Our Shared Purpose newsletter November 2018

OUR SHARED PURPOSE November 2018

Welcome to Canada Specialized clinic provides support to children with chronic illnesses (pg. 2)

Support to the end Providence’s pallative program cares for patients and their families (pg. 7)

RESEARCH 101 What it takes to innovate (pg. 4)

New glucose meters going network-wide How this new technology is making a difference (pg. 3)

Take a picture A new program at St. Joseph’s that’s impacting mental health clients (pg. 8)

Pictured here are doctors

Liivi Pormeister shows off

Shazeen Suleman and

the new Nova StatStrip

Tony Barozzino, the

glucose meter while

two physician leads for

Daniel Beriault holds

St.Michael’s Newcomers

the older meter that’s

to Canada Clinic.

being replaced.

Accuracy saves lives

Welcoming newcomers

New glucose meters are rolling out across the network

This clinic helps families settle in the community

by Michael Oliveira

by Selma Al-Samarrai

Sara says her “heart feels warm” every time she thinks about the

primary-care providers, specialists, schools, and resources in the

The rollout of new glucose meters this month at St. Michael’s is a

team at the Newcomers to Canada Clinic at

community to help ensure they have immediate access to the social

win, win, win, says medical technical specialist Liivi Pormeister.

new when we saw it here for the first time. Sarah gave me a lot of tips

St. Michael’s Hospital.

services they need.

on things that helped when she was implementing,” Pormeister says.

“We developed a model of care that recognizes the issues

patients can count on getting more reliable test results, and it’s

Sudan last October, Sara’s nine-year-old son Mohamed, who lives

facing immigrants and refugee families and children. We incorporate

an example of a network-wide approach to embracing a new

meter approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for critically

with cerebral palsy, began having issues with his feeding tube. This

interpretation services and address issues such as social determinants

technology, says Pormeister.

ill patients, notes Daniel Beriault, head of St. Michael’s division of

landed them in an emergency department where Sara was told that

of health and barriers to care,” says Dr. Tony Barozzino, one of the two

biochemistry.

Mohamed’s complex condition would be best cared for in Toronto, at

physician leads of the clinic.

20 times,” Pormeister says of the frustrations with the older glucose

the Newcomers to Canada Clinic.

meters, “and if you have inaccurate glucose results from your meters

patients so that’s incredibly important to us,” says Beriault.

the first point of contact for Sara.

then your insulin dosing will be off as well.

the immediate support they were receiving at the clinic.

events have been traced to the use of less accurate glucose meters

“We were newcomers and we don’t have family or friends here

country motivated by the pursuit of life takes a lot of courage and

everybody.”

in hospitals in the U.S. This meter will provide the highest level of

so they really helped us a lot. They contacted Mohamed’s school

drive. Recognizing that resilience positions our clinic in more of an

accuracy for all our patients.”

board and got him registered, they set up him with Wheel-Trans

empowerment role than a charitable role.”

visited St. Joseph’s - which began using the meters late last year - and

got advice on implementation from point-of-care technical specialist

St. Michael’s and in the new year at Providence.

Shortly after her family of three immigrated to Montreal from

By December, the family was settled in Toronto and amazed with

Dr. Shazeen Suleman, the other physician lead at the clinic, was “These families are incredibly resilient. To arrive in a new

service, and they applied for funds to get him medical supplies,” explains Sara.

The Newcomers to Canada Clinic serves infants and adolescents

with chronic illness who are new to Canada. After diagnosing and treating its young patients, the clinic connects their families with

Want more information? bit.ly/2Qru9r8

The Nova StatStrip meters are much easier for nurses to use,

“We’d get complaints from nurses trying to scan their badge like

“This is a benefit all around, for the operators, for the patients, To help with training and preparation for the rollout, Pormeister

“It’s helping a lot with our implementation, so it wasn’t completely

In addition to ease of use, the Nova StatStrip is the only glucose

“As a trauma and acute care hospital we have a lot of critically ill “In the last several years a high number of adverse patient

The glucose meters are expected to go in service mid-month at

Sarah Kim.

Our Shared Purpose is a monthly newsletter highlighting our people and the ways they are improving care, patient experience and the health of our communities.

Learn more: www.oursharedpurpose.com

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OUR SHARED PURPOSE

OUR SHARED PURPOSE

3

Research Month

1.

START

Researchers conduct innovative research to keep our network on the cutting edge of health care.

Though sometimes glamorous in the end, research requires some serious hustle, and often years to complete. In celebration of Research Month, we go behind the scenes to see what it takes to generate new knowledge.

• Fill out fundng applications • Submit application to the Office of Research Administration (ORA) • Piggy back onto an ongoing project

Coffee Break! 5.

Collect the data

Start the research!

• Work with Survey Research Unit

• Open necessary accounts • Hire staff and students

$ 0 in r7 evenuemilfliroonm research

Analyze the data • Work with the Applied Health Research Centre (AHRC) • Submit progress reports to funding agencies

4.

2stu4den0ts

taff

6.

7.

Obtain funding/support

• Find collaborators • Explore funding options • Conduct lit reviews • Collect pilot data

9 rese8a0 s rch

0 8 2 s r e h c r a rese

3.

Do the pre-study work

Think of an innovative potential solution to a problem or gap in knowledge.

In our network we have over...

So you want to do research?

2.

Develop a research question

8.

$14

ian I ch funding d a n a C in h Resear of Healt

9.

Draw conclusions and submit final reports

mnisltlitioutnes

1re4se0ar0ch pape

Share your new knowledge • Publish • Commercialize • Communicate

Submit to the Research Ethics Board and funding contracts to the ORA

rs published 10. Celebrate!

CANADA’S FIRST HEART TRANSPLANT November 17 is the 50th anniversary of the first successful heart transplant in Canada, performed at St. Michael’s by Dr. Clare Baker.

The patient was Charles Perrin Johnston, who lived for over six years with his new heart.

Dr. Baker was born in Saskatchewan and earned his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1946. In 1953 he became chief of thoracic surgery at St. Michael’s, where he performed vascular, thoracic and closed heart surgery before becoming involved in the new field of open heart surgery. After South Africa’s Christian Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant in 1967, teams around the world began performing the surgery, but most of the patients died soon afterward. Johnston survived longer than any other heart transplant recipient in the world at that time.

Dr. Baker was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2002 and died in 2010.

Dr. Clare Baker, the surgeon who performed Canada’s first successful heart transplant at St. Michael’s Hospital on November 17, 1968.

Michael Pasquale, pictured in the Patient and Family Lounge, visits the program where his mother spent her final days.

(Photo: Ramon Syyap)

Peace of mind Palliative care program supports families with end of life

by Emily Dawson

NEW NICU DESIGNATION AT ST. JOE’S When getting ready to welcome a new baby into their family, the last thing parents want to think about is intensive care. But many babies require additional support before they can go home – which is where the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) comes in.

These specialized departments are equipped to support babies until they’re able to breathe and feed on their own.

St. Joseph’s had been providing support as a Level 2B NICU and recently received a designation upgrade to Level 2C to care for sicker and smaller babies.

“We can now provide care to babies anywhere from 30 weeks gestation upwards, compared to our previous 32,” says Dr. Jessie van Dyk, division head of the NICU. “This means that babies born elsewhere can also be transferred back to us sooner so families can be closer to home.”

Julie Pigozzo was able to spend more time with her baby Reese when she was transferred to her community hospital, St. Joseph’s.

MAKING MEANING OUT OF DATA SHARING MEDICAL IMAGING DATA Imagine if anRADIATION online tool could help forecast patient volumes in TO CUT DOSES

hospitals, or foresee the amount of supply needed to meet a Patients With mighta expect doses scans to be demand. new toolradiation created by the Lifor KaCT Shing Centre for comparable from one hospital the next, butthis a team at a reality.

Healthcare Analytics and Trainingto(LKS-CHART), is now Hospital says the dose variance can be St. Michael’s Most recently, the LKS-CHART team used this tool tostartling. examine Theaccuracy team is collecting andfor analyzing data eight hospitals the of an estimate the number offrom deaths in Puerto Rico for the Imaging Metadata Repository of Ontario after a Medical hurricane.

The LKS-CHART tool corroborated the(MIMRO) findings, to help reduceletter the province’s average radiation doseinper and a research on their work has been published thescan.

New Using artificial England Journalintelligence of Medicine.to sort the hospitals’ data, the team comparative data by scanner and to help generated “This recent publication is facility, a demonstration ofexam an in-house determine tool bestbeing practices. is funded primarily by says Dr. developed used MIMRO at the highest levels of science,” St. Michael’s was created of itsKnowledge radiologists, Amol Verma,and a researcher at theby Li two Ka Shing Institute. “It Drs. Timothy and Bruce Gray. shows that ourDowdell team at St. Michael’s is helping to make meaning out of data. ” Radiologist Dr. Bruce Gray and data analyst Lianne Concepcion review data 6

submitted to MIMRO. (Photo: Katie Cooper) The LKS-CHART team, including (L to R) Josh Murray, Dr. Muhammad Mamdani and Dr. Amol Verma created a tool that can forecast future data.

OUR SHARED PURPOSE

Michael Pasquale and his mother, Rosie, always had fond

doctor. “She told him, ‘If I can go to Providence, I’ll be happy.’”

memories of Providence Healthcare. Close family members

had received exceptional care there and when the time came

great care taken in designing the environment and services to support

to seek palliative care for Rosie, Providence was the only place

both patients and their loved ones.

she wanted to be.

Providence’s Palliative Care program houses a 35-bed unit –

the new Family and Caregiver Floor includes two overnight suites

making it one of the province’s largest hospital programs – and staff

for family members needing to stay close by, a children’s room, a

are committed to maintaining comfort, managing pain, and fostering

business office, and a multi-faith prayer room.

dignity for the dying.

time for rest and renewal. Caregivers can use the time for self-care,

Pasquale was his mother’s primary caregiver as she started

Providence renovated and relocated the program in 2016, with

In addition to a contemporary and home-like patient unit,

Respite care is offered for up to two weeks to give caregivers

requiring more intensive care.

a vacation, or to manage professional obligations.

“We spent lots of time together and I cherished that; I wanted to

There’s also a “return home” option for patients who choose to

be able to care for her as she aged. But it was a difficult role for a son

die at home after having their symptoms managed at Providence.

because it was very personal, like bathing and dressing her,” he says.

And patients can seamlessly return to Providence if things don’t go

as planned at home.

“She had so many falls and I was nervous all the time. Ultimately,

she had a terrible fall that changed everything. Her mind was sharp

but her body was deteriorating quickly.”

gift of all: peace of mind.

In a hospital after the last fall, Pasquale, Rosie, and her doctor

For the Pasquales, Providence’s program gave them the best “We both felt at peace that Providence was her last stop. Her

recognized that palliative care was the best option.

doctor, nurses, and everyone on the unit were so good, and I always

felt taken care of too. She was safe. That’s all we could have wanted.”

Pasquale clearly remembers his Mom’s conversation with her

OUR SHARED PURPOSE

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A gallery at St. Joseph’s will feature several pictures taken by the group’s members.

(Photo: Ramon Syyap)

Life through a new lens Photography group promotes mental wellness

Occupational therapist Sara Salahub (middle) discusses an assignment with the photography group. (Photo: Ramon Syapp)

by Ramon Syyap

Art and therapy are being combined in an innovative new

program at St. Joseph’s that helps people manage their mental

more than just about photos. Now I’m able to ask what emotion does

health.

that evoke, and answer what does something mean to me? It gets me

in touch with myself and it’s helping my mental health and wellness,”

Outpatient mental health clients can join a six-week photography

“Photography has been a part of my life for a long time, but this is

group where members work together creating unique images and art

said Gero, one of the group’s members.

all while in a safe and supportive environment.

“The only requirements were that they feel comfortable enough

to urban landscape and perspectives. “It takes me a while to get the

to talk about their work and to go out and take pictures,” said Sara

perfect shot, but that’s what I like about it,” said Alvin, another member.

Salahub, occupational therapist in the mental health program and

“Instead of worrying about the things I can’t control, it lets me focus on

one of the club’s creators. “If they want to share how their mental

the moment. It makes me super happy.”

illness affects them, they are welcome to, but never are they asked to

disclose.”

ImagineIF, the hospital’s Innovation Fund that is supported by a

The hope for members is the group takes away their stresses and

generous donation. A gallery unveiling is happening this month to show

creates confidence - by seeing something meaningful within, Salahub

off the members’ pictures centred on the theme “What is Wellness to

believes it can build and spread to other parts of their life.

you.”

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OUR SHARED PURPOSE

The assignments ranged from subjects on street photography

The photography group was made possible by funding from