On Tuesday, February 27, 2018 Mackenzie Health hosted its first community telephone townhall for residents in Richmond Hill, Vaughan and other communities surrounding the Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital. Close to 11,000 residents engaged in the conversation.
The evening kicked off with a brief community update by Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO at Mackenzie Health on our communities’ growing health care needs, developments at the Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital and roadmap to becoming a health care provider with two-full hospital sites.
Mackenzie Health’s community telephone townhall update included:
- As our population ages, Mackenzie Health will witness more patients who require complex continuing care and an alternate level of care.
- In the 2016 – 2017 fiscal year, Mackenzie Health had over 117,000 patient visits in our emergency department and urgent care centre, which accounts for 320 – 350 patients per day with 70 per cent of the population aged 65 or older.
- To help meet the demand for services, patients who no longer require acute care in a hospital will be transferred to a Mackenzie Health operated unit at the Reactivation Care Centre at Humber River Hospital’s former Finch Site.
- Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital will have 350 beds, with the capacity to expand to 550 beds and will bring over 1,800 full-time hospital staff positions.
- Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital will be Canada’s first smart hospital with construction set to be completed in 2020.
- In 2017, Mackenzie Health Richmond Hill Hospital implemented a new electronic medical record (EMR) and as an organization we look forward to integrating smart technologies at Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital under our two-hospital care model.
More importantly, approximately 11,000 community residents had the opportunity to have their questions addressed by Mackenzie Health’s senior leadership team. Altaf Stationwala was joined on the telephone townhall by:
- Dr. Steven Jackson, Chief of Staff,
- Susan Kwolek, Executive Vice-President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Executive
- David Stolte, Vice-President of Strategy and Redevelopment
Questions shared by the community facilitate a discussion on a variety of topics including:
- Initiatives to reduce the wait times in our emergency department
- Mackenzie Health’s two-hospital care model
- Mental health services and programs
- Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital’s employment opportunities and smart hospital vision
More detailed results from the telephone townhall and polling questions will be available at www.mackenziehealth.ca/townhall on the week of March 12. Mackenzie Health’s second telephone townhall will take place Fall 2018.
QUOTES
“Thank you to the residents of Richmond Hill, Vaughan and our surrounding communities for joining our first telephone townhall. We had the opportunity to engage with close to 11,000 residents from the convenience of their home to listen to their feedback on health care in our community and to address their questions. We look forward to continuing an open dialogue with our community residents at our next telephone townhall later this year.”
- Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO, Mackenzie Health
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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