Vaughan Health Campus plans moving forward

Tuesday January 15, 2008 -- Tom Philp

The project pace is picking up as one of Ontario’s fastest growing communities prepares to welcome a new health care campus, the first new Greenfield hospital development in the province in more than 25 years.

Announced by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in April 2007, the Vaughan Health Campus of Care (VHCC)  is being planned to serve residents of Vaughan and surrounding areas. With the momentum the project has gained in just eight months, including donations totaling nearly $1 million at a gala fundraiser in the community in October, organizers and planners are hoping to “shore up the timelines as momentum grows.”

“It’s a fairly lengthy process we’re facing,” said Ron Shenfield, project manager with the Central Local Health Integration Network (CLHIN). “Although things could change as we move forward,  from where we sit now, the earliest we can see shovels in the ground is somewhere between 2013 and 2015.”

In making the announcement that a new hospital would be built to accommodate the 250,000 citizens of Vaughan, Health Minister George Smitherman also made it clear that the CLHIN would work closely with the Vaughan Health Care Foundation (VHCF) to identify the hospital services required for a new hospital in Vaughan and ensure the community was kept informed, engaged and taking ownership of the project.

“As far as I know, this is the first time the Ministry has mandated this type of partnership in the development of a new hospital,” Shenfield said.

A public information session about the initial VHCC plan was held in early December. Winter weather worked against the organizers, and the attendance was low. Still, ideas were shared, questions raised and answered, and enthusiasm for the new hospital continued to spread throughout the region.

“Yes, the numbers were a bit disappointing in December because of the weather,” said Anastasia Vogt, VHCF administrator. “But when you realize that almost 1,000 people came to the gala in October, and that quite a grassroots movement has already begun here, it is exciting to be involved in the process.”

“It really is neat because (VHCC) has come from genuine community interest in having our own hospital, and it is generating a huge groundswell of community support,” Vogt said.

Shenfield said that the “value” of getting the public involved at the earliest stages of the project is that, “we get a better idea as to what (the public) needs are . . .  (and) it is generating a sense of energy, a sense of ownership.”

Vogt agreed with Shenfield.

“It’s the public needs that should drive health service delivery, and that’s the kind of input we’ve been getting,” she said.