OCNews

Experience in – and experience of – health care services has led management of Zahra Salon and Spa to turn their attention until the end of January to supporting the education of health care professionals at Okanagan College.

Zahra Salon will be inviting its customers to make a holiday or New Year donation to the College’s Our Students Your Health campaign, along with selling raffle tickets for a gift basket valued at $1,000. The salon’s medical spa will also be donating 10 per cent of all laser treatments services to the campaign during these months.

Zahra Salon and Spa hopes to raise $5,000 to support the completion of the College’s new Health Sciences Centre in Kelowna.

“We take part in fundraisers every year, but this year we wanted to give back locally,” says Asmaa Chalmers, Zahra owner.

“Being able to support future health care professionals means a lot to us,” adds Angie McAllister, salon manager and senior stylist, explaining that her first daughter was born in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Sarah Miller, manager of Zahra Medical Spa, has worked in health care for more than a decade and knows first-hand how vital frontline health care professionals are to our community.

“Making sure students are well educated and receive hands-on training before entering the workforce is so important,” says Miller, adding COVID-19 has only heightened the awareness of proper training and protocols needed in health care.

Seeing the continued support from local businesses for students is inspiring, says Holly Routley, Okanagan College Foundation Development Officer. Routley says the Foundation recently released a third-party fundraising toolkit with the goal of encouraging individuals, service clubs and businesses to support Okanagan College students in unique ways.

“We’re thankful to the team at Zahra. It fills our students with pride knowing that the community is supporting their careers,” says Routley.

“If others are looking for ways to give back this holiday season, we welcome creative ideas to support students, from hosting an online exercise class to a virtual watch party for a favourite movie.”

Okanagan College Foundation has raised $3.5 million towards its $5-million goal to open the doors to a modern Health Sciences Centre. Once completed, the Centre will boast state-of-the-art labs and education spaces for eight frontline health care professions.

To learn more or to donate visit OurStudentsYourHealth.ca