McMaster signs affiliation agreement with Cambridge Memorial Hospital

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/cambridgehospital.jpg” caption=”Standing under the new banner at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital are John Milloy, Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities; Julia Dumanian, president and CEO of Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH); John Bell, chair of the CMH board of governors; Doug Craig, mayor of Cambridge; John Kelton, dean and vice-president, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University; Ken Seiling, regional chair, Region of Waterloo; Cathy Morris, assistant regional dean of the Waterloo regional campus of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and chief of staff, CMH. Photo by Fred Kay.”]Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve. A wide banner was unfurled on the brick wall of Cambridge Memorial Hospital last week to celebrate the new relationship between the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and the hospital.

The Coronation Boulevard hospital is an official teaching site for the medical school, accepting both medical clerks and residents to train at the community hospital.

“Today is about our future,” Julia Dumanian, president and CEO of Cambridge Memorial Hospital, told a reception of hospital staff, patients, media representatives and community dignitaries. “This is innovation in healthcare, in education, in training and in delivery. We're now a 24/7 teaching site affiliated with McMaster University, one of the leading medical schools in the world.

“We're all about patient care, and everything we do is to improve patient care. By embracing the learning environment in making the medical school a part of our culture, we are improving patient care.”

John Kelton, dean and vice-president of McMaster's Faculty of Health Sciences, thanked the hospital medical and healthcare staff and its administrators for welcoming McMaster students.

“McMaster is well-known for distributive education,” he said. “We focus on students and we put them into the community where they learn in a living laboratory. Many of our students are going to stay in the communities where they train.”

Dr. Cathy Morris is both the assistant regional dean of the new Waterloo regional campus of the McMaster medical school and the chief of staff at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

She praised the medical and allied health professionals and the staff of the hospital for being prepared to teach the healthcare practitioners of tomorrow.

“This is also an opportunity for our patients, as the students will also learn from you. And, as a teaching hospital, there will be more discussion and that will mean better diagnosis and treatment.”

The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine opened its new Waterloo regional campus with the first 15 first-year students last fall. The student body at the campus will grow to 85 students a year. These students will have their clinical learning and residencies at Waterloo and Wellington hospitals.