Tech-savvy
When Jack Gin founded Extreme CCTV in 1997, his vision was to develop innovative technology to see what the human eye could not, at high speed, in complete darkness, and under seemingly impossible conditions. Under Jack’s leadership, Extreme CCTV helped establish a new standard in a digital world, providing information and security to some of the world’s largest organizations.
When he sold his company in 2009, his success allowed him to move on to his next chapter, while his passion for applying optics to help others remained within his DNA. He realized he could help doctors - including those at RCH - see more accurately through the purchase of scopes and data acquisition devices, making those processes faster, less invasive, and less costly.
“Giving, no matter how big or small, is a privilege, not a duty,” says Jack. “I am extremely privileged in my life to be retired and healthy and have the opportunity to help in the best way I can.”
From those seeds, the Jack Gin Emergency & Trauma Imaging Centre (GINETIC) was born. To save a life, the hospital’s clinical team needs to understand all the factors at play with rapid access to the very best in imaging technology. The Emergency Department (ER) at Royal Columbian is one of the most highly utilized in the province with over 75,000 visits a year.
GINETIC will be strategically placed within a new ER, a key element of an Acute Care Tower now under construction as part of Royal Columbian’s redevelopment. It will significantly speed up access to diagnostic procedures and house cutting-edge imaging technology. Future patients who receive care at Royal Columbian will be treated faster, recover more quickly, and be able to return home to their families sooner.
“Currently, a trauma patient who needs a CT scan must be brought from the ER to the Medical Imaging Department – and the patient must be stable to do so,” says Trauma Physician, Dr. Feisal Mohamedali. “With GINETIC right inside the ER, we’ll be able to continue resuscitation and shorten the window for diagnostic procedures. In trauma, when we save minutes, we save lives.”
Saving those minutes, and those lives, is what drives Jack to give. His mission is to inspire others with his personal motto - Live to Give and Do Good. “After all,” he says, “we are all in this together, and we survive and thrive together. Community is about supporting each other and having each others’ backs.”