Unstoppable Compassion:
Message from Dr. Michael Heenan,
President
and
CEO,
St.
Joseph’s
Health System and
Peter
Szota,
Board chair,
Joint Boards of Governors, St. Joseph’s Hamilton, Home Care and Villa Dundas
Unstoppable Compassion: It’s more than a new mission statement. It is a commitment to our community. We will always be here to provide exceptional, innovative, high-quality care with compassion, dignity and respect.
As we launch our new strategic plan, Unstoppable Compassion: A Shared Plan for 2025-30, we are proud of the work our teams are doing to continue the mission given to us by the Sisters of St. Joseph. They taught us the importance of compassionate and innovative care delivered when and where people need it. And while times have changed since the Sisters first arrived in the mid-1800s, the commitment to that mission is unwavering. Our new strategic plan provides a clear roadmap for how we deliver on that mission at a time when our population is growing and needs of our communities are changing.
This plan brings St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, St. Joseph’s Home Care and St. Joseph’s Villa Dundas together with a common purpose: To deliver compassionate, high-quality care and build a healthier, more inclusive future for everyone we serve. Paired with our relentless pursuit of innovation, discovery and academic excellence through our teaching centres, learning and simulation labs and research facilities, our plan will address the complexities of today while leading the way in preparing the healthcare providers of tomorrow.
This plan is rooted in our shared values of dignity, respect, service, responsibility, justice and discovery. It reflects our deep commitment to the people and communities who rely on us. It outlines how we will remove barriers and improve access to care, strengthen our impact and support the incredible teams who make our work possible.
The shared strategic plan is built on three strategic directions:
Advance health | Amplify impact | Invest in teams
Together, these directions will guide our work toward improving quality and accessibility of care, drive research and discovery through academic and community partnerships and ensure our teams are given every opportunity to learn, grow and become leaders in the delivery of compassionate care.
To make these directions a reality, we have developed two foundational commitments which will be woven into all our strategic opportunities. First, we are committed to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigenous Reconciliation. This means creating a safe, welcoming environment for all patients, residents and clients and working with Indigenous communities to deliver culturally grounded, trauma-informed care and provide access to traditional practices, such as smudging ceremonies. This work is essential to living our values and ensuring everyone is seen, heard, cared for and respected.
Second, we will continue to lead the way in innovation and discovery in healthcare. St. Joe’s has a long track record of bringing discoveries from bench to bedside in a relentless pursuit of innovative care, whether it be through our one-day assessment clinic that is making it easier to connect kidney donors to recipients, our mental health programs helping women with postpartum anxiety or our work to prevent falls in seniors. Our dedicated teams have used the power of cutting-edge technology to offer leading edge treatment for depression and performing surgeries from thousands of kilometres away. And it was St. Joe’s that introduced some of the country’s first robotic technology in our operating rooms. By continuing to grow our research and academic partnerships and responsibly adopt new innovations and technologies, including artificial intelligence, we will improve how we deliver care, make better use of data and support our teams with the tools they need to succeed. Innovation will help us stay responsive, sustainable and ready for the future across the continuum of care.
Though our strategic plan is new, it reflects our longstanding mission, inspired by the Sisters of St. Joseph: to provide compassionate, high-quality care to everyone. It is an honour to continue this work through our commitment to unstoppable compassion.
This plan was shaped by the voices of our staff, physicians, learners, volunteers, patients, clients, residents, community members and partners. It is built on our commitment to collaboration, a deep reflection of our values and our shared belief in the power of quality care as foundational to the work we do. Thank you for being part of this journey with us. Together we will deliver on our mission of unstoppable compassion.
Dr. Michael Heenan, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Health System
Board chair, Joint Boards of Governors, St.
Hamilton, Home Care and Villa Dundas
Peter Szota,
Joseph’s
Who we are
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, St. Joseph’s Home Care and St. Joseph’s Villa Dundas are leading healthcare, academic and research centres that are powered by unstoppable compassion. Together, we are at the forefront of transforming patient care in the region.
In healthcare, education and research, St. Joe’s Hamilton is a leading academic health sciences institution affiliated with major education and research hubs, including McMaster University and Mohawk College. Our partnerships with teaching programs to train the leaders and providers of tomorrow are a vital part of our mission. As part of that commitment, we are expanding our Centres for Education, Learning and Simulation across our campuses to ensure learners and healthcare professionals have access to the best tools and training in home care, long term care and the hospital. Our research facilities lead groundbreaking advances in patient care and scientific discovery while delivering innovative treatments to those in our care. St. Joe’s Hamilton is home to the largest kidney transplant program in Ontario. Our mental health and addictions program is the second largest in the province, our Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health is one of the most renowned respiratory centres in the world and St. Joe’s Charlton campus is the busiest emergency department in the city of Hamilton. With more than 3,100 babies born at St. Joe’s Hamilton every year, we are an important provider of women’s and infants’ health services in the region. We’re also one of only a few hospitals in the country with multiple robotic surgery platforms.
St. Joe’s Home Care delivers vital services with exceptional, compassionate care, serving members of our communities with dignified, accessible care beyond the walls of our hospitals. We are delivering expert care to address complex needs, helping seniors and patients with complex conditions recover safely while reducing hospital strain. Bridging the gap for those who may not have access to a primary care provider, St. Joe’s Home Care is delivering on the legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph—delivering hope and healing, unconditionally. With more than 320 dedicated healthcare workers delivering essential services in our community, St. Joe’s Home Care offers a dedicated suite of integrated services and community supports serving more than 6,000 clients annually across Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand, Brant, Kitchener-Waterloo and Halton. This includes visiting nursing services, inhome personal support services, assisted living and supportive housing services and transitional care programs.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
• 227,000+ unique patients served per year
• 967 beds, including 410 beds dedicated to mental health
• 5,850 staff and 662 physicians
St. Joseph’s Villa Dundas
• 420 long term care beds and 10 hospice beds
• 670+ staff and physicians in long term care and 45+ in hospice
St. Joseph’s Home Care
• 109,000+ visits per year
• 5,799 clients served
• 320 staff
Above numbers from FY2024/25
A provincial leader in compassionate care, St. Joe’s Villa is one of Ontario’s largest and most innovative longterm care homes with 420 beds, serving seniors and the most vulnerable in our community. From long-term care for seniors and the most vulnerable, to convalescent care for those recovering from surgery, to respite care to support caregivers and families, to hospice care for patients and families facing a life-limiting illness, St. Joseph’s Villa has been caring for our community for nearly 140 years. St. Joe’s Villa is also a vibrant community hub, with an interactive year-round adult day program, specialized medical clinics open to the community and a seniors in motion (SIM) gym for seniors who are looking to stay active. St. Joe’s Villa is also home to an innovative simulation lab space, a multi-disciplinary model for training and enhancing the skills of our care providers. The first of its kind, our virtual reality training program for learners and caregivers is now a model across the province.
As members of the St. Joseph’s Health System, our organizations share and live the same mission of Unstoppable Compassion. Together, St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joe’s Home Care and St. Joe’s Villa are united by a shared framework that will be our roadmap as we advance the delivery of care, amplify the impact we make in our hospitals, care centres and the community and invest in the teams trusted with delivering dignified, compassionate and quality care to all who walk through our doors.
Who we care for
St. Joe’s is well-positioned to address the complex sociodemographic challenges facing our health system. From mental health and addictions, acute care and recovery, aging populations and those who receive support outside of our care centres.
An aging population
Nearly one in five, or 18.3 per cent, of people living in Hamilton are 65 and older a number that is expected to double in the near future. This increase represents a significant challenge for health care providers and a call to enhance and expand services to meet the needs of those in our hospitals, long-term care centres and those aging in place in the community. Ontario’s Ministry of Finance population growth projections place us within one of the province’s fastest growing regions. The Hamilton area’s population will grow by more than 40 per cent by 2046 with the senior population growing by 50-70 per cent within the same period.
1 in 5 Hamilton residents 65+
Our health system is uniquely positioned in Ontario to deliver care to our aging population through our interconnected health centres. We care for people who require hospital care, post-acute services, home care, long-term care, hospice and palliative care and more. We will continue to invest in our services to meet a changing and growing demand for specialized and accessible care throughout the entire lifespan.
Low-income individuals
Poverty rates for Hamilton remain above provincial and national averages. A housing crisis, growing mental health concerns, addictions challenges and increased poverty are driving negative health outcomes in our community. These shifts are also leading to increased need for healthcare services and partnerships. Despite these complex challenges, we continue to deliver vital services to those in need.
43% increase in people experiencing homelessness visiting the emergency department
During the challenging winter months, hospital staff and physicians often struggle to find warm and safe places for individuals experiencing homelessness after they are discharged from hospital. Over the past year, nearly 4,000 people experiencing homelessness came to the emergency department at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton—a 43 per cent increase from 2018. Every two hours, St. Joe’s discharges a patient to the street. Partnering with local non-profits, hospitals and the Greater Hamilton Health Network, St. Joe’s Hamilton connects unhoused patients with warming centres upon discharge, serving as a critical extension of the emergency department.
Our local partnerships with organizations in Hamilton and the region are creating unique ways to serve vulnerable populations for better health outcomes. Care doesn’t stop at our walls.
Mental health and addictions
46% more opioid-related deaths in Hamilton than the provincial rate
St. Joe’s Hamilton is the second largest mental health and addictions provider in the province, with 410 beds dedicated to mental health. Substance use service physicians and peer support workers at St. Joe’s Hamilton are reducing stigma and embedding harm reduction education into patient care delivery. St. Joe’s Hamilton is delivering mental health and substance use support resources in clinical settings and delivering care in the community through non-profit partnerships, with a mobile mental health unit to provide support to unhoused members of the community and continued advocacy to drive funding and research opportunities. Our crisis outreach and support team (COAST), mobile crisis rapid response team (MCRRT) and the rapid intervention support team (RIST) provide care to tens of thousands in our communities each year, from answering crisis calls to visiting encampments to provide warm clothing and resources. Our police partnership recently expanded to enable police officers to refer people who use substances to our rapid access addiction medicine clinic.
Diverse populations
Hamilton’s population is becoming increasingly more diverse, with 25 per cent of citizens identifying as non-white and two per cent as Indigenous. Language barriers can be detrimental to the patient experience. Culturally safe, trauma-informed care are critical to serving those in our care. Through on-demand patient translation services and a foundational commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigenous Reconciliation, St. Joe’s is connecting and communicating with patients to ensure the care we deliver is accessible to diverse populations.
1 in 4 of Hamilton’s population are racialized
St. Joe’s was founded on the vision that all people, especially the sick and marginalized, deserve compassionate care and healing. As the needs of the community change, we are committed to providing compassionate, exceptional, high-quality care to our patients and community.
Mission, vision and values
In 2025, we co-created a refreshed mission, vision and values, diving deep into the history and foundation of St. Joe’s to guide our way forward: a legacy of compassionate care without boundaries or exception. This is who we are, and this is how we will continue to deliver on our promise of exceptional care.
Our mission, vision and values were developed in consultation with our Joint Boards of Governors, committees and leadership. These values will continue to guide us in adopting best practice, create opportunities for growth, spur discovery and innovation, responding to the unique needs of our staff, partners and communities, and provide patients, clients and residents with dignified care throughout their healthcare journey.
• Mission: Unstoppable Compassion
• Vision: As a leading Catholic health care organization, we will serve all people with compassion, deliver exceptional, innovative care and relentlessly pursue solutions for a better tomorrow
• Values: Dignity, Respect, Service, Responsibility, Justice, Discovery
Our shared strategic plan
The shared strategic plan for St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joe’s Home Care and St. Joe’s Villa is a system-wide adoption of our mission to live the legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph and work together to drive our collective approach in meeting some of the greatest opportunities and challenges in delivering quality care.
The plan is built on three strategic directions:
• Advance health:
Improve the quality and accessibility of care so individuals and communities can thrive.
• Amplify impact:
Strengthen partnerships and programs to support those who need us most.
• Invest in teams:
Support and grow our people to ensure they can do their best work.
Each direction includes strategic opportunities that address key facets of care, operations and community impact. Through these directions we’re focusing on two foundational commitments, or enablers, which will guide everything we do:
• Champion equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigenous Reconciliation: Act on our values to create a more inclusive and equitable environment for all.
• Innovate together:
Grow partnerships and embrace innovation, research, sustainability and technology to improve care and outcomes.
Our Values
Dignity
Respect
Service
Responsibility
Justice
Discovery
Our Vision
As
Advance health
Advance our ability to deliver high-quality and accessible care that enables people and communities to thrive.
Improving how care is delivered so more people can get the care they need—when and where they need it—is central to our commitment to advance health. Across our hospital, home care and long-term care, we are focused on making care more efficient, expanding services, reinvesting in our mission and using data and technology to guide better decisions. It’s about ensuring healthcare workers have the tools and equipment they need to provide compassionate care and building a stronger, more responsive health system for everyone.
St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joe’s Home Care and St. Joe’s Villa are leaders in providing high-quality, accessible person-centred care. This strategic direction focuses on expanding and innovating our care spaces, technologies and partnerships for the communities we serve. Through greater integration with community partners in health and wellness and by expanding St. Joe’s service offerings, this direction aims to advance quality of care, invest in health care innovation, address inequities and identify opportunities to continuously improve care delivery.
By growing and fostering community partnerships, we will connect more individuals with care and tackle the complex challenges faced by our health care system. Strong partnerships and data-driven decision making will allow us to better respond to the social factors influencing health outcomes and access to care, including homelessness, mental health and addictions.
We will:
• Relentlessly pursue excellence in our operations and care delivery to drive efficiency and enable us to meet the increasing demands for care.
• Expand quality and measurement-based care using data to guide decision making and to realize quality outcomes and care.
• Work with partners to increase access to primary care providers within our region ensuring primar y care needs are addressed in the appropriate care setting.
• Build new opportunities in home care to increase community access.
• Implement Indigenous-led services that restore access to traditional medicines and provide holistic, culturally grounded, trauma-informed care alongside Western clinical practices.
• Remove barriers and expand inclusive, culturally adapted care for all patients, clients and residents, including 2SLGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities.
• Responsibly adopt technologies and artificial intelligence that enable data-driven insights to inform care delivery, improve forecasting and resource allocation to reduce administrative burden, increase productivity, drive quality and cultivate compassionate care.
• Construct and modernize buildings and care spaces across St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joe’s Home Care and St. Joe’s Villa to adhere to modern care and inclusive design standards to meet our shared functional needs and the needs of the future.
• Optimize capital asset utilization by evaluating, and leasing or selling underutilized real estate, ensuring fiscal responsibility and community reinvestment.
We are advancing health
Community access to long-term care (CALTC): supporting aging in place and thriving communities
St. Joe’s Villa has a longstanding reputation for providing exceptional, compassionate care to our communities. That is one of the reasons the Villa was chosen as one of three long-term care homes in Ontario to receive funding from the Ministry of Long-Term Care as part of the Community Access to Long-Term Care (CALTC) program, a transformative step in ensuring seniors can live well and age safely at home while accessing the services they need.
Seniors—people aged 65 and older—make up the fastest growing age group in the province, which has resulted in growing waitlists for long-term care. The CALTC program helps people who are waiting for long-term care placement—or those eligible or soon-to-be eligible—to safely age-in-place by expanding access to supports traditionally available only in long-term care homes.
The CALTC program connects seniors with a full spectrum of health and social services. These include clinical and personal care, nursing support, dementia resources and wound care—all designed to reduce avoidable hospital visits, delay the need for institutional care and improve quality of life for older adults and their caregivers.
CALTC advances St. Joe’s mission of delivering high-quality, compassionate and accessible care by meeting people where they are in their care journey. By supporting healthy aging in place, the program creates new pathways of care that are responsive, flexible and grounded in community needs. It also strengthens caregiver support and helps alleviate pressure on hospitals and long-term care facilities, making the broader health system more sustainable.
CALTC reflects a forward-looking model of integrated care that balances independence with safety. At St. Joseph’s Villa Dundas, our long tradition of compassionate service is extended through CALTC, empowering seniors and their families with choices that allow them to thrive at home for longer.
Leading the way in respiratory care and research
St. Joe’s Hamilton is home to one of the most renowned respiratory centres in the country. As the regional referral centre for chest medicine and thoracic surgery, with comprehensive outpatient care and leading benchto-bedside research, the Firestone Institue for Respiratory Health is a shining example of how St. Joe’s connects people to exceptional, compassionate care.
A world-class teaching and research institute, Firestone is leading the way with clinical research, delivering specialized patient care and undertaking clinical trials in partnership with McMaster University’s division of respirology and faculty of health sciences. Research, partnership and innovation at St. Joe’s are at the core of delivering lifelong care in disease and symptom management to respiratory patients.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common reasons for hospital admission in the country. The respiratory rehabilitation clinic at Firestone works to address the care gaps for COPD patients to help manage symptoms and reduce or prevent acute hospital visits. One of the best examples of why Firestone is a leading model of innovative care is the ongoing care provided to people with COPD after they leave the hospital. COPD is a complex, chronic illness and can be difficult to manage for individuals on their own. Firestone has developed a post-discharge clinic that provides people with medication advice, rehabilitation, referrals for screenings and other vital resources. This model helps people take better control of their health and allows staff to identify potential issues earlier, develop a course of action and help patients manage their symptoms. This often prevents repeat visits to the emergency department.
Firestone is also well-known as a research leader in severe asthma, including research into mucus buildup and interstitial lung diseases, like pulmonary fibrosis, chronic cough, pulmonary hypertension and the study of the immune system and lung health. Research at Firestone is helping to connect patients across the country to better treatments and quality of life.
Stabilizing care through transition
Older patients with complex medical and psychiatric histories are at higher risk of readmission to hospital and emergency mental health services after discharge. From increased risk of falls to trouble coping in the community to housing stability, longstanding mental health challenges and injury can result in repeat visits to the emergency department.
At St. Joe’s Home Care, we know there are many challenges facing the communities we serve, including housing affordability, substance use, mental health concerns, precarious housing and homelessness. Through a multidisciplinary, dignified approach to care and treating the whole person to strengthen physical health and provide needed social supports, we can help to maintain stability in an independent or community setting.
Hospital to Home programs and Transitional Care programs support older individuals through consistent nursing presence, medication review, timely engagement of specialized mental health resources and collaboration with other supports, like occupational therapists, who can meet the needs of high-risk patients in the community while reducing hospital strain. These programs provide a foundation for recovery: proactive, consistent and compassionate care delivered where and when it’s needed most.
With wraparound supports, individuals are able to achieve and maintain stability in health, mental health and housing and benefit from tailored therapeutic supports to access compassionate, high-quality care.
Amplify impact
Amplify our collective impact and partner to provide life long care for those who need us most.
We’re working together across our hospital, home care and long-term care services and with community partners to make a bigger difference in people’s lives. We’re focused on supporting underserved populations, sharing knowledge and resources and leading in education, research, innovation and inclusive care. By aligning our efforts, we can reach more people and improve health outcomes across the system.
St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joe’s Home Care and St. Joe’s Villa work together to strengthen our shared purpose of providing quality care to those with the greatest need. Together, we are serving diverse populations and addressing complex challenges throughout their lifespan. We will collaborate in research, training and education, invest in new technology, use sociodemographic data to inform how we deliver care, support the underserved and marginalized and improve the patient experience for those we serve.
To drive our collective impact, we will work across our organizations and with community partners to support people throughout their lives—especially those with complex health challenges and historical barriers to seeking health care. By sharing resources and knowledge across our hospital, home care and long-term care services, we can make our care more connected and responsive. It also means improving how patients move through the system and creating better models of care to meet people’s needs. For our staff, it opens more opportunities to learn, teach and grow through education, training and research. By focusing on underserved populations and the social determinants of health, we will reduce barriers to deliver quality, compassionate care to the communities who need us most.
We will:
• Address the social determinants of health through new and sustained partnerships and programs for underserved populations.
• Share corporate support and infrastructure resources across all campuses.
• Be a leader in the care of priority populations by measuring quality and patient experience outcomes.
• Create shared strategies and frameworks that advance Indigenous ReconciliAction and equity, diversity, and inclusion and co-create accountability metrics with Indigenous, diverse and marginalized communities.
• Advance scientific knowledge and innovate care models by expanding shared education and research teams across St. Joe’s sites, supporting clinical integration and expanding key academic partnerships.
• Ensure our physical plant redevelopment, operations and procurements continue to reduce our carbon footprint and are mindful of climate change.
• Celebrate our mission, ongoing initiatives and accomplishments.
We are
amplifying our impact
Helping people age in place with tailored supports
A new team of health professionals at St. Joe’s Home Care is providing vital support to patients and clients who don’t require the acute care of a hospital but aren’t well enough to go home.
St. Joe’s Home Care operates a 50-bed transitional care program at First Place, a seniors’ apartment building in downtown Hamilton—the largest geared-to-income program of its kind in the city. This short-term unit provides wraparound support to seniors, individuals with complex conditions, and underserved populations who may otherwise struggle to access care. Many clients are awaiting placement in long-term care or other community settings, and during these challenging transitions, the home care team ensures they receive timely, compassionate support tailored to their needs. For many of the people we serve, it can be difficult to navigate through day-to-day tasks. Something as simple as renewing a health card or filing taxes can become a major challenge that can lead to a series of negative consequences.
Our social workers understand this and work with home care clients to ensure their needs are met. For some, that means helping an individual fill out paperwork, accompanying them to an appointment or ensuring they have a care plan in place. Occupational and rehabilitation therapists work with clients to help them age in place and provide them with ongoing support to improve mobility and promote health.
The health professionals team at First Place includes social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and rehabilitation assistants. Together they provide care that promotes recovery and independence, prescribe assistive equipment to improve function and safety and support complex discharge planning.
Community partnerships to provide health care access to vulnerable individuals
St. Joe’s Hamilton has launched a partnership with the YMCA of Hamilton, Burlington and Brantford to provide care to those in need. The YMCA recently reopened its men’s residence, which was forced to close in 2024 due to fire. The newly restored space will act as a transitional living program with space for 43 men. Team members from St. Joe’s are a regular presence at the YMCA, providing addiction support, mental health supports and other forms of care.
St. Joe’s understands the importance of meeting the needs of our communities and has a long track record of developing partnerships with organizations to provide innovative solutions when and where they are needed most. This commitment to helping some of the most vulnerable people in our society is woven into the mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph—a mission we are proud to continue today.
Safe and faster care transitions for vulnerable older adults
St. Joe’s Villa and St. Joe’s Hamilton are leading Ontario in building a more connected health system through Project AMPLIFI, a province-wide clinical data integration initiative designed to improve care transitions for vulnerable older adults moving between hospitals and long-term care.
Project AMPLIFI amplifies our collective impact by uniting hospitals, long-term care homes, government and technology partners in a shared commitment: ensuring safer, faster and more reliable care. By removing barriers between organizations, we are creating a truly integrated healthcare system—one that places the well-being of older adults at the centre, strengthens provider collaboration and delivers on our promise of life-long care.
Project AMPLIFI provides a secure, bi-directional digital link between care providers, ensuring patient and resident information flows seamlessly, safely and quickly across care settings. The project is funded by the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health and developed in partnership with PointClickCare and hospital information system vendors.
Traditionally, Ontario hospitals and long-term care homes have operated on different digital record systems, often relying on paper transfers and manual re-entry of notes. These gaps created risks of delays, miscommunication and medication errors during patient transfers. Project AMPLIFI eliminates these challenges by enabling real-time sharing of critical patient and resident data.
Healthcare workers at St. Joe’s Hamilton and Villa agree this integration enables them to do their job more effectively. Project AMPLIFI reduces readmissions, supports accurate diagnoses, prevents treatment delays and strengthens care coordination for a high-risk population.
St. Joe’s Hamilton led the Project AMPLIFI pilot project to be the first Canadian hospital to achieve digital integration with St. Joe’s Villa in 2020. The program demonstrated measurable improvements in safety, collaboration and patient outcomes. Building on that success, Ontario invested $22 million to scale the initiative across the province. As of spring 2025, 82 hospital systems and 525 long-term care homes are a part of Project AMPLIFI.
Invest in teams
Support our people and invest in teams to foster continuous learning and improvement, aligned with our mission.
We are supporting the people who care for others. We’re creating safer, more inclusive workplaces, offering more training and development and ensuring staff have the tools they need to thrive. When we invest in our teams, we strengthen our ability to deliver compassionate, high-quality care.
Through this direction St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joe’s Home Care and St. Joe’s Villa will empower our people with the skills, resources and safe environments to make an impact across the continuum of care. This direction focuses on enhancing the work experience for everyone within our system, allowing us to attract and develop the next generation of world-class health leaders, researchers and clinicians, and grow tomorrow’s workforce.
By improving working conditions, and providing leading-edge tools and training to our staff, we can reduce burnout and ensure staff feel valued and equipped to deliver high quality care. Working with academic partners we will build the training programs of tomorrow and grow the next generation of health leaders. When our teams are supported, patients and families receive better care. We’re also taking action to address workplace violence—making it clear that violence has no place at St. Joe’s.
By sharing what we learn, we can help raise the standard across the broader health system and continue to be a leader in health care excellence.
We will:
• Ensure a safe and secure work environment focused on physical, psychological and cultural safety to improve working conditions and reduce burnout.
• Equip our people with the tools and equipment they need to perform their best and provide compassionate care.
• Expand upskilling and training opportunities to allow staff and clinicians to work to their full professional practice capability, fostering continuous learning across St. Joe’s Hamilton, St . Joe’s Home Care and St. Joe’s Villa.
• Update learner placement programs with our academic partners, focusing on training for future health skills to make St. Joe’s a leading employer and educator.
• Recruit and retain Indigenous staff and leadership, investing in cultural safety training and accountability throughout St. Joe’s.
• Expand workforce diversity and support equity-deserving communities through data-driven recruitment, retention and training, creating a welcoming environment for everyone.
• Become a shared learning health system rooted in data across St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joe’s
We are
investing in teams
Advancing Indigenous Reconciliation
St. Joe’s Hamilton newly formed Indigenous health team is advancing Indigenous Reconciliation by creating safe, inclusive environments for patients and staff by fostering relationships grounded in cultural respect, compassion and support for access to traditional medicines and practices. The team is advancing Truth and Reconciliation through culturally safe, trauma-informed care rooted in lived experience and relational healing.
This initiative reflects St. Joe’s commitment to Indigenous Reconciliation, accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion through collaboration with community partners and across hospital sites. Indigenous peer support workers walk alongside patients, offering emotional and cultural support, access to traditional medicine and a sense of belonging.
Supported in part by a grant from BMO, St. Joe’s is building trust and reshaping care for Indigenous Peoples. Through education, research and clinical practice, the hospital is embedding Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing into care delivery, advancing Reconciliation and fostering meaningful connection with communities for healing. We are providing Indigenous cultural safety training to ensure they can provide more culturally-informed care to Indigenous patients.
Building educational capacity
The department of education and learning at St. Joe’s Villa and St. Joe’s Hamilton is leading the way in long-term care education, with plans to launch a first-of-its-kind integrated simulation lab—an innovative step toward empowering staff, learners and leaders to grow through hands-on training and interprofessional collaboration. By integrating leading technologies and fostering academic partnerships, St. Joe’s Hamilton and St. Joe’s Villa are helping shape a dynamic, system-wide learning culture.
The Centre for Education, Learning and Simulation (CELS) reflects our commitment to education, equity, safety and cultural safety in every workplace. At CELS, St. Joe’s is leading the way in Ontario with an innovative approach to situational training: virtual reality simulations to train care providers and learners in life-like care scenarios. St. Joe’s groundbreaking approach to situational training is now improving training across the province. The Western Ontario Academic Health Sciences and Hospital Education Network (WOAHSHEN) includes 15 hospitals and four academic science centres, leveraging technology to enhance education, all thanks to St. Joe’s innovative training approach.
As part of St. Joe’s Health System and as a leading academic health sciences centre, CELS will continue to enhance professional practice as a champion of innovation and educational capacity. This continued investment in our teams will ensure they are equipped to deliver compassionate, high-quality care across the continuum of the patient’s journey.
Treating the whole person
Helping people through innovative, compassionate care is at the core of our mission. St. Joe’s Home Care understands that health doesn’t stop at the bedside—it involves the whole person. That is why we have multidisciplinary teams who can provide a multitude of supports to our clients and interdisciplinary training opportunities to increase our capacity to deliver holistic care.
We offer a broad spectrum of services designed to meet the diverse needs of our clients at home and in the community. From visiting nursing care and personal support for daily living, to wellness checks, meal preparation and assisted living supports, our teams work together and continually receive training opportunities to ensure individuals receive care that is comprehensive and personalized.
This integrated approach allows us to support people in maintaining their independence, dignity and quality of life. Whether someone is recovering from illness, managing a chronic condition or navigating a transition in care, we are there—delivering services with empathy, respect and a deep commitment to treating the whole person.
Engagement and co-creation
Our shared strategic plan was shaped by the voices of patients, clients, residents, families and community partners, as well as those who live our mission every day including staff, physicians, learners and volunteers across St. Joe’s Hamilton, St. Joe’s Home Care and St. Joe’s Villa. We engaged individuals from these communities through surveys, pop-up events and targeted outreach. This inclusive process allowed our community to build on the foundation of the St. Joseph’s Health System’s strategic directions and tailor our strategy to reflect the unique strengths and needs of each organization and local communities.
We heard a clear call for compassionate, connected care; for continued growth in our research endeavours and academic partnerships; for Indigenous ReconciliAction; for equity and barrier-free care; and for investment in the people who make care possible. These insights shaped how the plan’s three strategic directions and two foundational enablers will be put into action.
The result is a plan that is not only aligned across our organizations, but also deeply rooted in the lived experiences and aspirations of those we serve and those who serve and the mission the Sisters of St. Joseph have entrusted to us. This is a plan built together—and one we will bring to life together.
Measurement and acknowledgements
Our shared strategic plan is the direction through which we deliver on our mission of Unstoppable Compassion. It reflects a unified commitment by our organizations to work together as one system in pursuit of our collective goals.
As we move forward, we will monitor our progress and adapt to the evolving needs of those we serve. We will share our journey openly—reporting back to the community and engaging them in our progress.
We are grateful for the time and contributions of physicians, learners, leaders, patients, patient and family advisors, residents, non-profits, community leaders, advisory council members and our Joint Boards of Governors who participated in meaningful ways to help us build our shared strategic plan. Through surveys, focus groups, pop-up sessions and engagement activities across our organizations, we crafted strategic priorities together through dialogue, openness, readiness for change and a bold vision for unstoppable compassion.
Thank you.
Learn more about our shared strategic plan online by visiting sjhs.ca/strategicplan or scanning this QR code
