Site Selection Panel Selected to Identify Site for New Hospital

Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital continue to advance plans for the proposed new joint hospital in Kitchener-Waterloo. In March, a public call was made inviting candidates to apply for the Site Selection Panel who will be leading the efforts to identify a preferred site for the hospital. We are pleased to share that the Panel members have now been selected.

The Panel will lead an independent and well-communicated process to evaluate land and determine a preferred site. The Panel’s work will be supported by the necessary technical and subject matter expertise and an independent Fairness Advisor to make the best decision for the community.

We are grateful to all community members who applied to join the Panel and support our project.

The Site Selection Panel includes five members, with Carl Zehr as Chair:

Karen Coviello – Former City of Waterloo Councillor and respected leadership executive with Habitat For Humanity Canada, who also brings significant experience as a community volunteer and advocate.

Janet Davidson – Widely honoured former executive and CEO of multiple hospital systems in Canada, who also brings clinical care experience, and experience as a senior public servant in Canadian healthcare systems.

Mike Murray – Former long-time CAO with the Region of Waterloo, brings extensive community involvement, as well as significant experience in finance, land-use planning, and the development and delivery of large-scale infrastructure projects.

Altaf Stationwala – A well-respected hospital CEO who led the recent completion of a new hospital build, as well as Chaired the Lakeridge Health Expert Panel new hospital site selection process in 2022.

Carl Zehr (Chair) – Long-time former Mayor of the City of Kitchener and Region of Waterloo Councillor, he has served on numerous Boards and is a well-respected senior executive and leader in the community.

The Panel will make its recommendation on a preferred site for the new hospital to the BFCT subcommittee and the Boards of Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital by the end of 2023. Panel member biographies can be found at Building the Future of Care Together where you can also sign up to subscribe to the project newsletter.

The new hospital is a key piece of a broader proposal before the Ministry of Health to modernize and expand infrastructure and services to support a growing number of patients and their families in Waterloo Region and beyond.

In addition to a new hospital, we are also proposing to renew and repurpose two existing hospital sites:

• The midtown Kitchener-Waterloo Campus would be transformed into an ambulatory and urgent care centre; and
• The Freeport Campus in Kitchener would be modernized and expanded to increase our rehabilitation capacity.

All three sites would be shared by both Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital.

The Building the Future of Care Together (BFCT) Committee of the hospitals’ boards is responsible for overseeing the site selection project and the Panel. This Committee reports into the boards of both hospitals and St. Joseph’s Health System.

Next Steps

We recognize the location of a new hospital will have major impacts on our community. Hospital teams, partners, municipalities, subject matter experts and the broader community are encouraged to provide their input as part of the site selection process. The Panel will be gathering feedback from experts and the community on draft criteria for evaluating potential sites for a new hospital. These criteria will be taken into consideration in the site selection process, along with specifications and requirements set out by Ontario’s Ministry of Health to guide hospital infrastructure development projects.

More information will be shared soon about opportunities to get involved, as well as progress toward identifying a preferred site.

Updates & Questions

Updates on the site selection process and opportunities to provide feedback will be posted on the Building the Future of Care Together website. Comments and questions can be sent to info@futureofcaretogether.ca.