Your Stories

GBGH Update from Hospital President & CEO, Matthew Lawson

Summer is a time when we like to reflect back on the excellent work of the GBGH Team over the past year, and celebrate some of the outstanding accomplishments that our team and our donors, helped make possible.

Just over six months ago, GBGH was Accredited with Exemplary Standing – the highest achievement possible in this very thorough quality and safety evaluation process.

We are moving forward rapidly on the new MRI project, with construction on the 2,000 square foot addition beginning in June 2024.

And, we are one year into our new Strategic Plan, which is guiding everything we do around our purpose –We Make Excellent Care Personal – and four strategic themes. Below you will see how some of this past year’s accomplishments align under each theme.

Continual Excellence
• Achieved Accredited with Exemplary Standing.
• Launched a dedicated Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) and Palliative Care service to enhance end of life care.
• Added new equipment in our surgical program to expand the program and better serve our community. New C-arm enables GBGH to now perform endoscopic retrograde      cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) to access and repair bile and pancreatic ducts.
• Added a new patient experience survey – Insights to Inspire Care – to gather timely feedback after patients’ discharge from hospital to improve services.
• Launched the Essential Care Partner Program to ensure essential visitors have access to patients as part of the care team

Trust & Belonging
• Continued to collaborate with the Indigenous Health Circle on opportunities to improve culturally safe care at GBGH.
• Officially raised the Pride flag for the first time in GBGH history.
• Launched series of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Forums for GBGH team members to attend and provide feedback and insights on priorities

Dedicated Team
• Invested $40,000 to support staff learning through the creation of an Education Trust Fund.
• Hosted open houses to familiarize prospective staff with GBGH and held hiring events to recruit new team members, helping to address ongoing healthcare human resources shortages.
• Launched Housing for Healthcare website to connect local property owners with prospective hospital staff seeking accommodation.
• GBGH welcomed more than 30 students to complete hands-on training in the fields of nursing, lab, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, pharmacy and personal support work.

Sustainable Growth
• Completed a major renovation to our two x-ray rooms including installing the latest technology.
• Invested $11.1 million in clinical and non-clinical capital purchases based on necessity, safety, and replacement needed/new equipment.
• Launched the GBGH@Home program to assist with patient flow across the hospital and ensure patients are receiving the right care in the right place.
• Entered into a research partnership with Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) to expand research activities focused on improving patient care and clinical outcomes.
• In preparation for the future hospital to be built on the adjacent land donated to the hospital, completed an environmental assessment and are working with the Town of Midland to re-zone the land.
• Continued to make progress in submission for a mental health program at GBGH, adding much needed resources in an under-serviced region.

We are proud of our team’s commitment to GBGH, for being kind and respectful to each other, for listening to our patients/families and for continually striving to make our hospital a better place to work, practice or receive care.

And, we are incredibly grateful to our community – of donors, businesses and organizations – who have invested in our hospital by giving our teams the tools, technology and education that supports so many of these accomplishments.

Matthew Lawson
President & CEO
Georgian Bay General Hospital

The gift of a first step

After months of intense treatment, a medically-induced coma and rehabilitation, Martin Picotte took his first steps in December 2023 with the help of a Patient Lift at Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH).

“The feeling of standing again brought a huge smile to my face,” says Martin. “It just helped me so much. I was smiling and my legs were moving – not very well – but I was able to walk!”  To see Martin’s first steps with the Patient Lift, click here.

The Patient Lift was purchased with funds donated through the GBGH Foundation, and it allows patients to begin their rehabilitation therapy before they are medically cleared to bear any weight.

In September 2023, Martin was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare disorder caused by a virus where the body’s immune system damages nerves, causing muscle weakness and, in Martin’s case, paralysis. He began feeling miserable when he first woke up, and by the time the ambulance arrived, his condition had deteriorated quickly.

Martin spent a total of nine and a half months in hospital, mostly at GBGH, and a significant amount of time on the rehabilitation unit. From near total paralysis at the beginning, to ambulating around the unit with a walker, Martin credits the team for helping him.

“I’m so grateful for the therapy team and the nurses [at GBGH] who have become like family,” said Martin. “We joke and laugh, and they go out of their way to help, no questions asked. And, thank you to all those people who donated to help purchase the lift. It helped me and I know it will help a lot of other people too.”

To learn more about making a gift to honour a GBGH team member, visit gbghf.ca/heartfeltthanks