Residents to help choose new name for north Scarborough hospital

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It's a fall from "Grace."

As of next June, The Scarborough Hospital will no longer be using the name "Grace" for its campus near Finch Avenue and Birchmount Road, according to director of public affairs Anne Marie Males.

Instead, the hospital will launch a campaign in the new year asking residents to help rename the site.

The move comes as a result of the changing relationship between the hospital and the Salvation Army, which worked with the community in the 1970s and 1980s to get the Grace off the ground.

After the Scarborough Grace Hospital opened in 1985, the church went on to take a leadership role in the hospital's administration and operations.

The church's function has diminished over time.

Last month, the Salvation Army's flag in front of the hospital was lowered for the last time, marking the end of the church's formal duties.

While the Salvation Army continues to provide spiritual care at the Grace, extending its religious support to the General campus at McCowan Road and Lawrence Avenue, it no longer plays a formal administrative role and holds no seats on The Scarborough Hospital's board of directors.

"The Grace name is a proprietary name reserved by the Salvation Army and it is reserved only for hospitals they run," Males said.

"This has happened in other hospitals where it was not their core business any more. They have given us to June that we can use the name.

"There is no animosity. It is amicable. It is standard practice for them."

The hospital has been telling staff and community groups about the impending name change since July, but Males admitted she's been surprised by the lack of response so far.

She believes the news hasn't resonated with the public yet but it will likely move on to the community's radar screen when the hospital launches a campaign in the new year asking residents to submit suggestions for a new name.

"I kept being mystified why people haven't picked up on that yet," Males said.

"They have been so focused on the issue of governance (as a result of a community lawsuit against the former board and the province's appointment of supervisor Rob Devitt to run the hospital), they just didn't get there yet."

Resident Murray Hedges attended the final Salvation Army flag lowering ceremony and learned about the name change at a community meeting at the hospital last Thursday night.

He admitted a sense of loss over the church's reduced ties to the hospital.

"We are now looking for a new name and I hope we can find something that will reflect the respect many long-time residents have for this institution," the 45-year resident of Scarborough wrote in a letter to The Mirror.

"Maybe we could call it the Hope or Faith Hospital, or something as fitting as that, to reflect what the Salvation Army offered to so many, regardless of their religious beliefs, for so many years?"

Even though the campus won't formally be called the Grace after next summer, Males said it will be known by that name in the community for years to come.