NEWS RELEASE
ROYAL VICTORIA REGIONAL HEALTH CENTRE
*************************
Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) has released its annual report online featuring a message to the community from RVH board chair Jason Teal and president and CEO Gail Hunt, statistics from the health centre’s 2024-2025 fiscal year (April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025), as well as highlights of some initiatives that align with progress toward achieving its new strategic plan, Vitally You, launched in 2024.
In the first year of the plan, RVH began advancing how health care is delivered in the region, marking early steps on its path to becoming an academic health sciences centre.
Focused on driving clinical and academic excellence, cultivating high-performing teams and providing exceptional patient experiences, the vision of the future is taking shape.
In addition to a dedicated focus on these areas, the activity at RVH over this past year demonstrates just how busy the health centre is in meeting the growing needs of the region.
With a $615-million annual budget, RVH is a busy health centre delivering care across a wide range of services to patients from across Simcoe-Muskoka. Last year, there were 516,227 patient visits, including 94,100 visits to the emergency department — a 4.8 per cent increase over the previous year, reflecting the growing demand across the region.
Teams completed 15,483 surgeries, delivered 2,120 babies, ran more than 2.6 million lab tests and completed 207,224 imaging procedures.
RVH continued expanding its role in research, with 49 active clinical trials underway and $2.3 million in research funding.
“In this first year of our strategic plan, we’ve made meaningful strides toward reimagining how care is delivered in our region,” said Hunt. “But the demand for care is only growing and the health challenges of our patients are becoming more complex. That’s why the urgency for our expansion and transformation has never been greater to meet the needs of our community — today and for the future.”
To help lead this bold vision of the future of care in the region, RVH has welcomed two new members to its board of directors.
Tim Tremain brings two decades of leadership in financial services, automotive lending, and investment advisory. He is currently the CEO of Optiom Inc., a subsidiary of Aviva Canada and a national provider of specialty insurance products. Most recently, he served as president and CEO of Northlake Financial ULC.
Throughout his career, he has led through change and growth, with a focus on building high-performing teams, implementing digital solutions, and delivering sustainable results. Beyond the numbers, he believes culture, trust, and people are the true drivers of success.
Lou Ragagnin (CPA, CA, BBA) is an accomplished senior executive with a strong track record across diverse industries. He is president and CEO of Re:Sound, an organization that collects and distributes neighbouring rights royalties to music creators, where he oversees strategy and operations to maximize value for members and rights holders.
His previous roles include senior vice-president at CPA Canada, COO at ole Media Management, president and COO for the 100th Grey Cup Festival and COO for the Canadian Olympic Committee for 12 years. Known for collaborative leadership and commitment to values-based culture, Lou brings deep experience in developing successful teams.
RVH also extends its thanks to former chair Doug Frost, who stepped down from the board of directors after 12 years of dedicated service. His leadership and many valuable contributions he made throughout his tenure have left a lasting impact.
“I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to Doug for his many contributions over the years and express how grateful we are for the expertise that both Lou and Tim are bringing to our board at such an important time,” said Teal. “It is a pivotable time for RVH and our region, and we will benefit from their guidance as we continue to move forward with the bold promises of Vitally You.”
For more information on RVH’s board of directors and its membership, please click here.
*************************