Wolf Klassen, President and CEO, Interim at MGH, looks back on remarkable nine months

To our hospital community,

It has been an honour and privilege to serve as President and CEO, Interim at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) for the past nine months. When I think about this time, I feel immense gratitude for everyone who has supported the organization – both on and behind the frontlines.

Your dedication to MGH helped ensure our teams are able to continue delivering high-quality, patient-centred care during even the most unprecedented of circumstances. More than ever, I am inspired by the incredible work our hospital does to address the diverse needs of our community.

As we prepare to welcome Melanie Kohn, our incoming President and CEO, I’d like to take this opportunity to share some of my reflections and what we’ve been able to accomplish together over the past nine months.

Providing care during a surge in cold, flu and COVID-19 cases

This past fall and winter saw an unprecedented surge of patients presenting with cold, flu and COVID-19 symptoms. As a result, hospitals and healthcare organizations experienced a very high demand for urgent, acute health services. Once again, MGH rose to the occasion to ensure our community could receive the care they need in a safe and timely manner.

We increased staffing in various departments, opened additional patient beds and expanded hours and staffing in our Child and Youth Emergency Zone. Together with members of East Toronto Health Partners, our Ontario Health Team, we opened the Cold, Flu and COVID-19 Clinic in Thorncliffe Park and continued to support Health Access Taylor-Massey, which helped ensure those who were most impacted by the surge in respiratory cases could access the care they need close to home.

This was a challenging time for our healthcare system and I am incredibly proud of the leadership, resiliency and innovative thinking our teams once again demonstrated. I am grateful to our MGH staff, physicians, learners and volunteers who answered the call and continue to show up for their teams, patients and community.

Opening of Ken and Marilyn Thomson Patient Care Centre

After five years of construction, we marked a historic milestone in January by celebrating the grand opening of Ontario’s newest hospital facility, the eight-storey Ken and Marilyn Thomson Patient Care Centre (Thomson Centre).

This was a pivotal moment for healthcare in East Toronto, allowing our teams to begin caring for patients in a modern, state-of-the-art facility that the community deserves. To mark the Thomson Centre’s opening, we had the opportunity to host a number of dignitaries and community members at MGH, including The Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, and The Honourable Sylvia Jones, Minister of Health.

It feels amazing to now see our teams working seamlessly in the Thomson Centre and to hear the feedback from patients and community members – as well as our staff, physicians, learners and volunteers – about this beautiful, bright and thoughtfully designed space. I’d like to recognize the remarkable work of our teams who helped prepare the building for outpatients and inpatients. From leading and participating in training sessions to contributing to meticulous planning, it’s thanks to you that we were able to safely and quickly begin providing care in this new facility.

As we enter the next phase of our campus transformation, I look forward to continuing our work together to ensure we can continue to evolve our MGH campus to address the needs of our East Toronto community.

Launch of Strategic Plan 2023-2025

While preparing for the opening of a new building and navigating pressures in the healthcare system, our teams also found time to launch a new Strategic Plan for 2023-2025. The plan is a major milestone for MGH as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It features new vision, purpose and values statements, which powerfully reflect MGH’s deep community roots grounded in health equity, inclusion and social justice.

Our new vision statement, great care inspired by community, is echoed throughout the plan and its three areas of focus: care, people and community. This will help guide our work over the next few years, ensuring we are consistently working toward our priorities while remaining accountable to our community. The plan is a reflection of where we’ve been, where we’re going and who we want to be.

I’m very proud of the work that went into this Strategic Plan, including the meaningful engagement of more than 1,000 people, including staff, physicians, learners, volunteers, patients, health system partners and community members in East Toronto. Like with everything MGH does, this plan is rooted in community and collaboration and I’m excited to continue playing a role in its application across the hospital.

I’ve had the opportunity to connect with Melanie – both in real life and virtually – a number of times since she was announced as MGH’s new President and CEO and can tell she is extremely personable and relationship-oriented. Perhaps most importantly, she understands and respects the organization and its culture and values.

I firmly believe she is joining a great organization that is willing and able to achieve even more than it already has. As part of her transition team at MGH, I look forward to helping her get acquainted with the hospital, our community and the people who form the backbone of MGH. In her initial days and weeks, I know Melanie is eager to connect with and get to know the individuals who make MGH such an exceptional place to give and receive care.

Again, a sincere thank you to everyone who made my time as President and CEO, Interim at MGH so incredibly memorable. I look forward to continuing to support and enable the great work that happens every day at MGH and in the community.  

With gratitude,

Wolf Klassen
President and CEO, Interim
Michael Garron Hospital