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Orangeville hospital looks forward to services expansion: CEO

April 6, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

The vision for Headwaters Health Care Centre is “One Community, Caring Together.”

And Kim Delahunt, the president and CEO at the Orangeville hospital, detailed to town council Apr. 3 some of the past year’s highlights at the health care facility.

The current year is the final year of the current strategic plan. A new, updated plan will be created over the next year.

“So you’re going to be hearing a lot more from us and providing some very valuable input as we do update our (strategic) plan,” Delahunt said.

The hospital, of more than 800 staff and physicians, brought in revenue of $95.4 million and paid out $93.7 million last year.

The facility saw 20,213 outpatients and 38,343 patients in the emergency department. What’s more, the hospital accommodated 995 telehealth visits.

“We were very busy with lots of volumes,” she said.

The hospital was built about 25 years ago to accommodate 25,000 patient visits annually.

“So we’re well above that threshold,” Delahunt said.

Her presentation to Orangeville council included a breakdown of the medical procedures and services performed at the hospital. Delahunt said that she’s hopeful the list will consist of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the near future.

“You can see that our hospital is very busy,” she said.

Indeed, its catchment area consists of 10 communities throughout Dufferin County, Caledon, and Erin, which is in Wellington County.

The population served at the hospital is expected to grow by a whopping 16.7 per cent over the next 10 years. The age groups expected to see the largest growth are 65 years old and over, and people aged between 20 and 29 years.

Headwaters completed a five-year Clinical Priority Plan that identifies clinical areas of focus. It identifies hospital-wide actions to bring those priorities to fruition.

Delahunt likened that plan to a road map of future service expansion.

“We’ve also taken a hard look at all the services we currently offer and we received input from over 1,000 individuals to help inform this plan,” she said.

Expansions are coming to the emergency department and the hospital’s diagnostic imaging department, and its dialysis unit is in for a renovation in the future.

“We are also involved and part of the new Physician Recruitment Task Force that our Ontario health team has embarked upon,” Delahunt said.

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