Overview

The Heart of a Community
    Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre is a 299-bed acute care community hospital based in Barrie, Ontario, a rapidly-growing city of over 125,000 residents, just an hour north of Toronto . The Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre is the only hospital in Barrie and provides specialized services to patients from a huge geographical region - including Simcoe County and the districts of Muskoka and Parry Sound.
     Our dynamic and progressive medical team of over 280 skilled physicians, almost 2,300 caring staff members and 1,100 dedicated volunteers provide outstanding health care specializing in Cancer Care, Surgical Services, Critical Care, Mental Health Rehabilitation Services, as well as Women and Children's programs.
     RVH is a state-of-the-art facility that has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade. There are in excess of 68,000 visits to our Emergency Department annually and clinical activities across the board have virtually doubled since the hospital opened in 1997. Extraordinary growth has occurred in surgical services, cancer care and diagnostic support services. It is the site of one of only two MRI units in the region, and is the only hospital in the LHIN to offer minimally invasive Interventional Radiology.
     Barrie has the fastest-growing youth population in , and as a result, RVH offers a robust array of infant and paediatric clinics and services including an asthma clinic, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) clinic, endocrinology clinic and a pediatric conscious sedation program. Additionally, RVH is home to a well established Children's Development Services team and coordinates and administers speech and language therapy programs throughout the region.
     There were almost 2400 babies born at RVH last year and while most of those babies return home with their parents shortly after birth, those that need extra care can receive it in a12-isolette Advanced Level II Special Care Nursery, or one-to-one intensive care in two infant care centres, all under the supervision of a staff neonatologist.

Phase 1 Expansion Project
     Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre has embarked on the largest capital project in Simcoe Muskoka history -- an expansion which will transform RVH and provide enhanced healthcare closer to home for residents throughout the region.
     The Phase 1 Expansion project will almost double the size of the hospital, adding an additional 400,000 square feet of space, and capacity for 165 additional inpatient beds, including a dedicated Coronary Care Unit; significant expansions of the Emergency Department, Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory; two additional Operating Rooms. In addition to the significant expansion, another 100,000 square feet of the current facility will undergo extensive renovations over the next several years.
     This ambitious, $450 million project also features the Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre. The centre, which will be the only one of its kind between Newmarket and Sudbury, will provide advanced diagnostics, radiation treatment and follow-up cancer care to the almost half million people who live in Simcoe County and Muskoka. In its first year alone, the cancer centre will log over 60,000 patient visits. The expansion will open in 2012 with the renovations to the existing building completed by 2013.

Programs and Services

BASIC HOSPITAL
    The RVH Base Hospital program for Simcoe-Muskoka provides training and medical delegation to approximately 250 paramedics in Simcoe County and Muskoka. The provincial government designated 22 hospitals in the province as Base Hospitals to oversee and enhance the care provided by paramedics. RVH received its designation in 1991.

H1N1 AND THE CANCER PATIENT
    Cancer patients are at risk for developing complications from the H1N1 flu and other seasonal flu infections. In order to prevent complications from the flu, vaccination with the H1N1 and the seasonal flu shots is strongly recommended for people with cancer. Like the annual seasonal flu shot, the new H1N1 vaccine does not contain live virus so it is safe for people with cancer.
     If you are on chemotherapy or if your immune system is weakened, your response to the vaccine may be lower but it is still recommended that you get the flu shot as soon as possible. It is safe to get both the H1N1 and seasonal flu shot at the same time (one shot in each arm) but if you have side-effects it will be hard to understand if a side effect is related to one shot or the other. For this reason, it is recommended that you get the shots 2 to 3 weeks apart.
     If you get flu-like symptoms or think you might be coming down with the flu please contact your family physician. If you have flu-like symptoms, it is very important that you stay at home and reschedule your clinic appointment and/or treatment, appointments at RVH. If you are not sure what to do, please call your clinic ahead of time to ask for advice. If a family member is sick with flu-like symptoms, he/she should not come with you to the clinic or visit while you are in hospital.

Environmental Services
    Environmental Services encompasses the following support services at RVH: Housekeeping, Laundry and Linen, Waste Management, Room Bookings and Audio/Visual set ups, Grounds Keeping, and protecting as a result of moves.
     Our department is committed to providing a clean, safe and healthy environment with our primary focus being infection control. Whether in Housekeeping or Laundry and Linen our highly trained professionals ensure the risk of nosocomial infections is kept to a minimum as a result of expertise and skills.
     Our department functions 24/7, 365 days a year meeting client needs and supporting all facets of the facility. Housekeeping staff clean approx. 500,000 square feet of space daily, while laundry staff process approx. 2500 Kg of soiled linen daily.
     We are very proud to acknowledge the following achievements:
    * 5 star provincial rating (the highest possible) 4 of the past 5 consecutive years
    * Community in Blooms Award for the last 4 consecutive years
    * Wood Wyant National Sanitation Award for Excellence and Innovation 2004
    * OHA Green Award for Pollution Prevention 2005
    We continue to research and trial cutting edge technology in terms of chemicals, cleaning tools, equipment and processes to not only meet but exceed Ministry Standards.

Pharmacy
    The Pharmacy Department at the Royal Victoria Hospital plays a crucial role on the RVH multidisciplinary healthcare team in a participative, co-operative and integrated manner giving due regard to the recognized hospital organizational structure. We are responsible for promoting rational drug therapy for all hospital inpatients. This service includes drug purchasing, dispensing, distribution and adequate drug control throughout the hospital. Responsibilities also include education of medical and paramedical groups in pharmacology and related topics and the maintenance of a drug information service.

Surgery Program
    Working closely with the Departments of Anaesthesia and Surgery our multidisciplinary team of dedicated professionals cares for approximately 66,000 patients per year by means of surgical procedures or clinic visits. We are proud of the services we provide for our community and seek to constantly benchmark, revise, and ultimately improve the care we give.
    In response to our growing community the Surgical Program will be expanding its surgical services as the Phase I Redevelopment construction plan unfolds over the coming years.
Please take the time to browse our departmental outlines.

Philosophy of Care
    It is our belief that the surgical patient has the right to individual care. We utilize an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate his or her physical, emotional and spiritual needs, with an emphasis on effective communication skills. We support and maintain the individual's right to participate in and make informed decisions regarding their care.
    We further believe in the provision of an environment which provides an atmosphere of respect, support and co-operation for patients and the involvement of significant others.
    We further believe in the importance of collaborating with other health care professionals for the co-ordination and implementation of an interdisciplinary team approach to total patient care.
We further believe in the involvement of family and community whenever possible. We are committed to providing educational opportunities for future generations of health care professionals.
    We further believe in the value of outcome evaluation via continuous Quality Improvement and other more rigorous research tools to measure our patient care effectiveness.
    We further believe in ongoing staff education and professional development as necessary to achieving excellence in the care we provide.