To demonstrate lack of government funding, Surrey Hospitals Foundation is once again using a dramatic bait-and-switch.

In a campaign spot, filmed from the POV of a man having a heart attack, a first responder informs the patient she is taking him to another hospital, one that’s 20 minutes away. The same idea is explored in another spot, following a woman in labour being turned away from Surrey’s hospital.

The latest iteration of the “Leaving Surrey” campaign is informed by insights that insufficient infrastructure resulted in 1,683 patients being forced to leave Surrey last year for care at surrounding hospitals.

Surrey, despite being a quickly growing urban centre, has reported a net decrease in pediatric beds over the past two decades — from 24 beds for new moms, to now only having 16. Also, as last year’s patient overflow spot revealed, Surrey is one of the most medically underfunded cities in Canada, despite growth projections that it’s set to overtake Vancouver by 2030.

Full Punch is again responsible for the creative, and Mike Leslie, the shop’s founding partner and president, tells strategy the latest campaign work is about visceral, emotional storytelling and showing that residents are being forced to leave their hometown for treatment elsewhere, which could have devastating health outcomes.

According to Leslie, the campaign comprises OLV and OOH, with some broadcast TV support with partnerships with various local stations. The OOH is simple, stating that Surrey “isn’t equipped to treat major heart attacks” and “isn’t equipped with enough maternity beds.”

As Leslie points out, the city currently doesn’t even have a cardiac cath lab, a fundamental tool required for major heart surgery wherein a thin, flexible catheter tube is guided through a blood vessel to the heart to diagnose or treat certain conditions.

The campaign has already garnered attention of key government stakeholders: BC’s Health Minister Adrian Di announced he would be expanding Surrey Memorial Hospital and increasing the capacity for more patient care, including two new cardiac cath labs by 2025.

The government also responded by publicly acknowledging Surrey Memorial’s important life-saving role for South of the Fraser residents and announced an immediate infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and a long-term plan to redress what it called “chronic underfunding.”