Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

MUSKOKA — Months — if not years — after waiting for an answer on where the health and physical state of Muskoka’s hospitals will soon be up to 50 years from now, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare says the picture is becoming clearer.

The delay in selecting south Muskoka’s site may just be in how medicine is delivered across the district for decades to come.

It’s called “wrap-around healthcare.”

And “Made-in-Muskoka Healthcare” is the vision of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare.

“Recognizing that we are making a decision for the next 50 years for healthcare in South Muskoka, we are being thorough with our due diligence process and look forward to announcing the future location of the South Muskoka site in the near future,” they say.

All this as the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital and Huntsville District Memorial Hospital are experiencing added pressures not unlike COVID.

Respiratory illnesses this fall — including colds and flus — have not only returned symptoms to be dealt with, but they have helped show where the future lies now and up to 2073.

“Healthcare and hospitals everywhere in Canada and right here are under extreme pressure to transform, to become more sustainable, to rethink access and service delivery and to be more adaptive and collaborative,” says a release Monday, Oct. 16 from MAHC.

“That pressure, complicated by our unique blend of communities, shifting populations and even lifestyles, is even more acute here in Muskoka and the small towns inside and around its borders.

“That’s okay. The Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare team has also proven itself more than able to meet any challenge,” it offers in an attempt to reassure the public.

Calling the “task ahead an exciting, equally unique opportunity to reaffirm local healthcare,” they say they are “preserving the best of what works today and enhancing it.

“Building a new vision, an integrated system based on collaboration, advanced technology and a world-class approach to healthcare partnership.”

MAHC goes on in its latest update to state: “We are building a ‘Made-in-Muskoka Healthcare’ system that will ensure what we have is sustainable, adaptive and always aligned with where we live, work and play.”

A lot of what has been previous said.

The Made-in-Muskoka Healthcare, it furthers says, be anchored by two, new, state-of-the-art acute care hospitals that will ensure we serve all communities in and around Muskoka with safe, reliable access.

“We will design for continuous change from the ground up. We will build green. We will be home to the practice of outstanding medicine for all.”

MAHC’s goal again is, “as partners in the education of a new generation of healthcare providers, to attract and retain the right kind of talent, those who will help us thrive and adapt in the spirit of our legacy and geography.

By joining, often leading and always supporting partnerships that will foster integration and improve all forms of local healthcare over time, we will become central to Made-in-Muskoka Healthcare without dictating it. We will be colleagues in wrap-around healthcare.

“And finally, from day one, we will blend advanced technology and genuine collaboration to sustain and support the very best of personalized medicine. This will ensure that patient compassion thrives here.”

‘Made-in-Muskoka Healthcare

goes beyond two new hospitals’

“It … will be a unique healthcare infrastructure that matches our unique part of the world, today and for generations to come.”

“Made-in-Muskoka Healthcare is the vision of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare.”

MAHC says in line with this vision, internal user groups have been “diligently” working through the Functional Programming (Part A) steps of our capital redevelopment project through May to August.

Staff, physicians and midwives, volunteers, Patient Experience Partners and external partners have been providing comprehensive insight on programs and services through a series of user groups, facilitated by our consultants at Resource Planning Group.

At the end of August, they held a Community Focus Group to gain community insight into future hospital programs and services and other factors that should be considered within the context of the redevelopment.

Focus group attendees from various corners of our communities were led through four questions, and not only provided useful suggestions for consideration, but also validated much of the thinking and planning work achieved through the internal user groups. We appreciate the time invested and the input and feedback provided by the participants.

In September, internal user groups turned their attention to Part B of the Functional Programming – the built form at each hospital site that would support the future programs and services. Supported by consultants at Stantec Architecture, staff, physicians and midwives, volunteers, Patient Experience Partners and external partners, once again participated in interactive workshops to develop and review block schematics for both sites to illustrate and test adjacencies and flow.

Site selection and local share

Finally, with respect to site selection for a new property for the South Muskoka site, MAHC says the redevelopment project team continues working through the investigation and assessment of 1975 Muskoka Beach Road and 300 Pine Street properties to ensure we understand all the benefits and impacts of these two properties.

“Recognizing that we are making a decision for the next 50 years for healthcare in South Muskoka, we are being thorough with our due diligence process and look forward to announcing the future location of the South Muskoka site in the near future.”

A similar statement as was said early last spring.

As well, they say the Local Share Committee comprised of representatives of the MAHC Board of Directors, Huntsville Hospital Foundation and South Muskoka Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, the Mayors of every municipality in Muskoka, the District Chair, and the Chair of the Almaguin Highlands Health Council (representing 10 municipal councils in the Almaguin Highlands) has continued its efforts to develop a plan to finance the community’s share of the future redevelopment.

A number of municipal councils have passed resolutions earmarking approved contributions and both hospital foundations have committed $35 million in fundraising. We continue inching closer to the goal and look forward to sharing our progress to achieve the $225 million local share of the project’s total cost.

For more information on ongoing planning see MAHC’s website at www.mahc.ca/planning-for-the-future

EMAIL: [email protected]

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