The St. Joseph's Health System is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

hospital network A hospital network is a public, non-profit or for-profit company or organization that provides two or more hospitals and other broad healthcare facilities and services. A hospital network may include hospitals in one or more regions within one or ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. Its locations include

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is a 777-bed research hospital and academic health science centre located in Hamilton, Ontario, that is affiliated with the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine of McMaster University as well as Mohawk College ...

, St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, St. Joseph's Health Centre in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

, St. Joseph's Home Care, St. Joseph's Lifecare Centre in

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

, and St. Joseph's Villa in Dundas.

History

The St. Josephs' Health System evolved from hospitals and other institutions created by the

Sisters of St. Joseph The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for Saint Jo ...

's Hamilton branch such as

and the St. Joseph's Villa. An external review concluded that 9 patients in the St. Joseph's Health System died by suicide in 2016 while being treated as patients or on a day pass. Two families of the deceased filed each filed a 8.5 million dollar

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

lawsuit against the St. Joseph's Health System in October 2017. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario was a viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Canada w ...

, St. Joseph's Villa had a COVID-19 outbreak starting November 2020, resulting in at least 55 infections and 8 deaths. Tom Stewart, the President and CEO of the St. Joseph's Health System, took an international holiday vacation to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and other countries from December 18, 2020 until January 5, 2021, contrary to public health advice to avoid non-essential international travel. Upon his vacation being reported on by the press, Stewart apologized, said he regretted it, and stated that everyone should avoid non-essential travel. Union leaders representing Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/

CUPE The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; ) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workplaces in the non-profit and para-public sector as well. CUPE is the largest union in Canada, ...

, the

Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

, and

SEIU Healthcare SEIU Healthcare is a Canadian trade union representing more than 65,000 workers in Ontario, Canada. Through collective bargaining, the union represents workers in hospitals, home care, nursing and retirement homes, and community services. The un ...

characterized Stewart's decision as "irresponsible" and poor leadership during a time that frontline health workers were struggling. On January 7, 2021, a day after

Niagara Health System The Niagara Health System, or Niagara Health (NH), is a Canadian multi-site hospital amalgamation, comprising five sites serving over 450,000 residents across the 12 municipalities making up the Regional Municipality of Niagara, Canada. Niagara He ...

terminated its CEO-sharing agreement with St. Joseph's Health System, Stewart was removed as President and CEO by the board of directors.

External links

Official website

References

{{reflist Catholic hospital networks in Canada 1991 establishments in Ontario