Mackenzie Health partners in Reactivation Care Centre to increase bed capacity and address demands of its growing community

For Immediate Release:
November 2, 2017

Richmond Hill/Vaughan, ON – Mackenzie Health has confirmed it has received approval for up to an additional 120 beds within the new Reactivation Care Centre, a collaborative between hospitals in the Central LHIN announced last week. This new facility has been specifically designed to provide patients who no longer need acute care with specialized, reactivation care in a setting that best supports their care journey.

Of these new beds, 30 beds will be dedicated to patients who are waiting for an alternate level of care – such as long-term care, inpatient rehabilitation or home support, with the first patients transitioning to the Reactivation Care Centre in early December. Up to ninety additional beds will be dedicated to patients who require complex continuing care and rehabilitation services, and patient transitions will begin in late winter 2018.

With the opening of the Reactivation Care Centre, acute bed capacity will then increase at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital, helping improve access to care as demand from our growing community and the need for additional medical beds outstrips the current capacity.  

Mackenzie Health has a multi-pronged strategy to continually address capacity challenges given the ever increasing needs within our community, expected to grow by 40-50% by 2031. The Reactivation Care Centre is part of our commitment to address these challenges. In addition, the Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital’s Emergency Department, which sees approximately 300 patients each day, has completed an  exceptional amount of work to improve wait times to see a physician, including developing an internal escalation system, increasing physical space and standardizing patient care routines for doctors and nurses.

Mackenzie Health also operates an Urgent Care Centre for those patients with non-life-threatening conditions, and the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, the first hospital to be built in the City of Vaughan, will feature 350 acute care beds and a full-service Emergency Department. The opening of the Reactivation Care Centre will help Mackenzie Health bridge the short-term gap for needed medical beds as we work towards evolving to a two-hospital model of care with the completion of Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital in 2020.

Quick Facts

• Mackenzie Health provides care to more than half a million people across York Region and beyond.
• On average, close to 300 patients are cared for in the ED in any given day; during the last holiday season,
  the number of patients seen increased to almost 400 patients/ day. And just this past month, we have had
  up to 50 admitted patients waiting for a bed in the ED.
• Over the past four years, we’ve experienced 38 per cent growth in ambulance traffic, and we now receive
  36 to 86 ambulances each day.
• Last fiscal year, Mackenzie Health cared for 117,522 patients in our Emergency Departments (ED) and Urgent Care Centre.
• The hospital has been experiencing high numbers of Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients. Last year, Mackenzie Health had 45 - 50 beds on any given day that were occupied by patients who could receive
  care outside of the hospital.

QUOTES

“The additional beds Mackenzie Health will open within the Reactivation Care Centre will help ensure our patients receive the highest level of quality care that best meets their clinical needs in the most appropriate care setting. We welcome the government`s support in our mission to relentlessly improve care to create healthier communities and create a world-class health experience for our patients and their families.”

 Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO, Mackenzie Health

Our team of clinicians at the Reactivation Care Centre will focus on delivering reactivation care in an environment that is more appropriate than an acute care hospital and features enhanced rehabilitation and complementary therapy services. This solution will also directly help those patients waiting for a bed to be admitted sooner as it will provide much needed acute care capacity and support Emergency Department flow, which has been at overcapacity for more than a year. ”

Susan Kwolek, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officer

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For more information, please contact:

Catalina Guran
Manager, Hospital Communications
Mackenzie Health
Tel: (905) 883-1212 ext. 7490
E-mail: catalina.guran@mackenziehealth.ca

About the Reactivation Care Centre

Humber River Hospital, North York General Hospital, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Mackenzie Health and Markham Stouffville Hospital have been working together to open the new Reactivation Care Centre – A Central LHIN Hospitals Collaborative at the former Humber River Hospital Finch site, located at 2111 Finch Avenue West.

The newly renovated Reactivation Care Centre will provide specialized care for those transitioning out of hospital and will offer numerous benefits for patients and families, including specialized activation therapies in a setting designed to focus on the needs of the patient and support transition to home or long-term care. It will act as a hub of specialized care focused on optimizing the patients’ strengths and abilities outside the acute care setting.

The Reactivation Care Centre will welcome patients from five Central LHIN hospitals – Humber River Hospital, North York General Hospital, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Mackenzie Health and Markham Stouffville Hospital. Each of the hospitals will have its own unit which will be staffed and operated as an extension of its hospital. Patients transitioning from Humber River, Mackenzie Health, North York General and Southlake will start moving into the new Reactivation Care Centre in early December 2017. Mackenzie Health patients requiring complex continuing care and rehabilitation will move to the Reactivation Care Centre in February 2018 and Markham Stouffville Hospital is expected to open its unit in April 2018.

About Mackenzie Health

Mackenzie Health is a dynamic regional health care provider which includes the existing Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and the future Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, as well as a comprehensive network of community-based services. The groundbreaking for the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital was held on October 25, 2016.

In March 2017, the organization received its second consecutive award of Accreditation with Exemplary Standing from Accreditation Canada for its commitment to safety and quality patient care. This is the highest rating a Canadian health care provider can receive.

Guided by a vision to create a world-class health experience, Mackenzie Health has an unrelenting focus on the patient and is dedicated to patient needs now and in the future. With over 500,000 residents in Southwest York Region, Mackenzie Health is proud to serve one of the fastest growing and most diverse communities in Canada.

For more information, please visit www.mackenziehealth.ca.