A Message from the Leadership of Southlake Health
and Southlake Health Foundation
This past year was a strong reflection of the pride for people, place, and performance that has been the bedrock of Southlake Health for over a century. Every day, we watched more than 6,000 staff, medical staff, learners, and volunteers come together to deliver leading edge care, close to home. We are thrilled to highlight some of those efforts in the 2025/2026 Southlake Health and Southlake Health Foundation Annual Report.
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This year our pride for people shone brighter than ever. Many team members were recognized as leaders in their fields or for their efforts in their communities. Whether they received a King Charles Coronation Award or were recognized by their medical peers with a Visionary Award, their achievements directly impact patient experiences and care, helping to make Southlake the incredible organization it is today.
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We are proud to share that for the eighth consecutive year Southlake was named one of the World’s Best Hospitals by Newsweek. This award was bolstered by two new recognitions as one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures and one of the Greater Toronto Area’s Top Employers. Together, this trio of awards are a strong reflection of the compassion, dedication, and expertise of our incredible teams.
In health care, it can be easy to focus on what is happening within our own communities, but what we continue to see time and time again is that Southlake’s teams want to help others grow and improve care.
As a Level 7 Regional Cardiac Program, Southlake is recognized nationally and internationally for innovation in patient care and clinical research. For the first time, Southlake performed a live case at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Conference, the world’s largest and most prestigious conference for interventional cardiology. More than 10,000 clinicians from around the world watched a livestream showcasing advanced diagnostic techniques used at Southlake to better understand and treat coronary artery disease, one of the most common causes of heart-related illness and death in Canada.
Southlake also announced a new partnership with Mackenzie Health to expand access to advanced cardiac services across York Region and beyond. The multi-year collaboration will begin with the establishment of a pacemaker clinic at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital and lay the foundation for future growth in specialized cardiac care.
In addition, Southlake continued to introduce new innovations like the ROSA Knee System, York Region’s first robotic technology assisting knee replacement surgeries. While the surgeon is fully in control during the procedure, ROSA supports a more personalized experience for patients, which can support a smoother recovery.
Building the foundation for these innovations, we also modernized our internal digital health landscape to quietly enhance patient care behind the scenes. In October, Southlake launched an upgraded electronic medical record system in partnership with Oak Valley Health and Stevenson Memorial Hospital through the Shared Health Information Network Exchange (SHINE) network. The upgraded system transitioned many paper-based processes to a more integrated digital platform, supporting more coordinated care, improved communication between care teams, and enhanced safeguards for patient safety.
These milestones from the past year will propel us forward into our next chapter. Southlake Health recently took a major step forward in transforming care across northern York Region and southern Simcoe County, with the Province of Ontario announcing its endorsement of our vision to become a Distributed Health Network (DHN) over the next decade. A DHN is a more sustainable model that organizes services across multiple sites and communities rather than relying on a single hospital. A new hospital in East Gwillimbury and redeveloped Davis Drive campus will anchor care and be supported by community-based services at Advanced Care Centres enabled by digital health and system partnerships. Together, all of this will allow Southlake to meet the needs of a growing and aging population, improve experiences for patients and staff, and bring care even closer to home.
However, none of this would be possible without our communities’ support. Southlake Health Foundation continues to mobilize our caring and thoughtful community of donors and volunteers, inviting them to play a vital role in our ability to deliver leading edge care, close to home. Our communities generously gave $11 million this past year, and raised more than $520,000 at the 2026 Nature’s Emporium Run for Southlake – a new record.
From a new MRI machine that helps us complete tests faster to the renewal and expansion of the Emergency Department that creates a more welcoming and efficient environment to deliver care, community support had a direct and powerful impact on the world-class care patients and families can count on from Southlake every day. We are truly grateful for the incredible generosity of our communities, who enabled the purchase of lifesaving equipment, advanced technology, and renewed infrastructure that ensures everyone at Southlake can support the best experiences and outcomes for patients.
As we reflect on this remarkable year, we do so with gratitude, optimism, and excitement for the work ahead as we transform Southlake into a Distributed Health Network to deliver leading edge care, even closer to home over the decade ahead. We cannot wait to see what our team and our communities accomplish next.
