2006 News Releases

Waterloo – Manulife Financial will make a significant commitment to physician recruitment for Waterloo Region by donating $250,000 during the next five years to support efforts spearheaded by the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce Health Care Recruitment Council.

“With more than 3,000 employees in Kitchener-Waterloo, Manulife is committed to take a leadership role to support efforts to ensure health services are here for our community, our employees and their many neighbours,” says Bruce Gordon, Senior Executive Vice President and General Manager of Manulife Canada.

“We believe the Chamber’s Health Care Recruitment Council has developed an excellent five-year strategy to help address the growing problem of insufficient health care practitioners for our communities and Manulife wants to support this strategy.”

The Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce has been involved in family physician recruitment since early 1998 and recently stepped up efforts to close the gap between the community’s health care needs and services.

“We’re very pleased with Manulife’s strong commitment and the broad base of support from the local community for this initiative,” said Bruce Antonello, chair of the Health Care Recruitment Council. “This will support a range of new strategies and initiatives over the next five years that we hope will help us recruit additional physicians to meet our community’s critical need.”

The council’s primary goal is to ensure every resident of Kitchener-Waterloo-Woolwich has access to a family doctor. They also plan to help local hospitals recruit and retain specialists and help make our communities attractive to other health care professionals and support workers as well.

Based on provincial guidelines of one physician to 1,380 people, it is estimated that the community is under-serviced by more than 40 physicians. The council hopes to help bridge that gap during the next five years.

Although Manulife is the lead sponsor of the recruitment project, others supporting the initiative include Research In Motion, the Municipalities of Kitchener and Waterloo, the Township of Woolwich, Cowan and Bell.

Manulife also has a strong history of commitment to healthcare in the Region, Mr. Gordon added. Among the company’s local commitments have been a $1 million gift to the One Voice, One Vision campaign, the annual Manulife Bike & Hike for Heart that directly supports the local cardiac care centre, and a more recent commitment of $250,000 each to Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital.

About Manulife Financial
Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 19 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily through John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$370 billion (US$332 billion) as at June 30, 2006.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as ‘MFC’ on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under ‘0945’ on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.

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Media contacts:
Bruce Antonello, Chair
Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Health Care Recruitment Council
519- 886-8847

Todd Letts, President
Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce
519-749-6046

Tom Nunn
Manulife Financial
519-594-8578
tom_nunn@manulife.com