Photo Cutline (left to right): Jason Teal, board chair, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH); Bruce Squires, president and CEO, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital; Dr. Ronald Cohn, board chair, Kids Health Alliance (KHA), and president and CEO, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids); Khrystyna Trotter, who shared her family’s journey through care at RVH and SickKids with her triplets Ellie, Anna and Grace; Gail Hunt, president and CEO, RVH; Leanne Weeks, vice-president, clinical, and chief nursing executive, RVH; and Kelly McMillen, interim executive director, KHA and Executive Director of SickKids Learning Institute, celebrate the announcement of RVH joining Kids Health Alliance as the seventh partner in advancing paediatric care in Ontario.
BARRIE, ON – Building on its commitment to delivering world-class care close to home, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RHV) has joined Kids Health Alliance (KHA), a partnership dedicated to advancing quality health care for children and youth in Ontario.
RVH becomes the seventh partner of KHA, which was founded in 2017 by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Since its inception, KHA’s network of partners have worked to streamline and advance paediatric health care, with the goal of improving children, youth and family experiences, no matter where they are seeking care.
“When a child is sick or injured, everything else stops for a family. In those moments, nothing matters more than knowing your child will receive the right care,” said Gail Hunt, President and CEO, RVH. “Partnering with Kids Health Alliance helps strengthen how we deliver that care at RVH and supports our teams as they continue caring for children and youth across our region.”
The partnership will focus on enhancing care for children and youth in the RVH Emergency Department (ED), neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and inpatient paediatric unit.
“This partnership will help us care for more complex paediatric needs, strengthen how we support our teams and continue building a hospital that better supports kids and families,” said Leanne Weeks, Vice-President, Clinical, and Chief Nursing Executive, RVH. “It’s about making sure care is consistent, coordinated and designed with children in mind.”
RVH joins six other community hospital partners: Markham Stouffville Hospital, Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital, Pembroke Regional Hospital, Humber River Health, Michael Garron Hospital and Southlake Regional Health Centre.
“KHA’s guiding principle from our founding remains true today: where a child lives should not impact the care they receive. Care closer to home matters. That’s why, on behalf of the KHA Board and current community hospital partners, we’re thrilled to partner with Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre to continue to improve the health-care system for children, youth and their families,” said Dr. Ronald Cohn, KHA Board Chair and President and CEO of SickKids. “We look forward to collaborating with RVH, a leader in the community, to support and learn from their work in delivering high-quality paediatric health care.”
“KHA is uniting organizations across Ontario with a singular mission: to transform the health and well-being of children and youth. Through collaboration, innovative education and targeted capacity building, KHA is driving real change and better outcomes for families across the province,” said Kelly McMillen, Interim Executive Director of KHA and Executive Director of SickKids Learning Institute. “Community hospitals play an essential role in caring for the province’s children, and RVH’s addition to KHA creates a strategic opportunity to deepen regional synergies with nearby partner hospitals, including Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital and Southlake Regional Health Centre. We’re thrilled to welcome RVH to the network.”
For more information, please contact:
Jessica Dolan
Communications Representative, Communications & Engagement
Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
T: (705) 728-9090 EXT. 41618
Dolanj@rvh.on.ca
Sherina Harris
The Hospital for Sick Children
Sherina.harris@sickkids.ca
About Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) is the largest hospital in Simcoe Muskoka, delivering leading-edge care through more than 500,000 patient visits each year. As a regional health centre, Level III Trauma Centre and home to a regional Level 2C Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, RVH provides advanced services across cancer care, trauma, cardiac, stroke, renal and surgical programs, along with comprehensive paediatric care spanning inpatient, outpatient, newborn and mental health settings. RVH is growing to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding region and is advancing its vision to become an academic health sciences centre driven by innovation, compassion and exceptional patient care.
About Kids Health Alliance
Kids Health Alliance (KHA), founded by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital (Holland Bloorview) and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in 2017, is a not-for-profit network of partners working to create a child, youth and family centred, high quality, efficient approach to paediatric health care. KHA is growing collaborations across the continuum of care. Our goal is to make tangible improvements in the delivery of paediatric health care, thereby improving the patient experience and health outcomes.