Care for All: Understanding Georgina's health and wellness needs

Planning for the future starts with understanding the needs of the community today.

In 2024, the Town of Georgina, Southlake Health, and the Northern York South Simcoe Ontario Health Team (NYSS OHT) signed a memorandum of understanding to work together toward a shared goal of improving the health and wellness of Georgina residents. One of the partnership's first priorities was developing a comprehensive Population Health Assessment to better understand the community's current and future healthcare needs.

The result is Care for All: A Population Health Assessment for Residents in Georgina, a report that brings together population trends, health service utilization, community input, and an inventory of existing services to help guide future planning and decision-making.

As one of Ontario's fastest growing and aging communities, Georgina faces increasing demand for healthcare services. The report highlights opportunities to strengthen local care while identifying areas where additional investment and collaboration can help improve access and health outcomes.

Key findings

The report identifies six key findings that will help inform future planning:

• Georgina benefits from a strong primary care foundation with opportunities to improve access.

• Demand for care is growing alongside an aging population.

• Residents continue to rely heavily on hospital-based care.

• Mental health needs are a significant driver of demand, and navigating services can be challenging.

• Access to services is not experienced equally across the municipality.

• Demand for seniors' services and supports continues to increase, reinforcing the importance of aging in place.

Based on these findings, the report identifies four strategic priorities:

• Increase access to primary care and selected local services.

• Strengthen health promotion and education to improve prevention and awareness of available programs and services.

• Improve health equity by addressing geographic and population-based differences in access to care.

• Optimize services to meet the growing demand for mental health and addictions supports.

The report also highlights progress already underway through the partnership, including expanded access to primary care, community wellness initiatives, enhanced mental health supports, and the launch of cardiac rehabilitation programming in Georgina.

Supporting the future of care in Georgina

The Population Health Assessment provides an important foundation for future healthcare planning in Georgina. Over the next decade, Southlake will build a Distributed Health Network, which will include an Advanced Care Centre in Georgina. By better understanding the needs of residents today and anticipating future demand, Southlake and its partners can continue working together to expand access to care, strengthen community services, and bring leading edge care, closer to home.

Read the full report to learn more about the health and wellness needs of Georgina residents and the collaborative work underway to support a healthier future.