Southlake Regional Health Centre, the Town of Georgina and local Ontario health team are aiming to improve health in the region and explore creating a new facility through a new memorandum of understanding.
Officials from the organization, Northern York South Simcoe Ontario Health Team, and York-Simcoe MPP Caroline Mulroney signed the memorandum June 27. The agreement establishes a formal relationship between the organizations around the share goals of improving services for Georgina residents.
“This is a massive step forward to improving health-care services in Georgina,” Georgina Mayor Margaret Quirk said in a news release.
The new agreement outlines five shared areas of collaboration, which include:
- Health Facilities and Resources
- Increase health-oriented service capacity through the development of new facilities and resources in Georgina, as well as the expanded use of existing spaces to increase access to care
- New and Expanded Health and Wellness Programs
- Improve health equity by increasing access to inclusive, evidence-informed programs and services that meet Georgina’s current and future needs
- Advocacy and Community/Partner/Provider Engagement
- Collaboratively pursue and advocate for support and investments from funders and decision-makers at all levels of government
- Data Sharing
- Working together to inform shared pursuits that leverage each organization’s information and insights, while upholding all applicable privacy requirements
- Research and Innovation
- Explore joint partnerships with academic institutions to bolster research that informs literature and advances knowledge and standards for leading edge care
Georgina is investing up to $210,000 to implement and advance the new agreement. It will support administration through a dedicated project lead at Southlake.
“We’re thrilled to be working with our partners on council and at the NYSS OHT to deliver integrated care to patients in Georgina,” Southlake president and CEO Paul Woods said. “While work to develop a second hospital site for Southlake is still ongoing separately, our capacity challenges cannot be ignored much longer. This partnership will help us strengthen local healthcare services as we work to bring care, closer to home.”
One key plan central in the agreement's shared goals is a new healthcare facility in Georgina that can provide a suite of services based on the needs of the community.
“By taking a collaborative approach, we’ll improve coordination of initiatives, reduce duplication of efforts and make a bigger impact,” said Christina Bisanz, co-chair of the Northern York South Simcoe Ontario Health Team. “Georgina already has excellent representation in our OHT and we look forward to increasing programs and services to better serve residents in Georgina.”
Mulroney said the announcement reflects a strong partnership in the community.
“Our government will continue to explore innovative and creative healthcare solutions for residents and their families as we build up our healthcare system for the next generation," she said.
Quirk said the municipality would be modifying its its healthcare strategy to expedite advancing access to health care in the community.
"This is extraordinary news for all residents as well as future generations in our community. We welcome this commitment by Southlake and the NYSS OHT to enhance health and wellness in Georgina," Quirk said.
