Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital: chauffeured transportation

Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital: chauffeured transportation for patients, families and visitors

Before 2021 a Vaughan resident's hospital was in Richmond Hill, Toronto or Brampton, and a day of tests meant a drive down the 400 and a parking garage. The Cortellucci hospital at Major Mackenzie and Jane — a $1.7 billion build, the first new hospital in York Region in decades — changed that for the city's 323,000 residents, and it created a category of chauffeured booking that did not exist here before: the medical day. A patient who cannot drive after a procedure, a parent in for a scan, a relative who flew in from Vancouver for an operation, a physician who commutes from downtown — each is a booking with its own shape, and this guide covers them. The Mackenzie Health site has the hospital's departments and visiting information; this page has the transportation.

Getting there

The hospital is on the north side of Major Mackenzie Drive west of Jane Street, with its main entrance loop off Major Mackenzie. From Maple it is minutes; from the VMC and Highway 7 hotels ten up Jane; from Woodbridge fifteen via Rutherford or Major Mackenzie; from Thornhill twenty via Major Mackenzie; from Kleinburg ten east on Major Mackenzie; from Richmond Hill fifteen; from Pearson 30 via the 427 extension and Major Mackenzie, or the 407 and Jane. The Major Mackenzie construction between Highway 27 and Weston adds time from the west at school hours; Wonderland's exodus stops Jane at the hospital's corner on fireworks nights.

Patients: appointments, procedures and discharges

The most common booking is the procedure day: a patient who is told not to drive afterwards, collected at home in the morning, dropped at the main entrance, and collected at the door when the ward calls. An hourly booking keeps the chauffeur at the hospital for a short procedure; two one-way black car legs cover a day admission with an uncertain end, the second booked when the discharge time is known. The Luxury SUV is the vehicle for anyone with a hip, a knee, a walker or a folded wheelchair — the door and floor height matter — and the chauffeur assists to the door of the house and the entrance. Sedans work for anyone who can manage a normal car. For a patient who remains in a power wheelchair, an accessible vehicle is needed, and York Region's Mobility On-Request service or a specialised operator is the right call; we say so rather than send the wrong car.

Families and visitors

The relative who flies into Pearson for an operation books the airport transfer to the hospital or the hotel — the Highway 7 and Jane hotels are ten minutes south, the travel desk books the room — and then daily runs to the ward, by the hour or as one-ways. A family sitting with a patient for a week books a chauffeur by the day, which is cheaper than the hourly rate multiplied out, and the same chauffeur learns the routine. Visiting hours and parking are on the hospital's site; a chauffeured car removes the parking question entirely.

Physicians, staff and the corporate side

Mackenzie Health's physicians and specialists commute from across the GTA and fly to conferences; a corporate account for the practice covers the Pearson runs and the downtown meetings on one invoice. Medical-device and pharmaceutical representatives visiting the hospital from the airport book the same.

Other hospitals from Vaughan

Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital is fifteen minutes east; Humber River Hospital at Keele and the 401 twenty minutes south; the University Avenue hospitals downtown — Toronto General, Mount Sinai, SickKids, Princess Margaret — forty minutes via the 400 and the Allen or the 427 and the Gardiner; Sunnybrook thirty-five via the 401 and Bayview. A chauffeured black car to any of them is priced from the address, and the chauffeurs know each one's drop-off layout and the SickKids and Mount Sinai loops on University Avenue.

Which vehicle

The Luxury SUV for anyone with mobility limits; the Executive Sedan for the ambulatory patient or the visitor; the Premium Sedan for the physician's airport run; the Sprinter for a family group from the airport.

Booking a hospital trip

In the engine: the home address and "Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital — main entrance" (or the reverse), the time, the vehicle, and in the notes the passenger's name, whether the chauffeur should come to the door, and any mobility aid. For a procedure day with an uncertain end, "hourly" with the expected hours. For a discharge with an unknown time, book the pickup when the ward calls; a car in Maple is minutes away.

The hospital, briefly

The Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital is an acute-care hospital with an emergency department, surgical suites, diagnostic imaging and inpatient units, run by Mackenzie Health alongside its Richmond Hill hospital. It opened first as a pandemic-response facility in February 2021 and for full service that June, on a campus at Major Mackenzie and Jane with a main entrance loop, an emergency entrance and a large lot. It serves Vaughan, King and Richmond Hill, and for the first time gave a city of 323,000 a hospital inside its own borders. The Mackenzie Health site has the departments, the visiting arrangements and the parking rates that are the reason many families book a car instead.

A procedure day, as it runs

A Woodbridge resident scheduled for a day procedure at 08:00 who has been told not to drive afterwards books an Executive Sedan to the hospital and an hourly hold. The chauffeur is at the house at 07:20, drops at the main entrance loop at 07:45 and comes to the door with the passenger's bag, then waits in the lot. At 13:30 the ward calls the passenger's daughter, who texts the chauffeur; the sedan is at the entrance at 13:35, the chauffeur helps the passenger from the wheelchair the nurse brought to the door, and the passenger is home in Woodbridge by 14:00 with the daughter's instructions relayed. Six hours at the hourly rate, or — if the discharge time had been uncertain — two one-way fares with the second booked when the ward called.

The family week, as it runs

A patient's son flies in from Vancouver for his father's surgery. The Pearson route meets him at Terminal 1 and takes him to the Hilton Garden Inn on Highway 7, ten minutes from the hospital; the travel desk booked the room. For the week he books a chauffeur by the day: the hotel to the hospital at eight, the pharmacy and the family home in Maple at noon, the hospital again at four, dinner in Woodbridge with his mother, the hotel at nine. The same chauffeur each day learns the routine, knows the entrance, and waits in the lot. The day rate is lower than the hours multiplied out, and the son is with his father rather than in a parking garage.

Other hospitals from Vaughan, in detail

Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital on Trench Street is fifteen minutes east via Major Mackenzie for the services still centred there. Humber River Hospital at Keele and Wilson is twenty minutes south down the 400 and is the nearest large Toronto hospital. The University Avenue hospitals — Toronto General, Mount Sinai, SickKids, Princess Margaret, Toronto Western a few blocks west — are forty minutes via the 400 and the Allen or the 427 and the Gardiner, with drop-off loops on University the chauffeurs know and the SickKids emergency entrance on Elizabeth Street. Sunnybrook on Bayview is thirty-five minutes via the 401. St. Michael's on Queen and Women's College on Grenville are downtown. Southlake in Newmarket is thirty minutes north for King City and the north of the city. A chauffeured car to any of them is a fixed fare or an hourly day, and for the downtown hospitals the chauffeur's knowledge of the loops and the closest lanes is worth the booking on its own.

Physicians, staff and suppliers

Mackenzie Health's physicians and specialists commute and fly; a practice's corporate account books the Pearson runs and the conference trips on one invoice. Medical-device and pharmaceutical representatives visiting the hospital from the airport book the same, and the hospital's visiting speakers arrive by Premium Sedan from Pearson with meet-and-greet. The foundation's gala at a Jane Street hall is a coordinated evening booking covered in the banquet halls guide.

Booking a hospital transfer for someone else

Most hospital bookings are made by a family member for a patient: enter the patient's name and mobile in the notes so the chauffeur's texts reach them, tell us whether the chauffeur should come to the door and whether a family member is riding along, note any mobility aid, and the confirmation and receipt come to you. For a patient who does not text, ask for a phone call on arrival. For a discharge with an unknown time, book the pickup when the ward calls — a car positioned in Maple is minutes from the entrance loop — and for an admission at seven in the morning, book the evening before. The black car page has more on booking for parents and relatives.

Accessibility, plainly

Sedans and SUVs suit passengers who can transfer to a car seat with assistance; the SUV's door and floor height make it the easier of the two, and a folded wheelchair or walker rides in the cargo bay. The chauffeur assists to and from the door of the house and the hospital entrance, and will wait with the vehicle. What we do not operate is a lift-equipped vehicle for a passenger who remains in a power wheelchair; for that, York Region's Mobility On-Request service or a specialised accessible operator is the right call, and we say so at booking rather than send a vehicle that cannot do the job.

The emergency department at night

A family member discharged from emergency at two in the morning needs a car, not a search: book when the discharge is confirmed and a Maple-positioned sedan or SUV is at the entrance in minutes, the chauffeur at the door with the wheelchair if the nurse brings one. The fare is the same fixed figure it would be at noon.

Book a hospital transfer

The details

The main entrance loop is for drop-off and short waits; the chauffeur moves to the lot between. Major Mackenzie's left turn into the hospital from the east is the approach the chauffeur uses from Thornhill and Richmond Hill. Jane Street at Major Mackenzie shares the Wonderland and Vaughan Mills traffic on summer weekends. And a patient leaving after sedation should not be alone; tell us if a family member is riding along, and the SUV has the room.