April 6, 2011

MESSAGE TO OUR COMMUNITY

FROM:  DAVID MONTGOMERY, President & CEO

Haldimand War Memorial Hospital and Edgewater Gardens

"NEW LOGO"

Greetings everyone!
Further to my previous e-mail message, the development process to come up with a new logo for our campus has been completed. Thank you to everyone who either participated in the process to develop a new logo or provided me directly with their ideas and feedback. It has been very much appreciated.

As you know, the current hospital logo is at least 30 years old. Edgewater has never had a logo. We wanted to go forward with an identity that speaks to how we are viewed in the community and with a logo that represents all we do on our health campus.

As part of our process, interviews and focus groups were held with the following groups and individuals:
• Staff
• Senior Management
• Dunnville Legion
• Residents of Dunnville
• Hospital inpatients
• Edgewater Residents’ Council
• Boards of the Foundation and Volunteer Association
• Board of Hospital/Edgewater
• Hospital’s Communications Committee
• Mayor Ken Hewitt
• Councillor Lorne Boyko

The purpose of the focus groups was to elicit comments about the desired look and feel of the new corporate identity. The overriding message gained from this exercise is that we are deeply respected in our community, with residents feeling a tremendous sense of pride in the services that we provide to them. This is a great feeling.

People spoke about our quality of care, our cleanliness, and our quality of food. Many said that they feel as though they are “more than just a number.” The main message we heard over and over again was “love, love, love!” People also spoke about how our new motto, “Embracing the health and hearts of the community,” resonates so completely with our values.

I am very pleased and excited to unveil the following as our new logo.

Why this image? There are several compelling reasons to use this logo.
• Speaks to our new motto (Embracing the health and hearts of the community)
• Conveys the warmth and caring (the design is an “embrace”)
• Feels approachable, accessible
• Represents integration with community, partners, etc.
• Design conveys movement – forward-thinking
• The lines within the heart can be imagined as flowing water (the Grand River) or newly plowed fields

Thank you again to all those who helped guide us through this process. Our staff and physicians are very proud of what they do here and I believe that this new logo will help all of us to express that pride.

Many thanks.