Cortellucci Vaughan is now a full-service hospital after opening for COVID-19 patients

Vaughan, King, Richmond Hill residents now have double the access to health care, writes Altaf Stationwala

Altaf Stationwala
Yorkregion.com
June 10, 2021

Mackenzie Health made history on June 6 when we opened Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital as a full-service hospital for our community.

The residents of Vaughan, King and Richmond Hill now have double the access to health care, with two full-service emergency departments, core services including surgery, medicine and critical care along with specialized programs.

Our Woman and Child, Inpatient Mental Health and Inpatient Integrated Stroke programs have moved from Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital to their new homes in Vaughan.

On the day we became two hospitals, we also welcomed the Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital’s first two babies — a set of twins! Mark, born at 1:25 p.m., and Scarlett, born at 1:26 p.m., are the second and third babies for proud parents Amanda and Justin from Richmond Hill.

We first opened Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital in February to exclusively support the province’s pandemic response, providing much-needed relief to the health-care system.

Since then, we have cared for the highest proportion of COVID-19 patients in Ontario, with 514 patients transferred from hospitals across the Greater Toronto Area to date, helping to prevent the system from collapse during the most challenging wave yet of the pandemic.

We have been proud to support our community and our province in this way, and will continue to do so based on our available capacity.

We’re encouraged to see COVID-19 cases declining across the province, including in hospitals and in particular the ICUs. Given this positive trajectory and the ramp-up of the provincial rollout of the vaccines, this was the right time to open Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital to serve our community.

Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital is needed now more than ever to provide the access to care our community has long needed.

The emergency department at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital has been under considerable and unsustainable strain, with the number of patients requiring an in-patient bed outnumbering available staffed beds. Our second hospital, equipped with the 37,000-square-foot Magna Emergency, will be a welcome relief valve.

Vaughan has been one of the fastest-growing and largest cities in Canada without a hospital — until now. Our Mackenzie Health family waited so long for our second hospital to open and we are thrilled that our two-hospital reality is finally here.

Thank you to our community, donors, government partners, staff, physicians and volunteers for your patience and resilience as we worked toward this historic milestone in our organization’s history. You have all helped make this happen and we are so proud to provide you with increased access to the care you so deserve.

Altaf Stationwala is the president and CEO of Mackenzie Health.