Since 2017, when Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre began charting a course for the future of healthcare in Simcoe Muskoka, we consulted the local experts – you. Your input is vital to ensure high-quality care is available now and for generations to come.

RVH’s community consultation has been unprecedented, guiding the plan for a “one system; two site” RVH with an expanded North Campus and new South Campus location. To date, 63,500 interactions with a broad range of stakeholders have informed our work every step of the way. Your feedback is making our plan better – a plan to meet your needs.

You told us what was important in a location for the future South Campus, and those priorities helped us choose a large property in Innisfil, on Yonge Street at Innisfil Beach. This location meets all your criteria. You also identified your healthcare needs and service gaps.

Over the past decade RVH has doubled in size and introduced new services and advanced technology, including a regional cancer centre, advanced cardiac care and a child and youth mental health program and expanded kidney care services. Our major expansion in 2012 was completed on time, without borrowing a cent.

Meanwhile, RVH patient volumes are surging and the population in south Simcoe County is soaring, expected to double over the next 20 years.

That’s why RVH needs to grow. To meet our critical capacity challenges and growing population needs, RVH must expand as soon as possible.

Our plan takes a graduated approach, using an integrated two-campus model. As a first step, RVH is now providing outpatient services in Innisfil’s Rizzardo Health and Wellness Centre. Next, we will maximize available spaces within the current Georgian Drive campus. Within ten years, we will double the size of the current campus by adding a large inpatient tower, while creating a South Campus health hub. The South Campus will then expand with the addition of inpatient beds not dependent on an Emergency Department. The 20 year goal is a full-service, acute care hospital — with a 24/7 Emergency Department — to serve residents in south Simcoe County.

Broad and genuine engagement is key to the success of RVH’s planning. And it is really only beginning. There will be many more opportunities for you to provide input at every stage of the process. We are counting on your help. RVH is your regional health centre. Add your voice to this important conversation as we Plan our Future. Together.

RVH will build the South Campus at the south-west corner of Yonge Street and Innisfil Beach Road.

The announcement on October 13, 2021, follows unprecedented community consultation, an exhaustive two-year selection process and ten comprehensive third-party technical reviews that all confirmed this was the ideal location for a future hospital.

You told us what was important to you in the South Campus site. This location checks all your boxes:

• Easy access to Highway 400 with multiple access points from main arterial roads
• Central to population centres in Innisfil, as well as Barrie
• Close to the Rizzardo Health and Wellness Centre, civic campus and
future health services such as physician offices
• Location that minimizes impact on communities and the environment,
particularly Lake Simcoe
• Accessible by future public transit
• Ability to begin construction and servicing (water and sewer), quickly
• Flexible site that allows for expansion in the future

The Yonge Street and Innisfil Beach Road location meets each criteria.

• Broad, inclusive community consultation is vital to our planning with an unprecedented 63,500 engagement interactions to date.

• An astounding 45,400 comments from a broad range of stakeholders inform our plan every step of the way.

More than 1,000 people responded to a site- specific South Campus survey in which there was strong support for a hospital along the Yonge Street corridor near Stroud.

Ongoing consultation is also moving forward plans for North Campus expansion. It will double in size including a nine-storey inpatient tower bringing the bed total to 630. It will enable more acute, complex services such as radiation treatment and advanced cardiac care, and expanded critical care, maternal/child, cancer care and mental health services.

The South Campus site has been determined, but our important conversation continues. Of the 63,500 interactions to date, 33,500 have come since the site announcement on October 13, 2021.

Those interactions along with 1,400 new comments have been collected through:

• Community listening session with Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin, Deputy Mayor Dan Davidson and RVH President and CEO Janice Skot
• Meeting with Indigenous partners
• Meeting with environmental organizations
• Letters of support from community members
• TEAM RVH Town Hall
• Online survey responses
• Web and social media interactions
• Meeting with CONTACT Community Services
• Meeting with elected officials

Reaction to the site selected has been overwhelmingly positive. You’re telling us:

• The need in south Simcoe County is urgent and RVH’s South Campus should be constructed as soon as possible
• Ensure access from public transit, plentiful and close parking, an accessible site and building, clear wayfinding
• Protect the environment and focus on sustainability
• Promote wellness by integrating natural features, green spaces, traditional and holistic services and facilities.

We’re seeking your feedback on the selected South Campus site through;

• An information postcard mailed to 11,300 Innisfil homes
• Announcements on seven local radio stations and in two local newspapers
• Information emails from RVH and Town of Innisfil
• Digital advertising reached 81,000 people
• 27,300 social media interactions
• Website visits to RVHPlanOurFuture.ca and Innisfil.ca

In the week following the South Campus location announcement, RVH logged a staggering 16 million traditional, social and digital media and website impressions.

Have your say

If you haven’t completed the new South Campus survey, please take a
moment to give us your feedback: HERE

• What should RVH consider when developing the South Campus at
this location?
• What is important to you as we develop a detailed site plan and building design?

We need your input as we plan our South Campus to serve south Simcoe County for generations to come.

RVH is pursuing a graduated approach to care, using an integrated two-campus model ensuring services and capacity can expand as quickly as possible:

• The first step in RVH’s phased expansion plan was achieved in December 2019 when we began providing a variety of outpatient services in RVH’s new clinic at Innisfil’s Rizzardo Health and Wellness Centre.

• RVH will then undertake significant renovations at the current north campus, including fitting-out the empty shelled units that were built as part of the 2012 expansion and optimizing space throughout the health centre.

• Within five to ten years a multi-story inpatient tower will be built on RVH’s north campus adding much-needed new beds.

• In 10 years, RVH will build a South Campus ambulatory health hub in Innisfil, including an urgent care clinic. The South Campus will be located on Yonge Street – just south of Innisfil Beach Road across from the Innisfil Civic Campus.

• The South Campus will then expand with the addition of inpatient beds, not dependent on an Emergency Department, for patients with less acute care needs.

• The 20 year goal is a full-service, acute care hospital — with a 24/7 Emergency Department — to serve the needs of residents in south Simcoe County.

RVH is imagining an exciting future for healthcare in North Simcoe Muskoka. We have launched a long-range planning exercise which includes determining how to best use the space still available on the current Georgian Drive facility, as well as planning for a state-of-the-art satellite campus to meet evolving healthcare needs in rapidly-growing south Barrie and Innisfil.

The initiative is called Plan our Future. Together and it requires continuous comprehensive consultation with our staff, physicians, volunteers, patients, partners and the community.

Our engagement focus

Community consultation is the foundation of the planning exercise.
RVH committed to designing a robust engagement plan ensuring community feedback informs every step of the process. From service offerings, building design and site location, the community is speaking and RVH is listening.

Our philosophy

Engagement with patients and families, the public, our partners and TEAM RVH, is critical to the success of the planning process. It is through inclusive, transparent, respectful, genuine community dialogue that we will develop the best plan for the future. Stakeholder input will ultimately be reflected in the location, design and clinical services provided at the existing north (Georgian Drive) health centre and at the future South Campus.

In the end, a strong vision for the future will emerge, reflecting the voice of the diverse communities we have engaged with. The result will be a plan that aligns with provincial health priorities and reflects healthcare providers’ knowledge, the patients’ voice, the region’s needs and RVH’s commitment to safe, high-quality care.

RVH is using multiple methods of engagement including focus groups, social media polls, newsletters, bedside surveys, partner summit, staff expos, vision boards and an engagement ‘Street Team’. Part of the engagement philosophy is to meet people where they are, including, waiting rooms, farmers’ markets, grocery stores, social clubs and the bedsides of our patients.

Between February 2018 and November 2021 RVH logged over 63,500 interactions with stakeholders and gathered over 45,400 comments focused on:

• North Campus services
• South Campus services
• North Campus facility design
• South Campus facility design
• South Campus site selection

TEAM RVH

Surveys, expos, coffee chats, focus groups and workshops engaging TEAM RVH, including staff, physicians, volunteers and students.

General public

Through public, patient and roving surveys, focus groups, presentations, listening sessions, social media polls and ‘Street Team’ conversations, we talk to patients, families, caregivers, residents of Barrie and Innisfil, donors, service clubs and associations about what matters most to them.

Partners – health, education and community

Through surveys, a partner summit and presentations we listen to our partners both within and beyond our health planning boundaries. Partners include police, paramedic, military, community support services, social agencies, acute care, long-term care, municipal, mental health and transportation organizations, along with elected officials from all levels of government.

Environmental organizations

We engage environmental, conservation and farming organizations in open discussion to ensure environmental protection is a priority in all planning. This collaboration will be particularly critical as we develop a South Campus that protects and integrates the property’s existing woodland, green spaces and water features into the site and facility design. We continue to work with the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority to ensure the plan is aligned with the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan to safeguard this incredible natural resource.

Indigenous partners

Our existing health centre and the new South Campus are situated on Treaty land steeped in rich Indigenous history – the traditional territories of the First Peoples of Turtle Island. We respect how Indigenous people have shaped Ontario, and are committed to reflecting on what we can do to reconcile the past and work together for a more just future.

RVH strongly values the ongoing input of our Indigenous partners both in planning for expansion and in guiding us to ensure cultural safety in all our practices. We collaborate on comprehensive protocols such as self-identification and smudging, and will consult with Indigenous partners to co-design dedicated healing spaces supportive of traditional healing, spiritual health and well-being. RVH staff are offered extensive Indigenous cultural sensitivity training. We are expanding our Indigenous Health Team — adding a new Transitions Facilitator, and a Mental Heath and Addictions Navigator in collaboration with the Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle. We are committed to developing a plan with Indigenous partners to preserve any artifacts or remains that may be uncovered during construction. RVH is proud to be the first health care setting in Canada to install a Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund Legacy Space, giving opportunity to pause, learn and reflect.

Diverse communities

We make focused efforts to engage other diverse communities such as LGBTQ+, vulnerable sectors (shelters, youth centres, soup kitchens), Francophone, new Canadians, seniors and youth. Although, individually, these groups form a small percentage of the population, representatives advocate strongly for the unique and unmet needs of their communities.

This consultation is not limited to RVH’s expansion plans, and is already leading to positive change. RVH has established a Diversity and Inclusion council providing opportunities for cultural sensitivity training as well as recognizing Pride Week, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Francophonie Day and other important dates. RVH continues to provide learning opportunities and education through culturally significant seminars, videos and social media campaigns.

Between February 2018 and November 2021, RVH has logged over 63,500 interactions with the public, our patients, family members, staff, physicians, volunteers, partners, as well as many diverse communities.

During this engagement process 12 key themes have emerged as being very important to respondents.

Safe, quality care

Safety is our promise at RVH and care at the current North Campus and the future South Campus must, first and foremost, be safe and of high-quality.

Patients & families first

Patients and families are at the centre of all we do and must be well-informed and engaged in their care.

Improve access to care

A rapidly-growing and aging population has created significant capacity challenges, jeopardizing RVH’s ability to provide timely access to care. More beds will reduce lengthy wait times and avoid treating patients in unconventional spaces like hallways.

Care closer to home

Every year, thousands of North Simcoe Muskoka patients must travel outside the region for care. Continuing to expand specialized care closer to home will reduce driving distances and ease the burden of travel for patients and their families.

Seamless transitions of care

Navigating the health system can be confusing and frustrating for patients. RVH is working with its partners in the newly-designated Barrie-Area Ontario Health Team to ensure care is better coordinated as patients move between services.

Systems approach to care

RVH is just one piece of the healthcare puzzle. To improve timeliness, effectiveness and efficiency of care, we must consider how the entire healthcare system can work together better.

Diversity & inclusion

It is essential that everyone who works, practices, volunteers, trains and receives care at RVH feels welcome, safe and that their unique needs are being met. Equitable, respectful and inclusive spaces and services must be assured.

Technology & innovation

Technology is advancing at a rapid pace and innovation is key to improving the patient experience from telemedicine, digital wayfinding and electronic kiosks, as well as high-tech advances such as robotics and artificial intelligence.

Health & wellness

While RVH’s primary role is to provide acute care, patients look to the health centre to promote a healthy community through expanded health education and disease prevention services, such as healthy eating, smoking cessation and chronic disease education clinics.

Teaching & research

Each year over 1,000 students train at RVH. We will increase opportunities for health professionals and improve patient care by building stronger relationships through our Centre for Education and Research and Family Medicine Teaching Unit.

Healthy workplace

RVH is committed to the safety and mental and physical wellbeing of our employees, physicians and volunteers by ensuring spaces promote wellness, while expanding resources to support positive work/life integration, fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

Recruitment & retention

Adequate human resources is an increasing challenge in healthcare. Strategies and services to recruit and retain the best employees, physicians and volunteers is integral to providing safe, high-quality care.

The need for expansion is critical

During RVH’s engagement process, we hear loud and clear from stakeholders that the need for expansion is critical. The most consistent comment we hear is, “add more beds as soon as possible”.

RVH is bursting at the seams. Prior to the pandemic the medicine bed occupancy rate consistently exceeded 115 per cent. Patients were routinely cared for in hallways — over 3,000 hallway patients in 2018-2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that we cannot go back to hallway medicine. It is not safe.

Community support

Through 63,500 interactions, RVH has heard resounding support for expansion from thousands of residents, patients and their families, physicians and staff. A phased expansion, beginning as soon as possible, is critical to ensuring RVH can continue to deliver the safe, high-quality care residents of Barrie, Innisfil and the surrounding region have come to expect.

RVH talked to healthcare providers, not only from our local healthcare planning area, but outside our region as well, to ensure our plan supports and is aligned with our partners. They recognize that if RVH is going to continue to play a key regional role, expansion of the current, Georgian Drive site and the development of a new campus in south Simcoe County must occur in the near future.

Local and regional planning tables, committees and advocacy groups acknowledge that critical capacity challenges, along with significant population growth, will increasingly challenge RVH’s ability to provide timely, safe care. Many express that the need is immediate and RVH’s phased plan for expansion is key to ensuring services are available to residents now and in the future.

Members of TEAM RVH are the closest to patients and the care provided. Through their day-to-day work, training, education and experience they are experts in providing safe, high-quality care. Through extensive data and trending analysis, to touring many other leading- edge facilities, TEAM RVH members play a crucial role in planning and prioritizing the healthcare needs of our patients now, and in the future.

Workshops

Throughout the engagement process, members of TEAM RVH have engaged in 2500 hours of analysis and over 150 planning workshops, including:

• Departmental and service working group meetings
• Clinical services workshop
• Service delivery model planning sessions
• Corporate services workshop
• Support services workshop
• Staff & physician expo

Site tours

The site tours allow our team to observe leading practices and facility designs first-hand. Over 65 TEAM RVH members have visited 11 different health centres, as well as Toronto Pearson International Airport, with a particular emphasis on exploring:

• Ambulatory care centres
• Maternal, newborn, child & youth programs
• Intensive care units
• Technology and innovation

While on tour, staff pay special attention to facilities that incorporate technology, teaching and research, staff engagement, quality and safety, patient-focused care, operational efficiencies, and space design.

TEAM RVH

• The quicker the site can be developed the better
• Consider transportation between RVH’s North and South Campuses
• Easy access to Georgian Drive health centre for emergency services

General public

• Easy access to Highway 400 with multiple access points in case of highway closures
• Access to public transit in the future
• Close to Rizzardo Health and Wellness Centre
• Consider impact on community (i.e. traffic, noise etc.)
• Proximity to other health services, with space to develop (i.e. physician offices)

Partners

• Ensure equitable access to services
• Consider space for future integration (Barrie-Area Ontario Health Team)

Diverse communities

• Accessing services has been a primary concern for many, so proximity to future public transit and population is key
• Proximity to population centres would encourage volunteerism and recruitment from diverse backgrounds
• Community connection to infrastructure (i.e. community services, cultural programming, wellness amenities)
• Close to Sandy Cove Acres retirement community

Key themes:

• Easy access to Highway 400 with multiple access points from main arterial roads
• Central to population centres in Innisfil, as well as Barrie
• Close to the Rizzardo Health and Wellness Centre, civic campus and future health services such as physician offices
• Location that minimizes impact on communities and the environment, particularly Lake Simcoe
• Accessible by future public transit
• Ability to begin construction and servicing (water and sewer), quickly
• Flexible site that allows for expansion in the future

The Yonge Street and Innisfil Beach Road location meets residents’ priorities.

TEAM RVH

• Ambulatory and outpatient focus for South Campus
• Leverage technology for registration and access to patient care (i.e.
telemedicine, single electronic health record, online resources/patient portals)

General public

• Extended hours for urgent care services
• Provide a wide range of ambulatory services
• Create “one-stop” care for patients to minimize travel between sites (i.e. blood
work and imaging at the South Campus)

Partners

• Lease space for community agencies and health partners
• Expand partnerships with academic institutions (i.e. Georgian College)
• Avoid duplication of community services

Diverse communities

• Given large number of seniors in south Simcoe County, provide nurse practitioner-led clinics, as well as a large variety of seniors’ services (i.e. rehab, dementia), healthy active living classes and respite services for families
• Provide LGBTQ+ services (trans-friendly), sexual health clinic
• Focus on early intervention and health and wellness programs, such as
disease prevention and nutrition coaching for youth
• Bilingual mental health services (including child and youth, addictions)
• Culturally relevant services for Indigenous community

Key themes:

• Urgent care clinic
• Seniors’ care
• Specialized outpatient clinics
• Day surgery
• Pre and post-surgical follow-ups
• Maximize technology to improve patient experience (i.e. electronic self-serve appointment booking and reminder system)
• Multilingual and inclusive services

TEAM RVH

• Ensure intuitive, easy wayfinding
• Gender neutral facilities
• In-centre amenities (i.e. daycare, coffee shops, restaurants, wellness centre, transportation services)

General public

• Bright and spacious
• ‘Green’ design
• Clear signage
• Ample, close, affordable parking
• Consider vertical design to minimize lengthy walks within the facility
• Design parking, drop-off areas with consideration for autonomous vehicles

Partners

• Space to foster community relationships (i.e. lease space to partner services)
• Culturally safe spaces and all-inclusive functional programs

Diverse communities

• Covered parking options, large signage and well-lit spaces for those with physical disabilities or visual impairments
• Safe and culturally-sensitive spaces (such as prayer/reflection rooms) with multilingual signage
• Outdoor space for land-based healing projects like a community garden and reflect local Indigenous presence throughout building with art, colours, etc.

Key themes:

• Ample parking
• Use technology to enhance registration and wayfinding from every entrance
• Minimize walking distances with vertical design and co-location of like services
• Infrastructure to maximize flow of traffic with multiple drop-off points
• Ample natural light
• Environmentally sustainable design and construction
• Ensure green spaces and walking trails

TEAM RVH

• Focus on acute, specialized care and complex surgical procedures at existing North Campus
• Improved Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Maternal Child program (i.e. Neonatal ICU) and additional medical beds, including step-down units
• Expand mental health services (i.e. 24-hour crisis support)
• Additional diagnostic imaging services (i.e. PET scanner)
• Add more beds to accommodate capacity challenges and projected growth of the region

General public

• Improved registration, wayfinding and streamlined services (i.e. locate similar services together)
• Expand mental health services
• Expand NICU and redesign Obstetrics with private “home-like” rooms
• Provide sexual assault services

Partners

• Limit duplication of services offered by multiple providers
• System navigators to ensure seamless transitions of care
• Better coordination of resources with partners

Diverse communities

• Partner with schools for early mental health intervention and promote local support services
• Enhance interpreter services and French language services
• Gender neutral facilities
• Additional Indigenous navigators and self-identification program

Key themes:

• Enhance wayfinding and registration
• Extended hours for in-centre amenities (i.e. pharmacy, health library, restaurants)
• Expand specialized regional services such as mental health, oncology, cardiac care, etc.
• Enhance community partnerships to support transitions from hospital to community
• Continue to ensure RVH is a safe and welcoming place for diverse communities

TEAM RVH

• Spaces for employee wellness programs
• Improved and increase wayfinding
• More spaces for learning and research
• Segregate patient care from service functions

General public

• Outpatient clinics and services within easy walking distances from entrance
• Green spaces, such as courtyards and a living wall throughout the healthcentre
• Seating and rest stops in parking lots, garages and hallways

Partners

• Space for community partners to have on-site clinics
• Emergency Department, surgery and helipad closely located to each other
• Ensure service continuity throughout construction

Diverse communities

• Multiple registration points throughout the building
• Energy efficient
• Private rooms and safe spaces for family members or conversations with care providers
• Accessible office space

Key themes:

• Expand parking
• Ensure easy and intuitive flow throughout the building
• Locate dependent services near each other
• Improved wayfinding
• Spaces for employee wellness
• Maximize space within the existing building
• Ensure design incorporates natural light

RVH patients, families and caregivers
RVH Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC)
TEAM RVH
RVH donors
RVH Board of Directors
RVH Foundation Board of Directors
RVH Auxiliary Board of Directors
Residents of Barrie and Innisfil
Innisfil Community Health Committee
Barrie Family Health Organization
Barrie Family Health Organization Board of Directors
Simcoe County Hospital Alliance
City of Barrie
Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury
Town of Innisfil
Gilbert Centre
COMPASS (Community Partners with Schools)
Sandy Cove Acres
Painswick Library
Innisfil Public Library
Simcoe County Immigration Partnership
Bradford West Gwillimbury Leisure Centre
Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare
New Path
Northwest Healthcare Properties
Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital
Canadian Red Cross
RNR Patient Transportation
Salvation Army
Simcoe County District School Board
Southlake Regional Health Centre
Stevenson Memorial Hospital
Victoria Village
Victorian Order of Nurses
YMCA Simcoe/Muskoka
Canadian Forces Base Borden
Beausoleil First Nation Family Health Centre
Breaking Down Barriers
CHIGAMIK
CNIB/Vision Loss Rehabilitation
District of Muskoka
District of Muskoka Paramedic Services
County of Simcoe
County of Simcoe Paramedic Services
Georgian Bay General Hospital
Georgian College
Bayshore Healthcare
CBI Health Group
Georgian Nurse Practitioner-led Clinic
Hospice Simcoe
Saint Elizabeth Health Care
Barrie Women and Children’s Shelter
Catholic Family Services of Simcoe County
Gravenhurst Probus Club
Aboriginal Health Circle
Entité 4
Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition
Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority
Innisfil District Association
Barrie and District Association of Realtors
Central Church
Golden K Kiwanis Club
Barrie Huronia Probus Club
IOOF Seniors Homes
Independent Living Services
The Kidney Foundation of Canada
North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network
Helping Hands
WENDAT
Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care
Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle
LOFT Community Services
Alzheimer Society of Simcoe County
Barrie Rotary Club
Kempenfelt Rotary Club
Barrie-Hunonia Rotary Club
Family Medicine Teaching Unit
Innisfil Rotary Club
Innisfil Farmers’ Market
Barrie Farmers’ Market
Rotaract Club of Barrie
David Busby Centre
Youth Haven
Elizabeth Fry Society
Closing the Gap Healthcare
Wahta Mohawks
Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin
Georgian Bay Native Women’s Association
Living Green Barrie
South Simcoe Métis Council
CONTACT Community Services