This has been an exciting few weeks for Toronto – it looks like Spring might actually be here to stay, baseball season has started and the Toronto Raptors are back in playoff action (here's hoping for a better outcome in game 2 tonight)! There is an energy of excitement, renewal and especially team spirit buzzing through the city right now. And that energy has certainly made its way into UHN.
We saw the best of our team culture last week when the organization came together to thank our volunteers, in honour of National Volunteer Week. I know we all appreciate the time these individuals give to help us provide the best care possible and frankly, their support is an integral part of the work we do. While it's wonderful to have a week dedicated to our volunteers, I encourage you to regularly let our volunteers know how much they mean to you.
There are several opportunities this week to continue our focus on team engagement, starting with the first IT Transformation Town Hall taking place today at 10:30am (DeGasperis Conservatory, TGH). I will be co-hosting with Dr. David Jaffray, EVP Technology and Innovation, and Lydia Lee, Chief Innovation Officer. After the success of our Research Town Halls, I am really looking forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas and comments on the IT transformation agenda that's currently underway.
We're also putting a spotlight on National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, part of Organ Donation Month. Every three days someone in Ontario dies waiting for a transplant and yet one organ donor has the power to save eight lives. This is why shortly after moving back to Canada last year, I registered to become a potential organ donor. And I am so proud that UHN is also doing its part.
Thanks to the amazing team work taking place in our Multi-Organ Transplant Program a record 581 transplants were performed in 2015/16, including the first forearm and hand transplant in Canada, which took place at Toronto Western this winter. You can hear first-hand about the life-changing impact of their work from four recent recipients, in their own words
here. There will also be a number of activities and information booths taking place throughout the week, so you can learn more about organ and tissue donation. I encourage you take a moment to visit
beadonor.ca and give the gift of life.
Lastly, our Purpose, Values and Principles Open Houses start this week, on April 21st at Bickle Centre. Since team work is so critical to what we do, it's important to me that we include everyone in the UHN community in this process. I hope you're all able to make it out to one of the Open Houses and provide your thoughts on our drafted Purpose and Values and share how you think they can help us form guiding principles. As a quick reminder, the Open Houses dates and times are below – please note these are drop-in times, you do not have to be there for the whole time.
- April 21, 2016 @ Bickle Centre, Auditorium, 10:30 am—1:30 pm
- April 25, 2016 @ Lyndhurst Centre, Lecture Hall A/B, 10:00 am—12:00 pm
- April 26, 2016 @ Toronto General, 1EN-429/430, 11:00 am—2:00 pm
- April 27, 2016 @ University Centre, Auditorium 2-014, 11:00 am—2:00 pm
- April 28, 2016 @ Princess Margaret, 7-605, 10:30 am—1:30 pm
- April 29, 2016 @ Michener, Room 1341, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
- May 4, 2016 @ Toronto Western, 6FP-103, 12:00 pm—3:00pm
I look forward to seeing what amazing things our team can accomplish this week.
Peter
