StarFish and ViVitro employees embrace the community spirit of the season

VICTORIA, British Columbia, November 30, 2016 – StarFish Medical, Canada’s largest medical device design, development, and contract manufacturing company, and ViVitro Labs, a global leader in cardiovascular device testing, salute their employees’ community efforts during the season of giving.  This November and December employees are raising awareness and funds for BC Children’s Hospital, Mustard Seed Food Bank, and United Way.  StarFish and ViVitro match employee donations and cover all sponsorship fees to encourage participation.

Victoria Festival of Trees 
Each year StarFish Medical and ViVitro Labs sponsor a tree in the Festival of Trees fundraising campaign for BC Children’s Hospital. The festival knits together the incredibly generous community of Victoria in what has become, over the last two decades, a cherished holiday tradition and the unofficial kick-off to the holiday season in the city.

This year the StarFish Medical/ViVitro Labs tree’s theme is: “We look deeper to help make holidays healthy for everyone!”  The tree features an LED X-ray branch outline and ornaments that include hand crafted “x-ray” images for traditional holiday gifts.  A custom booklet shares the significance of both companies’ work and the tree’s design. Judges awarded the concept and execution top marks in all categories at the November 16 Opening Gala.

The tree is on display through January 3, 2017 at the Empress Hotel. 85 beautiful trees were decorated, and over 550 guests attended the Kick-Off Celebration and $106,400 was raised through tree registrations


Fundraising continues online via the Festival of Trees Online Voting System.  Fundraising tool for online vote collection. Visitors can make a donation and vote for the StarFish Medical/ViVitro Labs tree on the Victoria Festival of Trees StarFish Medical Webpage

2016 VIATEC Food Bank Challenge for Mustard Seed
Hayley Young manages StarFish and ViVitro participation in the 2016 VIATEC Food Bank Challenge for Mustard Seed.  Organized by VIATEC (Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology and Entrepreneurship Council), this annual food bank drive challenges companies in Victoria to compete in an effort to raise as much food and donations as possible for the Mustard Seed Food Bank.

StarFish and ViVitro fundraising events include a Chilli/Curry cook-off, 50/50 raffle, and Social Committee lunch. The 2016 Chilli/Curry cook off fundraiser was held November 17, and raised $590.00.  1st prize went to Debbie Gould, 2nd prize went to Savannah Hari, and 3rd prize went to Michael May.  The 50/50 stubs raised $535.

The Mustard Seed provides support to 7000 people each month. Since its inception in 2002, $1,981,296.84 worth of food and cash has been donated to the Mustard Seed through companies participating in the VIATEC Food Bank Challenge. The 2016 challenge runs from November 7th to December 2nd. Donations are accepted online.

UVic ESS Bug Push for United Way
Congrats to team StarFish for supporting United Way at the UVic ESS Bug Push on November 20. UVic alumni Nathan Muller, Ben Davies, Nigel Syrotuck, Kris Dolberg and Mike Sanders pushed a VW Bug around Ring Road at University of Victoria while raising money and awareness for United Way.

Bug Push is the charity event that the UVic Engineering Students’ Society hosts in partnership with the UVic United Way campaign. Teams of UVic students, faculty, staff, and corporate teams from across Victoria test their stamina, have fun, and raise funds while manually pushing a hollowed-out 1972 VW Beetle around UVic’s 2.2-km Ring Road. Each team pushes for a half-hour shift, with the goal of keeping the bug rolling for 12 hours straight.


About StarFish Medical:
StarFish Medical provides award-winning design, development, and flexible manufacturing outsourcing services —100% dedicated to the medical device and life science marketplace. StarFish partners with innovative companies to create and manufacture breakthrough products for a full range of medical specialty areas including: Cardiovascular, Digital Health, IVD, Ophthalmology, Optics, and Ultrasound. StarFish expertise includes electronics, mechanical, human factors and software systems engineering.

Our proprietary Pathfinder™ process for medical device product definition saves clients time and resources throughout the technology and product development phases to commercialization. Prototype and low volume complex electro-mechanical production are delivered in an ISO 13485 certified facility with FDA registration, including cleanroom capabilities.

Regulatory and quality system (QMS) consultants at StarFish provide technical regulatory assistance for FDA and Health Canada submissions, including IEC 60601 and ISO13485.
StarFish Medical Media Contact: Mike Camplin | mcamplin@starfishmedical.com | 250.388.3531 ext. 210 | www.StarFishMedical.com