Stories

When 20-year-old Brianna came home to Orangeville on a two-week break from college in Hamilton, she had no idea she wouldn’t be returning to school next semester.

On May 11, 2019 Brianna woke in the middle of the night with discomfort in her stomach. Her mom, Mary-Jane, checked on her sensing something was wrong, and Brianna explained “I’m fine Mom - my stomach is just upset from the burgers we had last night”. Mary-Jane kissed her and went to work not thinking much of it.

Mike, a member of our Facilities Team joined the Headwaters family in 1986 right out of high school. Starting in Nutrition Services, Mike would deliver patient trays and wash dishes. A year later, he joined the Environmental Services Team, where he remained for 11 years.

Nelson has been a volunteer with the Headwaters Health Care Auxiliary for 14 years and enjoys the personal connections he makes with patients or their families.

He said they often confide in him because they see he is approachable and is a good listener.

Abera is a graduate student in the Masters of Health Informatics Program at the University of Waterloo who is participating in a 4-month placement at HHCC.

Abera, along with our Decision Support team, is looking at how we can strengthen our business intelligence with all the information we gather within the hospital. She is developing standardized reports and corporate dashboards using analytical software tools that take our information and establish trends. This will transition our data from manual inputs to digital forecasts that we can use to provide even better care.

If you had spoken to Orangeville resident Ashley in October of 2018, she wouldn’t have been able to tell you about ICU respirators, chemotherapy side effects or the devastating feeling of losing a parent to cancer. A few short months later though, and she can tell you about all of those things in detail.

National Volunteer Week is a time when Canadians take pause to reflect on the selfless contributions of people across the country. 

At Headwaters we are blessed to have several volunteer groups including Headwaters Health Care Auxiliary, Friendship Gardens, Board of Directors, Patient Family Advisors and Spiritual Care Chaplains. Tena has been part of the latter group, serving as a Lay Chaplain, for over 30 years.  

Julia, in Environmental Services, started working at Headwaters in 1987 as one of the first female Porters. The midnight shift was a grueling job and very different than the role of a Porter today. Julia remembers shoveling snow out of the parking lot at 02:00, her young son showing up with a shovel offering to help.

Carolyn, Laboratory Services, has been a part of the Headwaters team for many years. She started working here in June of 1979 as a Technologist in the lab. As an Orangeville native, this was an exciting opportunity to stay close to home and use all the skills she was trained in (Hematology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Transfusion Medicine).

Roughly 20 years ago, under the inspiration of Dr. Barry Engelhardt a local family physician, hockey teams like no other were born. Engelhardt wanted to become a goalie like his son. He had a vision of getting enough local doctors playing to join the yearly “Docs on Ice” Ontario Hockey Tournament.

In the Fall, Anne and her husband Tim were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their first child. Anne was under observation as she was two weeks overdo and the couple was excited but scared.

The Labor & Delivery Team at Headwaters carefully monitored Anne and the baby.