As published in the Richmond Hill Liberal
On behalf of the community volunteers with significant business and health care experience who serve on the board of directors, we would like to speak to the investment made by our organization in the development of the new Mackenzie Health name and visual identity.
With an expanded mandate from the province to build a new hospital in Vaughan and grow health care services across our community, our new brand serves to communicate the significant change and enhanced level of healthcare to be developed for all of Southwest York Region.
Our challenge over the past year was not simply a rebranding of York Central Hospital, but more importantly, embarking on the exciting journey of creating a new major regional healthcare provider and a supporting structure that will better serve the needs of our growing community.
The creation of a new regional health care organization is only possible through significant community support, as demonstrated through successful fundraising efforts.
Mackenzie Health’s expanded mandate requires significant physical transformation to support increased capacity and services to meet the rapidly growing health care needs of our community.
The building of the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital and the continued revitalization of Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital are examples of areas of focus requiring significant fundraising.
It is critical that there is a clear and strong brand that is much broader than just Richmond Hill to enable the required fundraising now and in the future.
All the citizens of Vaughan and Richmond Hill must identify with and recognize the brand of the health care organization serving their needs.
Although the new name and visual identity may have come as a surprise to some, over the past year the hospital repeatedly publicized its rebranding through community open houses, in its The Heartbeat of our Community newsletter distributed to 140,000 homes through The Liberal and Vaughan Citizen, as well as through on-line surveys on its website and community focus groups in both Richmond Hill and Vaughan.
The cost of the rebranding is reflective of this year-long engagement to capture the values and healthcare priorities of our community with the participation of more than 800 people in the development of the new brand.
As with other healthcare providers in the province with a significant change mandate, the development of a new brand and identity are key elements of that change.
The magazine style publication distributed in The Liberal recently is our annual community report distributed every year at this time through The Liberal and Vaughan newspapers as part of our commitment to openness and transparency to our community.
Although it certainly speaks to the creation of a new major regional healthcare provider, this was not a special branding publication and it helps to keep the community informed on a wide range of achievements and improvements in healthcare while maintaining fiscal accountability.
The board of directors proudly supports the cost of the rebranding as a wise investment towards the creation of our new regional healthcare organization and the raising of the approximately $200 million from our community that will be required to provide quality health care services to all of the people of Southwest York Region.
Dina Palozzi
Chairperson, Board of Directors
Mackenzie Health
Fraser Nelson
Chairperson, Board of Directors
Mackenzie Health Foundation