On July 22, the City of Waterloo announced their plan to build a new hospital at David Johnston Research + Technology Park, a site owned by the University of Waterloo, to provide more healthcare services and employment opportunities.
The new hospital is a joint venture between Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital to plan for the future of hospital-based services in Kitchener-Waterloo as part of the broader healthcare system in the Waterloo Region. This partnership is called the Building the Future of Care Together redevelopment project.
“The city is certainly very supportive of the new hospital within the City of Waterloo,” said Dorthy McCabe, the mayor of the City of Waterloo.
The government of Ontario approved a $ 5 million capital planning grant to build the new “state-of-the-art” hospital and modernize existing hospital buildings in April 2022. There were initially five possible sites for new hospital construction in November 2023 before three locations were short-listed.
In an email to the Cord from Victoria Ott, the integrated director of strategic engagement at St Mary’s General Hospital, it was clarified that the chosen site was selected by a panel of community members and members of both hospital boards. The panel chose the land after examining ministry requirements and information gained from community engagement. The selection of the North Campus for the new hospital enabled Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital to grow their partnership and provide innovation and research opportunities for students.
“Not only does the location make great sense in terms of patient accessibility, but it also allows our organizations to deepen our relationship even further for the benefit of the communities we serve,” said Mark Fam, the president of St. Mary’s General Hospital, in a media release.
Fam said that by 2050, the population of Waterloo Region will become 1 million through a press release published on the Region of Waterloo website, and the already existing hospitals in the KW area are too small to meet current and anticipated demand.
“The number one reason for the new hospital is need,” said Fam, describing how Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital can’t accommodate the “rapidly growing and increasingly diverse demand of the communities.”
Hospital services won’t be limited to just the citizens in Waterloo. It will expand to southwestern Ontario, Owen Sound and Tobermory. McCabe said the city hopes to create a chain of hospitals around Ontario to provide as many healthcare services as possible.
In a press release on the Building the Future of Care Together website, the president of the University of Waterloo, Vivek Goel, said he doesn’t just want to use the new hospital as a teaching tool and research hub for students.
He also wants it to be an innovation institute that works closely with other Ontario hospitals to create new technologies and ideas and apply them to the healthcare system. He said that UW is trying to introduce new programs such as pharmacy and optometry and adding more potential programs related to rehab sciences.
The two hospitals are continuing their discussion with the UW’s engineering and architecture team on leveraging the school, researchers and students in the hospital’s planning, design and construction and what the students’ and researchers’ involvement would be.
“It certainly opens up a lot of opportunities and potential for them to increase what’s already happening at the University of Waterloo,” said McCabe.
He also explained how the new hospital construction will benefit the local economy through increased employment opportunities at the hospitals and the university and expand potentially to innovation and tech sectors.
Ron Gagnon, the president and CEO of Grand River Hospital, said the hospital is in the planning stages of developing the functional design of the new hospital location and the KW and Freeport campuses.
“Through each phase of the redevelopment, the goal is to refresh, renew, and modernize the healthcare experience in Waterloo Region,” he said.
The project also continuously involves community consultations to ensure citizens are aware of future decisions regarding this project, including a public survey for feedback on the two hospitals merging into a single organization.
“To date, we’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response to the redevelopment project and the recently announced site,” said Gagnon.
