The Good Life. The Wild Life.
A rich, fulfilling life.
It’s the reward for showing up and working hard, for getting through the tough times while staying true to who you are. Then taking a break, kicking back, doing all the things that make you happy. Enjoying everything that makes Simcoe Muskoka unique.
Whether you’ve lived here your whole life, whether you’ve just moved here, or this is a place where you come to rest and recharge, we all love this place where we work, play and raise our families.
The Coming Storm
We can only enjoy all the things life in Simcoe Muskoka offers if we’re healthy. And right now, one of the resources we use to keep us healthy—our hospitals—are struggling. The demands on our healthcare resources are increasing and it’s putting our good life—our wild life—at risk.
We’re growing.
Our region is one of the fastest growing in the province. Forecasts estimate that it will double in the next 20 years.
We’re aging.
By the time our population doubles, 1 in 3 of us will be seniors using the hospital 4x more than younger people and staying in-hospital longer.
We’re less healthy.
Our region faces higher rates of obesity, as well as higher tobacco and alcohol use. This means that 1 in 4 of us has a chronic condition, such as heart disease or cancer.
A Case for Change
You or someone you love has experienced the impact of that strain—you may even be in the midst of it right now. You may be feeling it in a number of different hospitals, and RVH is no exception.
Care far from home
Each day, people from Simcoe Muskoka must take time from work and family, and pay the expense, to travel for care that should be available at RVH.
Hallway medicine
On any given day, every available bed has a patient in it. In recent years, more than 3,000 people–about 10 each day–were cared for at RVH in a hallway or a meeting room.
ED wait times
When all beds are full, patients who need to be admitted must wait in the RVH Emergency Department (ED) for the next open bed. This log jam means more people wait longer in the ED.
“My daughter still has a mother today, because of the care I received at RVH”
Laura Gordon is living her wild life on Lake Muskoka after receiving treatment for breast cancer at RVH.
Why RVH Needs Your Help
We all rightfully expect the best care, as close to home as possible, as soon as we need it.
When you or someone you love has a fever that won’t go down, or can’t catch their breath, needs rehab to get back on track or is having a healthy baby after a smooth pregnancy, your local hospital, which you know and love, will take care of you.
But when the problem is life-threatening, like cancer, a heart attack or stroke, a trauma, or a mental health crisis, that’s when you need complex, advanced care right away. And that care needs to be top notch, the quality of care we can get in any big city.
That’s when RVH is there for you. Providing world-class, life-saving specialized care close to home for people and families across Simcoe Muskoka.
But, like all hospitals, we’re under strain. And as the only regional healthcare centre providing specialized care, there are widespread implications to everyone in the region.
Our Vision for the Future
Our vision for your care is simple. To give you world-class, specialized care close to home. It’s what we all want and deserve. It’s what will keep our bodies healthy so we can keep living the life we love.
We provide this exceptional care right now. But we need to grow to keep pace with our booming and aging population, many of whom have multiple chronic diseases.
How do we plan to grow? We’re not talking just about getting bigger. We’re completely rethinking what a hospital can be, going far beyond what a hospital is today. We’re planning to build a healthcare system that offers state-of-the-art diagnostics and personalized treatments, delivered by highly trained specialists in spaces that welcome nature as an active participant in care, healing, and wellness. And all of this offered right in your own backyard.
To make our vision your reality, we will:
- Expand RVH’s cancer, heart, trauma, youth mental health and other programs that offer specialized care for patients across Simcoe Muskoka
- Build an all-new healthcare facility in Innisfil, the largest community in the region without its own community hospital
- Innovate by applying research breakthroughs to patient care and adopt leading-edge medical education
- Expand the size of our existing site on Georgian Drive, while also expanding the size of our staff to 6,000
Our goal? To keep you healthy. To keep you wild.
“At RVH, they encouraged us to be parents. They taught us that Christopher’s coos, cries, his little noises, they were all milestones to be appreciated.”
Stephanie Cobble, enjoying life as a mom after Christopher’s early start at RVH’s NICU.
We can’t live our wild life unless we have our health. It’s time we fight for it.
Our region’s wild spirit—the way of life we all love—is being threatened because our precious healthcare resources are under significant pressure.
We can’t live a good life, the wild life, unless we have our health.
Right now, we have a choice to make. Are we going to fight for it?
Join the fight to Keep Life Wild.
Architectural Rendering Images credit: Diamond Schmitt.