From left to right: Dr. Barinder Brar, Emergency Department Co-Department Head and Physician, Richmond Hospital; Dr. Tracy Chandler, Radiologist, Richmond Hospital; Dan On Junior; Dan On; Victoria On; Dr. Penny Ballem, Board Chair, Vancouver Coastal Health; Natalie Meixner, President & CEO of Richmond Hospital Foundation.
Richmond, B.C. – Dan On, founder and owner of the Richmond-based Dan-D Foods Ltd., is giving back in a big way to Richmond. He feels enormous gratitude to this community that has supported his immigrant story, rising from the humblest of beginnings to ascending the heights of entrepreneurial success. With the announcement today of his extraordinary donation of $10 million to Richmond Hospital Foundation, On and his family is taking patient care to a whole new level for Richmond.
This transformational donation will help ensure the success of two important projects at Richmond Hospital: the purchase of a second CT scanner for medical imaging and the enhancement of patient care in the new Yurkovich Family Pavilion.
“Because my company operates from its base in Richmond, it made sense to give back to the local community,” says On. “Excellent health care is important to everyone and I was inspired by my employees and local business partners to make a gift to help the community where we live, work and play.”
Dr. Tracy Chandler, radiologist at Richmond Hospital thanks On for his generosity and adds, “The acquisition of a second CT scanner will have a profound impact on the medical imaging team as well as patients. The CT scanner is one of the most frequently used pieces of equipment serving the needs of both inpatients and outpatients, and it has been a challenge to keep up with the demand for CT scans with only a single machine.”
“Dan’s generous gift will enhance the patient experience and result in improved efficiency for health care services in Richmond,” shares Dr. Barinder Brar, Richmond Hospital Emergency Department Co-Department Head and Physician.
Dan Khuong On is the son of ethnic Chinese parents, who lived in Vietnam during the turbulent war years of the 1960s and 1970s. His family experienced extreme poverty during this time and in 1979, at the age of 18, he was sponsored as an immigrant to Canada.
By 1989, On formed his own company. It was his intense work ethic, his loyalty to those he worked with, and his keen business acumen that made him a giant in the field of food packaging and distribution in Richmond. He later expanded his enterprise to include other markets worldwide including California, Vietnam, China and Japan.( yeetak.lai@vch.ca)
