Brightshores Health System had a busy 2023, from a new president and CEO to a new name, and new amenities to serve the community.
President and CEO at Brightshores Health System, Ann Ford, says that as an organization, they were proud to be able to open new diagnostic imaging equipment this year.
“We’re doing a lot of upgrades to our imaging, which is really about providing high-quality care across the region. The CT in Southampton at our Saugeen Shores site really is providing additional access, so folks do not need to travel from Southampton and that area to Owen Sound now for a CT scan. They’ll be able to stay closer to home and have that type of diagnostic imaging then there.”
The ability to provide additional resources for diagnostic imaging is important so that local residents don’t have to travel for hours to get a CT scan or MRI.
Ford says that they’re also proud that they achieved exemplary standing from Accreditation Canada, which is the nationwide and global hospital accreditation program.
They celebrated the opening of the new Markdale Hospital in September.
They also opened the new cataract surgery at Meaford Hospital, which allows better access for everyone across Grey and Bruce.
Brightshores is also celebrating the opening of 16 transition care beds, which are for patients who require additional support during their hospital stay. This has also helped patients access acute care beds faster and then get the right amount of care that they need before going home.
In Owen Sound, they received funding which allowed the organization to open two new intensive care beds, bringing the total beds in the city to eight beds.
Brightshores was also able to open space for up to eight patients who require their crisis support space, which was recently renovated and opened for use. The beds are specifically for those who need care for a mental health crisis.
Ford says that since taking over the top job this past spring, one main issue has been present throughout the past several years, which Brightshores is hoping to tackle head-on in 2024: staffing shortages.
“Human health resources are still high on our list of some of our challenges. We’ve been able to recruit some nursing staff, nurse practitioners, and staff across the whole hospital. It’s not necessarily clinical staff, it’s also teams that work in our facilities, and our food services. So we’re working hard around recruitment, but also hard around retention.”
She says that because the need for more healthcare professionals is ever-increasing due to growth in the region, it has to be a concerted effort to not only recruit staff but also give them a reason to stay in the Grey Bruce region.
And although the health system was able to keep emergency departments open, there is still a strain on other hospitals in the region.
“It’s a systems issue. It’s not just the government, it’s not just universities, it’s not just hospitals. We have an aging population across Ontario, and certainly in our area. Physicians and staff are getting older, they saw opportunities for retirement during COVID,” says Ford. “To recruit to a rural area is not necessarily about having a position available. It’s about what opportunities are available for spouses, or families, [including] what schools are available.”
She says that from an organizational standpoint, Brightshores is hoping to work with community partners to be able to have the right resources to attract the right people to the region — not only those who want to come to Grey or Bruce County but those who also want to stick around.
Ford says “The more [medical] residents and students we can have in our systems, the better chance we have of keeping them within the system, because they see the type of work we’re doing and see the opportunities we have, and they have the opportunity to live in the area and understand just how great it is to live here. It’s got to be a village…how do we work with our partners to be successful? It’s a tough road sometimes.”
