No visiting hours, goal for new Vaughan hospital, says executive
Creating a 'feeling of warmth' in new hospital is goal for Vaughan facility

YorkRegion.com
Nov. 2, 2017
Tim Kelly

You won't have to wait three years to get a peek at what the new Vaughan hospital's rooms look like.

Beginning Thursday, Nov. 9 and continuing to Saturday, Nov. 11, you'll have the opportunity to see the new-look emergency, acute care, maternity, operation, mental health and typical hospital rooms courtesy of full-size mockups in a Keele Street warehouse.

Mackenzie Health staff has spent months working on and training in the mock-up facility and gave York Region media a chance to tour it this week.

Kristine Jarvi, executive director of transformation at Mackenzie Health, showed a reporter and photographer around the rooms, pointing out how "important the patient experience is" in Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, expected to open in late 2020.

Particularly impressive are the large seating areas in every hospital room that can pull out for sleeping access so visitors can choose to stay overnight next to loved ones.

"The goal is to have no visiting hours," said Jarvi, who added research shows patients who have their loved ones on hand "do better" than those who don't.

The hospital wants to create an overall "feeling of warmth," she said.

The other impressions immediately apparent are the extra-large windows for patients and visitors to enjoy and get daylight and sunshine, the large size of the rooms, the walls instead of curtains in emergency rooms and electronic patient computer stations located near every bedside.

The labour-delivery-postpartum room is especially large and built to accommodate every need a mother and her partner could have from the moment she enters the hospital until she leaves with her baby in tow.

“There is a larger sleeper sofa, we will have wood walls, once the baby is born we will have a bassinet to put it in. There will be no need to go to another location. There will be everything here needed to deliver the baby,” Jarvi said.

The hospital will have a total of 22 maternity rooms.

The public is invited to see the rooms for themselves on Thursday, Nov. 9 from 3-7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 10 from 3-7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 11 from 12 noon to 3 p.m. The address is 8550 Keele St. just north of Langstaff Road.