s Award Luncheon.

The couple’s entrepreneurial spirit makes them passionate about the future of post-secondary education and the part it plays in the region’s economy. Paul and Coreen’s gift will provide a legacy offering health-care program students innovative opportunities in learning and research.

Dr. Robert Murray expressed his and the college’s appreciation to the couple for this lasting legacy.

“We are grateful to the Evaskevich family for their commitment to the future of GPRC. A donation of this magnitude creates a real and meaningful impact on our institution, our students and our surrounding communities,” he said.

“This important centre creates an avenue to provide better services to people in northern Alberta and greatly increases the calibre of opportunities available to our health care students. We thank the Evaskevich family for their generous contribution to GPRC and look forward to sharing the future success of the Evaskevich Centre for Health Research and Innovation.”

Coreen, on behalf of Paul and the family, responded. “Our family is excited to be part of the great work Grande Prairie Regional College is doing in our community. The Evaskevich Centre for Health Research and Innovation is a facility that will make a positive difference in people’s lives, and our family is honored to be able to contribute to this important initiative.”