York Central Hospital welcomes federal grant announcement for new Vaughan hospital

While the $10 million in federal funds announced yesterday are not going directly to York Central Hospital, the organization that is legally responsible for the planning, construction and operation of a new hospital in Vaughan, they will be instrumental in developing the adjacent Campus of Care lands. York Central Hospital welcomes the announcement of the $10 million commitment to the Vaughan Health Campus of Care (VHCC) for planning, design, development, site preparation and infrastructure on the campus of care lands and development of a new health sciences cluster.

"Our planning efforts for a new Vaughan hospital should benefit indirectly from these moneys in that a portion will be used for preliminary site preparation of the 87 acre parcel of lands, which includes the 40 acres where the Vaughan hospital will be located. There are, however, no moneys being directly contributed from the federal government for the planning and/or construction of the hospital," says Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO of York Central Hospital.

In 2009, following a collaboration agreement between York Central Hospital and the Vaughan Health Campus of Care, the Ontario government assigned accountability to York Central Hospital to plan, build and operate a new hospital in Vaughan. In the same year, York Central Hospital received a $7 million planning grant from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to prepare a Stage One planning submission in support of building a new hospital in Vaughan and further development of York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill. The hospital is currently in the final stages of preparing its Stage One submission to support the development of these new and expanded hospital facilities that will go to the government in April 2011. The hospital and its community hope for a timely approval to move forward to Stage Two of the government's capital planning process. 

York Central Hospital's vision is to create a major regional health system that will see two full-service hospitals for Southwest York Region which will include the building of a new hospital in Vaughan and further development of the existing York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill. The integrated two-hospital model will provide a wide range of services not otherwise possible through a single hospital delivery system. Having a life sciences cluster co-located with one of its hospitals will only further benefit this exciting vision for the future of healthcare in Southwest York Region.

"We are pleased with today's announcement which further demonstrates the strong support for increased health care services for Southwest York Region," said Dina Palozzi, Chair, Board of Trustees, York Central Hospital. "York Central Hospital looks forward to working with its partners including the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Region of York, City of Vaughan and VHCC to realize our vision for a major regional health system.   A new Vaughan hospital, as part of an integrated two-hospital regional health system and surrounding campus of care will benefit not only the citizens of Vaughan, but all of Southwest York Region."