St. Joseph’s Health System has launched St. Mary’s Health and its first service, St. Mary’s Health @ Home, an initiative designed to renew Catholic care in the Region of Waterloo while aiming to meet the changing needs of the community for generations to come.

Through various community engagements throughout the last year, St. Joseph’s Health System prepared itself for a merger of St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital to form Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN), supported by the St. Joseph’s Health System’s board of directors, in April. The pre-existing St. Mary’s General Hospital site, now part of the WRHN, will continue to operate as an acute care hospital for the next several years.

The move is a response to the region’s growing health-care needs, particularly for seniors, as the network shifts from hospital-centric care to offer more integrated and community-driven services under the St. Mary’s Health name, with a focus on equitable, accessible care rooted in SJHS’s Catholic mission.

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Due to rapid population growth in the Region of Waterloo, there's been an increased demand for health-care services, bringing with it longer wait times and limited access to primary and specialty care services.

Additional support has also been identified for the area’s aging population, as Waterloo’s senior population is expected to double in the next 20 years.

“This marks a commitment to delivering high-quality, compassionate care where patients are most comfortable, which to many is at home," said Nadia Surani, the vice president of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and executive director of St. Joseph’s Home Care. "One of the things we embarked on in collaboration with our hospital partner, formerly St. Mary's Hospital, now part of the WRHN, is a hospital-to-home program. When patients are in the hospital but are ready to go home, it’s important we provide them with a comprehensive range of services to allow for that transition.”  

Building on the St. Joseph’s Hospital-to-Home Program, which provides preventative care to seniors and patients with complex health conditions as they are discharged from the hospital, St. Mary’s Health @ Home looks to serve individuals who no longer require hospitalization, but still need medical and personal support. 

“ We are thinking about the senior population and their preferences, which is that many want to receive care at home. Now, we have embarked on expanding those services beyond our hospital partnership and in the community,” Surani said. 

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“Our first step was making sure that we are getting people out of the hospital and back home appropriately, but also knowing that the population is aging and thinking about how we can best support seniors so they can age safely and with dignity in their homes.” 

The initiative is supported by an interdisciplinary team that runs the gamut of health care, including nurses, personal support workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, rehab assistants and social workers. 

“Our goal is to ensure that every patient receives the care they need, when they need it, and where they need it along their entire healing journey,” said Surani. “Together with our hospital and community partners, we’re expanding our home care services to enhance access to urgent in-home support for people in the Region of Waterloo.”

Surani says that despite only having launched after the merger on April 1, the effects of the renewed home care services are already being felt by patients. The executive director recalls overhearing a patient speak with St. Mary’s personal service workers, telling them her home service has made her feel “genuinely cared for every single day.” 

For Surani, it goes back to St. Joseph’s Health System’s Catholic mission as one of the largest Catholic corporations in Canada, serving more than two million Canadians. 

“ Our Catholic mission and values are rooted in compassion, dignity and service to all. This helps us provide equitable and inclusive care that respects diverse backgrounds, beliefs and needs of our entire senior population,” she said. 

“Every individual deserves to be seen, heard and valued, and that is being integrated into our mission with practice. This creates those environments where all seniors feel safe and supported.”

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SJHS is also looking at ways to address critical gaps in primary care access for seniors. 

“ One of the things that we're working hard on, particularly in the Waterloo region, is strengthening our partnerships for primary care, understanding what their needs are and understanding how we can help so that they can attract more patients. We can help with making sure that we're holistically looking at care so that patients are not only getting primary care, but also home and community care, all in one bucket,” Surani said.