Soon, MaRS will be talking about new tenants for the second tower. As I'm sure most of you know, the land for MaRS was sold by UHN to MaRS to make it possible for a research and innovation hub to grow within the centre of Toronto. The project has been through a few bumps along the way, but I see enormous potential in having the building filled to capacity, overflowing with creative minds and giving research a real presence just steps from Queen's Park. Given the need for Canada's economy to diversify, I am convinced that it is the research, development and innovation coming from places like UHN, the University of Toronto and our sister hospitals which will help to put Canada on a firm financial footing. Yes – we are a resource-rich country in terms of oil and gas and minerals and metals but it will be research and development, in partnership with the commercial sector that will help us transition to a knowledge economy.
Many of you have attended sessions, sponsored by Joy Richards, Vice President Health Professions and Chief Nurse Executive and Charlie Chan, Vice President, Medical Affairs, looking at how UHN helps our patients with some of the difficult decisions around end-of-life care. Because key parts of our health system include acute care hospitals caring for some of the sickest patients, the death of some patients is anticipated and expected. This means that our clinical teams must be skilled in having very difficult conversations with patients and families. Indeed, our society needs to devote as much time to planning for a "good death" as we do planning for a good birth. The next session on end of life care, will be held on September 17 from 9:00 am – 11:00 am in Toronto Rehab's Bickle Auditorium. You can confirm your attendance by e-mailing Peggy.Wood@uhn.ca. These conversations will help UHN develop a flexible and adaptable approach to end-of-life care – something we all need to think about for our patients, ourselves, and those close to us.
Last week I tweeted about the tour I took with Giles Gherson, Deputy Minister of Research and Innovation when he visited the STTARR facility, Toronto Rehab's iDAPT Centre and Shaf Keshavjee's laboratory in the MaRS tower. It was another chance for me to continue to learn about UHN and, in particular, about the research that is being conducted on all sites. Chris Paige, Vice President of Research and Geoff Fernie, Director of Research at Toronto Rehab hosted the visit. I would like to thank everyone who made the visit possible including Paul Chartrand, Justin Grant, Trevor McKee, Jahvanna Ryan, Alex Radkewycz, Melissa McDermott, Ana Gajic, Dan Girard and Danielle Pereira. My sincere thanks the Council of Academic Hospital of Ontario – a superb organization that does so much to promote research and the awareness of research hospitals through the Healthier, Wealthier, Smarter campaign. You can see this work here.
