Better Health Care Services in Vaughan
A hospital in the City of Vaughan is one of Council’s highest priorities. As a growing municipality of more than 270,000 people, Vaughan is the largest city in Canada without its own hospital. Our continued growth, combined with increased traffic congestion and significant wait times at hospitals in neighbouring municipalities, makes the need for a hospital in Vaughan great. It will be an investment in our community and in investment for the future.
In order for the hospital to become a reality it needs the support of the province, the City and the Region of York. Earlier this year, York Region passed a resolution increasing its funding commitments to hospitals in the region to $12 million. The City of Vaughan will receive 45 per cent of that amount towards the future hospital. (For more information go to www.york.ca.)
The City of Vaughan has been firm in its commitment to the hospital and in June, Council approved an $80 million contribution to the Vaughan Health Campus of Care towards the local share. This money will go towards land acquisition and the development of the hospital.
The total cost of building the hospital is expected to be between $1.2 and 1.5 billion. The Ontario government is responsible for 90 percent of construction costs. The remaining 10 per cent must be covered by what’s called ‘the community share.’ This local share covers 100 per cent of the site purchase, 10 per cent of building costs and 100 percent of the furnishings.
| July 28, 2009 Update CLICK HERE FOR MORE PUBLISHED UPDATES ABOUT VAUGHAN'S FUTURE HOSPITAL OR VAUGHAN COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE |
The $80 million the City has committed would amount to about 20 percent of the local contribution.
We want the right kind of hospital built in Vaughan, one that will provide timely access to high quality health care. In the meantime, we must meet the needs of our rapidly growing and diverse population.
As more people choose our City as their home, more doctors choose to locate here and offer their services. But it has become evident that the overall delivery of health care services in Vaughan needs to improve. We’ve taken a big step in that direction this year with the opening of the Vaughan Community Health Centre.
The Vaughan Community Health Centre is not a hospital and it is not a walk-in clinic. Its goal is health promotion and illness prevention. It does have a qualified medical team that includes doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, dietitians, community health workers, a health promoter, a social worker, a physiotherapist and a chiropodist. It offers primary health care services, social programs and health promotion services with an emphasis on hard-to-reach populations. In other words, it targets those who for any number of reasons, including language barriers, may have trouble using the health care system.
With both the Community Health Centre and the future hospital, we are working to improve the delivery of health care services to the residents of Vaughan.