St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital Announce Merger Approval
Kitchener, ON, March 28, 2025 – Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital are thrilled to announce the Ministry of Health has approved their merger to become the Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN, pronounced wren) on April 1, 2025.
Building on over 90 years of partnership, this merger represents a continued commitment to enhancing the health-care experience through combined resources, expertise, and continued work towards including the new state-of-the-art Hospital at the University of Waterloo’s North Campus.
WRHN will continue to deliver its full range of regional programs, specialties, and services at their existing locations. On April 1, all legacy Hospital sites will begin providing services as WRHN. While the name of the Hospital organization and site locations are changing, how and where patients will access care will not change. The community should continue accessing emergency care as usual. Sites will now be known as:
- WRHN @ Midtown (formerly Grand River KW Campus) - emergency services available
- WRHN @ Queen’s Blvd. (formerly St. Mary’s) - emergency services available
- WRHN @ Chicopee (formerly Grand River Freeport Campus)
"We are excited to unite our strengths and expertise to better serve the communities of Waterloo-Wellington, and beyond," said WRHN Board Co-Chair, Tim Rollins. "This merger is more than just a name change, it's about building a stronger health care system that prioritizes patient care, innovation, and community well-being."
“Thank you to all community and team members for your input throughout this process,” says Sandra Hanmer, WRHN Board Co-Chair. “Your input has been invaluable during this transition, and our teams remain committed to keeping the community engaged as we work to ensure everyone has access to the right care in the right place at the right time.”
The Hospitals first announced their intent to merge in April 2024, following years of engagement with team members and the community on improving the local health-care experience, and founded on more than 90 years of partnership. The St. Joseph’s Health System, of which St. Mary’s General Hospital was a member, is supportive of the merger. Since last spring, the teams of both Hospitals continued and expanded their work together, already realizing better coordination and efficiency to meet the communities’ rapidly growing and increasingly diverse needs.
The Hospitals have also engaged with communities and key audiences – including equity-deserving groups, Indigenous communities, and system partners – to understand better what they want and need in a new hospital network. The new brand, designed with inputs from these engagements, includes an uplifting visual identity, reflecting WRHN’s commitment to providing exceptional patient care in safe, welcoming, and inclusive spaces, with compassionate and innovative mindsets. The bold and fresh new logo is inspired by nature, pays homage to the legacy, while positioning the new unified organization for growth.
“Waterloo Region is one of the fastest growing regions in the province,” says Rollins. “Our legacy Hospitals have partnered for over 90 years, helping ensure that patients receive the care they need when they need it. Through this merger, we’re working to further eliminate barriers to access, and are helping the communities we serve to feel confident and connected throughout their individual health-care journeys.”
“Ensuring community members have access to world-class health-care experiences close to home is a key component of helping the Region of Waterloo be 1Million Ready,” says WRHN Board Co-Chair, Sandra Hanmer. “Through this merger, we’re able to better support the growing demand and work collaboratively to innovate solutions that improve the overall patient experience.”
For more information about Waterloo Regional Health Network, please visit WRHN.ca. If you have questions about WRHN, you can reach out to the Hospital through Dayna Giorgio, dgiorgio@smgh.ca
# 30 #
Media Contact
Dayna Giorgio
Director, Strategic Communications
Waterloo Regional Health Network
519-895-6540
About Waterloo Regional Health Network
Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN, pronounced wren) represents the merger of St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital into a single, integrated health-care organization. Building on over 90 years of partnership, WRHN brings the strengths of both Hospitals together and is home to seven regional programs and comprehensive health-care services to meet the current and emerging needs in Waterloo-Wellington and beyond. WRHN is redefining the health-care experience through collaboration and innovation, addressing barriers to access, advancing care delivery, and setting new standards in compassionate, empowered community-driven health care. At WRHN, every patient is at the centre of everything we do as we strive to improve lives, inspire healing, and build healthier, stronger communities.
Learn more at WRHN.ca (website launches April 1, 2025).