Credit Valley provides care to local residents from its 25-acre site.

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Credit Valley has become a “luminary site” for Philips Canada and uses several of its products, including its MRI systems, Fyffe says. The partnership with Philips Canada allows Credit Valley to stay up to date with technology, he says.

“Being a luminary site has allowed for win-win situations for both [Credit Valley] and Philips,” he says, adding that the agreement has allowed the hospital to maintain state-of-the-art technology over several years at reduced costs. “Philips has benefited by utilizing [Credit Valley] as a premier show site for their various products.”

Serving Locally
Located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Credit Valley provides care to local residents from its 25-acre site. In addition, the hospital serves the surrounding municipalities of Halton and Peel through its regional programs, Fyffe says. "Altogether, [we provide care to] a population between 1 or 2 million,” he adds.

Although Credit Valley provides “basic community hospital services,” Fyffe explains that the hospital also has distinguished itself as the second-largest provider of renal care, including kidney dialysis services, in Canada.

In addition, its comprehensive cancer care center features six radiation treatments machines, while it all provides high-risk child and maternal care. Also, “[We are] one of nine centers for excellence for genetics counseling in the province of Ontario,” he adds.

A ‘Stimulating’ Industry
Fyffe, who joined Credit Valley in 1997, will retire from the hospital this summer as its president and CEO. After more than 30 years in hospital management, Fyffe says he still finds the healthcare industry “extremely rewarding and simulating. “Every day is a different day with a different set of challenges,” he states. “I find it very rewarding to know that places like Credit Valley make a difference in people’s lives.”

Growing Credit Valley
Through the years, Fyffe says, Credit Valley has changed to keep up with the growth of Mississauga. "The province of Ontario grows at about 4 percent per year, [and] this part of our world grows at double that each year,” he says, citing Statistics Canada and Ontario government statistics.

The hospital copes by constantly expanding, Fyffe says. In July 2005, for example, Credit Valley completed a 330,000-square-foot addition that included a new ambulatory care center and comprehensive cancer center, he says.

A New Addition
This spring, Credit Valley will break ground on a 275,000-square-foot addition that will include a four-story inpatient wing and a two-story addition to the existing building. “In the new structures, [there will be] about 160 inpatient beds, and double the number of labor and delivery suites we have now,”  Fyffe says.

The construction, however, will not be without its challenges, Fyffe admits. “Our site is pretty crowded,” Fyffe says, noting that the hospital will have to move parking off-site and relocate its loading docks temporarily. Despite these obstacles, Fyffe asserts that these expansions are necessary. “We’re [currently] delivering 5,000 babies a year in a space designed for 3,700,” he says. “We need the new space.”

Divine Design
Credit Valley has received praise for its ambulatory care center, which was designed with the philosophy of “healing and hope,” according to Fyffe. Before adding the facility, Credit Valley asked its patients what they would like to see in the new center. Fyffe says patients told him personally that they wanted something to look at to give them hope – including such elements as flowers, trees, fish tanks, and natural woods and light.

“All of those things [were] incorporated into our design,” he states. These elements included fir from British Columbia. “At the time it was built in 2005, it was the largest wood project of its kind [in Canada],” Fyffe remembers. “It really does give a different look and feel to the place.”

The design of the care center is “based on scientific studies that say [if] you can make people feel more relaxed in a hospital, then they’re more likely to heal faster,” Fyffe explains. He adds that the new project this spring will be built with similar elements.

Staying Advanced
In its embrace of technologies, Credit Valley has implemented an information technology and electronic medical record system, Fyffe says. Clinicians can access medical records from their homes and workplace through an Internet portal.

The system also allows Credit Valley connect to the records in its neighboring hospitals. For example, when a patient comes into its emergency room, Credit Valley can use the system to access other hospitals’ records and learn information about the patient’s allergies.

“So there’s a patient safety element to this, as well,” he says. “That’s a very, very big advancement for Credit Valley and our neighboring hospitals.”
  

While many hospitals are trying to implement digital technology, “We’re [already] fully digital,” Fyffe reports, adding that Credit Valley uses digital mammography that is accessible via computer. “We don’t use film at all."