Morning, everyone. We have a lot of good news to cover.
Highlights from last week include: 1) Potential Ministry funding for long-term care home beds, 2) What our Board of Trustees learned at our annual board retreat and 3)
Drs. Lucas Chartier,
Margaret Herridge,
Susan Tarlo and
Pauline Pariser recognized for excellence in their fields.
Before you all settle in for this read, I invite you to complete our communications Survey. It took me less than 10 minutes to do and the feedback you share will help shape how you get your information and stay up-to-date at UHN.
Plus you could win one of nine $20 gift cards.
Last week,
Premier Kathleen Wynne pledged to create 5,000 new long term care home (LTCH) beds by 2022. Given we have an exemplary LTCH facility at
Toronto Rehab’s Lakeside site, we submitted a Letter of Intent in the hopes of receiving some of these beds. For those who don’t know, Lakeside holds the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s (MOHLTC) highest ranking for performance levels—meaning that their delivery of care is safer and more responsive than the provincial average. Thank you
Donna Lee and
Sabrina Lim Reinders for your leadership and for helping your teams deliver excellent care to our residents. While the impact of this potential funding will depend on how the upcoming election goes, we know healthcare needs do not change based on political parties and will continue to move ahead, leveraging UHN’s LTCH expertise to support Ontario’s health system.
We also had our retreat with
UHN’s Board of Trustees. It’s an annual opportunity for our executive team, senior leaders, Foundation partners and Board members to come together and consider the big picture for UHN. This year’s theme was “Achieving Financial Resiliency”. We spent the day discussing the way UHN is currently funded and how we might build a sustainable financial future while managing the challenges facing Ontario’s health system. This most likely means getting creative with our Foundations, commercialization and beyond. Our Board cares deeply about this place and we’re fortunate they’re all engaged and eager to help. Our incoming CEO
Dr. Kevin Smith was also there and is already making an effort to meet as many people as possible.
We also had a great week in terms of external staff recognition:
-
Dr. Lucas Chartier is now TC LHIN’s (Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network) Emergency Medicine Lead. Lucas was selected after a formal competitive process and will help improve the quality of emergency medicine care for TC LHIN patients. I know Lucas makes a huge difference in our own Emergency Departments, I expect he will do the same across Toronto Central.
-
Drs. Margaret Herridge and
Susan Tarlo were honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards by the American Thoracic Society Assembly (Margaret for Critical Care and Susan for Environmental, Occupational and Population Health). Susan was my teacher and Margaret was my fellow so this news fills me with immense pride.
-
Dr. Pauline Pariser was honoured with the Ontario Medical Association’s (OMA) 2018 Glenn Sawyer Service Award. This award recognizes significant service to the OMA and/or public at the community level. Pauline is a major part of UHN’s Population Health approach and our TC sub-LHIN lead; I can think of no better person for this award.
Remember that none of these honourees stand alone—they are able to succeed thanks to support from their colleagues and the UHN family.
As you can see, it was a busy week but I still managed to join our Volunteer Resources cardiac pillow event. Together with a group of volunteers, we completed 60 pillows for our cardiac patients. The pillow that my mom got after her surgery at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in 2003 is still in our home – much loved by Sammi my golden retriever.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. All of this good news makes me feel motivated for the week ahead; I hope you all feel the same.
Charlie
