Building the uncommon bridge to change lives with Mike House

This week we have an exceptional guest joining us in The Inner Circle; his job is to change lives.

It's an honor to introduce Mike House; he is the President and CEO of the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation, committed to funding excellence at the Stollery Children's Hospital and children's health priorities. The Foundation's vision is "to give kids the best chance at a long and healthy life".

Over the past seven years, he has raised over $170 million towards children's health in Alberta. With more than 50 workers and 100,000 donors giving annually to the cause, the Foundation raises over $32 million annually in support of this vision by graciously asking for money, saying thank you, and sharing the impact donors make towards improving children's health in Alberta, Canada.

He loves being a fundraiser and story-teller and lives his motto "build the uncommon bridge", every day.

Let's dig in!

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

0:33 - I remember when I was a medical reporter at CTV News, I got to witness life-changing stories, but there was one that stood out. I saw life in its rawest form.
4:41 - Introducing our guest, he embodies voluntarism, community support and the beauty of human spirit.
7:19 - Mike shares his unmanageable story and why it's so essential for him to help others in need.
14:02 - Since an early age, Mike knew what his objective was; it became his sole goal to make it real. He knew the odds of failure, but he bet on himself because he understood the impact it could bring to the world.
16:57 - Mike's dream job was to help anyone he could; the objective was simple, to manage the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation. Mike created a plan and took action toward it.
20:00 - His plan succeeded, Mike took over the Foundation and led to expansion, he managed to raise more money than anyone before, resulting in allowing the Hospital to dream big and provide the level of care regular hospitals can't deliver.
22:40 - Dealing with kids is very different from dealing with adults, so he focused on "Family-Centred Care", gathering the techniques and equipment necessary to do so.
26:10 - One of the upcoming projects for Mike and the Foundation is to help children with sensory issues, create a space where they can release their stress and anxiety.
30:38 - Hospitals need the Foundation to create the necessary experiences and fill the gap to get to the next level. By helping the children when they need to and how they need it, we can save time and money in the future, allowing them to create a healthier and happier population.
34:00 - Mike tells us a bit about what his daily work is and the effects generated in him by helping society.
36:14 - Each year, there are more volunteers to help the Foundation; they had become an army. Over 2000+ people are actively involved, all ages, all shapes, all communities trying to make a difference.
38:00 - Mike talks about the power of women, the different programs focus on delivering an amazing experience for the children and their parents, and the world-changing results we can create. #Girlpower.
46:07: Mike shares the lessons he is most proud of, and the situations that have resonated with him the most.

Quotes:

"It's your community, if you want to be great, you have to contribute".
"Those residual things become part of who you are, physically, emotionally, intellectually; they are the motivators to overcome".
"I would never ever wish that anything had happened differently because I am a better person because of what I went through".
"When you take that length it changes your perspective on what you would do".
"We can convince the community that this is a worthwhile, important cause, that we'll set kids up to be great healthy adults in the future".
"We do things around the hospital to take care not just the patient, not just the child but the whole (family) unit".
"Children don't have a grey area, they are black or white; either they are happy, or they're sad, and if they are sad, they are not motivated to get out of bed and get better. They don't understand why it's important, but if you can get them to play, if you can get them excited about healing, you can actually speed up the process to go home sooner".

Mentioned:

https://www.stollerykids.com/

LinkedIn - https://ca.linkedin.com/in/mike-house-mba-icd-d-b066062

Facebook - @stollerykids

Instagram - @Stollery Kids

Twitter - @mikebungalow

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https://www.carriedoll.co/podcast

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