Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) has opened a new Centre for Integrated Learning, a modern, purpose-built space that will help care teams learn, practise, and deliver better care for patients and families.
Located at the heart of the health centre, the new space reflects RVH’s commitment to becoming a regional academic health sciences centre, where education, innovation and care come together to improve patient outcomes.
Inside, glass-walled rooms and shared spaces make learning visible. Simulation labs, observation areas and flexible classrooms are designed to mirror real hospital environments, so teams can train in settings that feel familiar and real.
Here, teams can work through complex situations in a realistic setting. Using high-fidelity mannequins and virtual reality, they can respond to emergency scenarios, refine decision-making and learn together in a safe, controlled environment.
That preparation matters, because when teams are confident and ready, patients benefit.
“Every day, our teams show up ready to care for this region,” said Gail Hunt, President and CEO. “This centre is our commitment to them — to give them the tools, space and support to keep learning, to keep growing and to keep delivering the best possible care. When we invest in our people, we strengthen care for every patient who walks through our doors.”
The Centre for Integrated Learning brings healthcare professionals together across disciplines. Physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, and learners train side by side, building the communication, trust and teamwork that are essential in high-pressure situations.
It is also where experienced teams hone their skills and mentor the next generation. Students, residents and new staff learn alongside those who have done it before, building confidence and skills that carry into patient care.
“When we invest in education, the impact grows far beyond one moment or one patient,” said Dr. Jeffrey Tyberg, Chief of Staff and Vice-President, Academic and Medical Affairs. “When experienced team members share their knowledge and mentor others, that expertise carries forward. It creates a ripple effect, strengthening teams and improving care for hundreds of patients over time. That is how we continue to raise the standard of care across our region.”
The centre supports hands-on, team-based learning across programs. Teams can practise the moments they experience every day, assessing patients, making decisions, communicating clearly and working together to provide safe, effective care. It also prepares them for the moments they may see less often, but where every second matters, including trauma, cardiac emergencies and other complex situations.
Each year, RVH supports hundreds of learners and provides thousands of hours of hands-on training. This new space expands that work, helping teams build skills, strengthen decision-making and continue growing throughout their careers.
It also strengthens RVH’s ability to attract and train the healthcare professionals our region needs, now and into the future.
The Centre for Integrated Learning is fully donor funded and made possible through the generosity of the community.
A $1 million gift from Innovative Automation, a Barrie-based company and global leader in advanced manufacturing technologies, is helping bring virtual reality and immersive learning tools into the hands of care teams within this new space, helping to transform how medical education is delivered. Their contribution, along with others to the RVH Foundation’s Keep Life Wild campaign, is helping advance RVH’s role as a regional leader in learning, innovation, and clinical excellence.
This new centre is more than a place to learn. It reflects who RVH is becoming: an academic health sciences centre where learning is part of everyday care, and where that commitment leads to better outcomes for patients and families, close to home.
