Twenty years ago, Rick Hansen was pushing his way across Canada on the last leg of his Man in Motion World Tour.
This week he’s celebrating another dream come true – breaking ground on what will be Canada’s Grand Central for spinal cord research.
Named after Dr. and Mrs. Stewart and Marilyn Blusson for their $10-million donation to the Rick Hansen Foundation, the new Blusson Pavilion at Vancouver General Hospital will help close the gap between leading-edge research, treatment and therapies for spinal cord injury recovery, Hansen said yesterday.
“What an amazing way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Man In Motion World Tour, by seeing the realization of another big dream that will accelerate improvements to the quality of life of people with spinal cord injury,” he said.
Scheduled for completion in 2008, the new $45-million building will bring experts from the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), the Vancouver Coastal Health Spine Centre and the Rick Hansen Foundation under a common roof.
Currently, ICORD is made up of more than 300 researchers, trainees, technicians and staff working in 20 different locations around Vancouver.
By ROBYN STUBBS, 24 HOURS
