Trillium CEO says $1-billion fundraising goal isn’t what keeps her up at night — overcrowded ERs are - Toronto Star

As Trillium launches its 'Built for Us' campaign, CEO Karli Farrow says redesigning care — not just new buildings — is key to easing ER overcrowding.

Karli Farrow, CEO of Trillium Health Partners, which runs Credit Valley Hospital and Mississauga Hospital, October 1, 2026. Trillium is building Canada’s largest hospital and is next week asking the community for $1billion in donations for the hospital builds.

Karli Farrow, president and CEO of Trillium Health Partners, says the big numbers — and even bigger aspirations — tied to Canada’s largest hospital redevelopment aren’t what keep her up at night.

She knows Trillium’s two emergency departments see more patients than any other Ontario hospital system — and that these patients typically face the longest waits.

She knows the region they serve in Mississauga and the western GTA will continue to confront enormous population pressures, adding an expected 1 million people over the next 15 years.

And she knows Trillium’s new fundraising goal, announced Monday, to raise $1 billion from the community to help with the massive redevelopment project is among the most ambitious in the country.

But Farrow, who has been at Trillium’s helm since 2022, says she’s not daunted by those numbers. Not even by the one-billion-dollar “Built for Us” fundraising campaign.

“It is a big number, and it is a number that we believe is entirely achievable,” Farrow said. “What would really keep me up at night is if we said we have to operate the same way we do now, if we couldn’t change.”

The Star sat down with Farrow ahead of Monday’s launch to ask how Trillium is managing current hospital capacity challenges — especially pronounced in its two emergency departments — even as it plans for its future.

An analysis by CIHI found that one in 10 patients who required admission to hospital last year were forced to wait more than two days in Emergency.