Our stories
Commitment and strategy
Research
Oak Valley Health led over 18 clinical trials in the areas of oncology, inpatient medicine and Intensive Care Unit (ICU), COVID-19, labour and delivery, paediatrics, and orthopaedics. In Canada, clinical trials are conducted with oversight from a research ethics board and Health Canada when applicable.
$2.5 million provincial investment to expand services and add new hospital beds for local families
The planned redevelopment of Uxbridge Hospital passed a final hurdle on April 22 with an announcement of $2.5 million to finish construction planning, allowing the project to move forward to construction sometime next year.
The project is planned to add 11 new beds for a total of 31 beds at Oak Valley Health’s Uxbridge Hospital, where we provide diagnostic and emergency services to more than 23,000 patients per year. In addition, the long-term care home is planned to accommodate 92 new beds for a total of 192 long-term care beds. The new facility will replace ReachView Village facility. The redeveloped hospital will also expand key services, including diagnostic imaging, cardiorespiratory services, and laboratory and pharmacy services.
Virtual Community Town Hall
In spring of 2022, Oak Valley Health held its first Virtual Community Town Hall. Co-hosted by our President and CEO, Jo-anne Marr, and Vice President of Planning and Transformation, Elena Pacheco, they shared an update on the pandemic’s impact on health services as well as future capital redevelopment plans for Markham Stouffville Hospital and Uxbridge Hospital.
We were thrilled to be able to share the latest updates with both our staff, professional staff, and our community. We knew how hard the last two years had been, and were excited to continue moving forward and providing exceptional care to patients and families.
Oak Valley Health now offering microcredentials!
This was an exciting next step for education at Oak Valley Health. Microcredentials, also known as badges, certify ongoing learning and skills development in a fast, flexible, easy to share format.
Microcredentials will enable our staff and professional staff to easily showcase learning completed at Oak Valley Health. These badges recognize and highlight accomplishments and learning. The badges earned help tell a more complete story of skills, achievements and interests.
Time to Shine Conference
The Time to Shine Conference was conceptualized out of a desire to share how we and others successfully managed to meet the various challenges through innovation and collaboration. With a focus on pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care, this conference was created to inspire health care providers, hospital leadership, and more.
Accreditation
Accreditation is a voluntary, third-party assessment process that hospitals across Canada can choose to participate in. Oak Valley Health invites a team of surveyors from Accreditation Canada to evaluate the organization on quality, safety, and efficiency.
This year Oak Valley Health was awarded with exemplary standing, the highest award possible from the national quality standards organization, with an even higher score than the one achieved four years ago.
We are incredibly honoured to be placed among top-ranked hospitals in Canada achieving 100% of the required organizational practices and 99.8% compliance with over 2,300 internationally recognized standards.
Pronouns matter
Pronouns are words you use to refer to people instead of using their names. Using a person’s pronouns correctly shows them respect, forms an inclusive environment and is important in delivering inclusive, patient-centred health care – something we strive for at Oak Valley Health.
In August 2022, in partnership with our SHINE partners, Southlake Regional Health Centre and Stevenson Memorial Hospital, we began asking patients at patient registration “would you like to share your pronouns?” Their pronouns are then entered into MEDITECH.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Plan Extension 2022-2024
In 2020, we launched our first EDI plan. Two years later, we announced the extension of the plan, the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Plan Extension 2022-2024.
The EDI Extension Plan was developed through a collaborative process that included Oak Valley Health’s leadership team, staff, professional staff, volunteers and community members.
Pride Month
The month of June is a worldwide recognition of Pride – a time to acknowledge, celebrate and learn more about the 2SLGBTQ+ community. At Oak Valley Health, we are continually focused on promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout the organization. Our Pride Committee planned several fantastic, educational events throughout the Pride month including the flag raising, a conversation with a celebrity drag queen, games, and more!
Black History Month
Every February, people across the country participate in Black History Month events celebrating people in the Black community and acknowledging their lived experience. We are proud to have celebrated this February, with learning events and celebrations organized by our Network of Black Employees (NBE).
The NBE is a voluntary, staff-led group that focuses on Black voices and issues affecting staff, physicians, students, volunteers and patients within the Black community at Oak Valley Health.
The NBE put together several events throughout the month of February including an information booth, a student writing competition, and two speaking events featuring guest speakers Dionne Sinclair, Vice President, Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Executive at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Jon Corbin, hip hop artist, poet, and podcaster.