We have updated our Birchmount Hospital phone lines. When you call through the main line (416-495-2400), you will need to add “7” when dialing an extension.

SHN 365 – Year In Review 2020

Leadership messages

Message from Elizabeth and Maureen

Welcome to SHN 365: Year in Review 2020, a special report curated to reflect on Scarborough Health Network’s (SHN) experiences in one of the most unprecedented years.

A transformation in the making

Together, Scarborough Health Network (SHN) and SHN Foundation have been on a journey to discover how we serve our community as a health network, and as an anchor institution within Scarborough. We’ve experienced exciting changes, challenges, new adventures, and memorable experiences.

With the support and guidance of our Board of Directors, we saw the launch of Transforming Care, our clinical services planning initiative, last year. This involved a comprehensive review of all of our clinical programs, analysis of our community’s specific needs, and evaluation of our changing health care landscape — with the goal of improving how we deliver health services now and into the future.

Some of the first visible outcomes from this work include establishing two centres of excellence in women’s and children’s care at the Centenary and General hospitals in 2019, followed by the opening of the specialized Integrated Stroke Unit at the Birchmount hospital in 2020.

Little did we know, in the midst of many other exciting initiatives – including helping to create the Scarborough Ontario Health Team, launching a one-of-a-kind Health Equity Certificate Program, and supporting our SHN Foundation – we would soon be up against a global health emergency unlike anything ever experienced in our lifetime.

When a global emergency turns local

In early 2020, a public health emergency rippled around the world. Before we knew it, COVID-19 swept us up like a tornado. Personal protective equipment (PPE) became precious armor. Services were reduced. Families were unable to visit loved ones inside our walls. Practice changes made delivering safe care more stressful. But we never gave up.

We held true to our Vision and Mission and we never lost sight of transforming the patient experience or delivering exceptional care. We lived our Values perhaps more than ever, embodying Compassion, Inclusion, Courage, and Innovation. We leaned on each other and embraced our Network as one team, one entity, with one purpose – being here for Scarborough.

The spirit of SHN

Grounded in taking care of each other, we came together stronger than ever. The true spirit of SHN came out in full force.

The culture SHN has built — around safety, learning and education, evidence-based practice, staff empowerment and engagement, the patient voice, and health equity — was integral in driving our pandemic response. We took care of Scarborough, and Scarborough took care of us.

What’s next

As we continue to respond to this pandemic – stronger together – and aspire to become Canada’s leading community teaching health network, we will draw on our pandemic successes and lessons learned.

In the year ahead, we will work smarter and more creatively; find innovative solutions; embrace new methods of care; learn from other sectors; make decisions carefully and swiftly; and embrace Transforming Care for our community. As one team for Scarborough, we will live our Values and focus on our Vision and Mission as we continue to take care of Scarborough – and each other.

Elizabeth Buller
President and CEO
Scarborough Health Network

Maureen Adamson
Chair, Board of Directors
Scarborough Health Network

Message from Alicia and Paul

As a community hospital, the people we serve are an integral part of Scarborough Health Network’s DNA – and never have we felt more connected to our community and the people who call it home than over the past year.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw generosity of all kinds taking shape in the face of great struggle for all of us – both individually and collectively. Our community stepped forward and opened their hearts to our hospitals, giving donations, personal protective equipment and even meals to support the courageous frontline heroes working tirelessly to care for our patients.

Thank you

Thanks to you, our neighbours and ambassadors, the spirit of giving is strong in Scarborough and we are working to strengthen this spirit as we look to the future of health care in our community. Our year started in celebration of the Lal Family, who made the single largest gift in the Foundation’s history. Your immense support since then has inspired us for the many possibilities that lay ahead.

Together, we will create a brighter, healthier future for the patients and families of Scarborough. We will build a health care network that can meet the needs of our diverse and growing community, create a better, more efficient patient experience, and help patients access lifesaving care and services directly in their community.

On behalf of SHN Foundation, thank you for your support of Scarborough Health Network. We look forward to taking the next steps on what will surely be an exciting journey alongside all of you.

Alicia Vandermeer
President and CEO
SHN Foundation

Paul Torrie
Chair, Board of Directors
SHN Foundation

Learn more about SHN

Responding to COVID-19


Responding to COVID-19


We are so incredibly proud of how SHN, our many partners, and our community have come together to support health care in Scarborough during this pandemic. By using every available resource, including increased capacity, new safety measures, expanded virtual services at our hospitals, on-site COVID-19 Assessment Centres, pop-up testing, and support for long-term care and schools, we are addressing this challenge head-on. (Data: March-December 2020.)

At your hospitals

  • 1,033 patients with COVID-19 cared for in SHN hospitals
  • 26% of COVID-19 patients cared for in SHN intensive care units

In your community

  • 20 long-term care and retirement homes supported by SHN
  • 44 SHN Assessment Centres and community testing initiatives
  • 350 Scarborough schools with access to support from SHN
  • 142,000+ COVID-19 tests performed by SHN in Scarborough

With your support

  • $2.7M in COVID-19 fundraising
  • 3,500 donors who have supported COVID-19 relief efforts at SHN
Transforming care


Transforming care


SHN is on a bold and innovative journey to transform your health experience by organizing health care services across our connected Network in the best way imaginable. The implementation of new clinical services plans for 13 programs is well underway, all with exceptional care for the people of Scarborough in mind. Learn more about how we are Transforming Care.

Video: Planning Clinical Services for Scarborough

Clinical Services Planning Report

Health experts from inside and outside of SHN examined the needs of the Scarborough community and how the health care landscape is expected to change over time. This helped to inform how we will enhance and grow our programs to deliver services that meet your specific needs now and in the coming years.

Women’s and Children’s Health

We got a head start on clinical services planning with our Women’s and Children’s program, creating new centres of excellence for gynaecology, obstetrics, neonatal intensive care, and kids’ care at our Centenary and General hospitals. We are providing children, babies, and expectant parents in our community with the care they need, when they need it, right here in Scarborough.

Stroke Centre of Excellence

We know that access to specialized care right here in Scarborough is important for so many of you, which is why the new Stroke Centre of Excellence – a first for Scarborough – is such good news for our community.

Transforming Together

Our exciting Transforming Care journey brought together the ideas, experiences, and perspectives of our many partners and community members to help us envision and design hospital services at SHN. Through a series of meetings, strategic forums, information sessions, and community expos, we listened to your input to help us shape the future of care for Scarborough.

Health equity


Your advocates for health equity


Serving one of the most diverse communities in the country, SHN is focused on strengthening and advancing health equity in Scarborough. We are working with our community partners to create initiatives and deliver education that considers the social determinants of health experienced within our community, helps to remove barriers to accessing quality health care, and positively impacts disadvantaged populations in Scarborough.

Engagement and education

  • 13 Health Equity education and engagement sessions held
  • 90 participants in SHN’s Health Equity Certificate Program

Patient and community services

  • 9,747 patients who accessed interpretation services
  • 112 Global Community Resource Centre patient education sessions held in 2019-2020
Scarborough OHT

Introducing your Scarborough Ontario Health Team

As a network of more than 30 partner organizations, the Scarborough Ontario Health Team (SOHT) will implement a single team approach to help keep patients and families in Scarborough healthy and well. The SOHT is also working together with the Scarborough Family Physicians Network and includes a Client and Family Advisory Committee. Read more.

Supporting SHN

Supporting your health network

Even through the challenges presented by COVID-19, SHN Foundation is hard at work to inspire the support needed to continue evolving health care in Scarborough. We’re pleased to bring our growing community of donors along as we embark together on the exciting journey that lies ahead for your hospitals. Learn how your support can make an impact at SHNFoundation.ca.