March 2013 HSN Seniors Summit Engages Community HSN held the first in a series of public forums on March 5, focusing on seniors issues. Over 250 people attended the free public session, called “Designing A More Seniors-friendly Community”, held in the Vale Cavern of Science North. A panel of expert speakers addressed topics such as housing, architecture, urban planning, social services and leisure activities from a seniors point of view. Presentations were followed by a question and answer session, in which audience members provided feedback on the information presented. “We were pleased that so many private citizens and community partners attended the session,“ says Dr. Denis Roy. “It’s clear that our community wants to have a dialogue about the issues facing seniors. We plan to host other public forums over the coming months. This type of public engagement is a key part of our mandate to promote health in our community.” Speakers for the evening included Eva Mazerolle, a senior citizen and long-time advocate for seniors issues; Kris Longston, Senior Planner, City of Greater Sudbury; Dr. Terrance Galvin, Director, Laurentian University School of Architecture and Esmonde Crawley, International Editor- in-Chief, Over 50s Housing Weekly News. The forum was moderated by John Lindsey, Chair of Friendly to Seniors Sudbury, and Réjean Grenier, Secretary of the provincial Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario. During the forum, Esmonde Crawley officially presented an award to Dr. Denis Roy for being named the 2012 Over 50s Housing Weekly News Outstanding Regional Health Care Executive Worldwide. HSN is planning a second public forum on seniors’ issues. It will be held on June 3rd and will focus on the health care system re-design required to better meet the needs of seniors. AMRIC and Cambrian College Sign Memorandum of Understanding Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, faculty and students at Cambrian would have access to AMRIC’s research facilities and be involved in projects with the Institute. “We are very pleased to be working with AMRIC at HSN because this new collaboration will create more opportunities for students and faculty to build their potential and to develop scientific research right here in the north,” says Sylvia Barnard, Cambrian President. “Our faculty and students are already conducting health research at Cambrian through our Applied Research program, and this partnership will broaden our opportunities with a diverse team at a new institution.” The Advanced Medical Research Institute of Canada (AMRIC) and Cambrian College have signed a five-year “This collaboration strengthens our mission to be an Memorandum of Understanding which would see both academic health sciences centre,” says Dr. Denis Roy, institutions collaborate on health research and training. President and CEO of HSN. “It provides us with the opportunity to conduct locally-based research which is “To develop a health sciences research hub in Sudbury we good for patients. It also enhances the skills and training need to foster relationships with key community partners of local students and boosts our ability to recruit and retain like Cambrian College,” says Dr. Francisco Diaz-Mitoma, Cambrian College graduates.” AMRIC CEO and Vice President of Research at HSN. “By working together, we have a greater ability to attract health- related research projects, investments and talent to Greater Sudbury, which benefits patient care, creates high-income jobs, builds intellectual capital, and enhances the reputation of our city.” ONTraC: Reducing Blood Transfusion Rates The Ontario Transfusion Coordinators program (ONTraC) The nurse-based teams who are involved was set up across 25 major hospitals, including HSN, in in educating patients, and the doctors an effort to reduce transfusions and assist the province in who are working to identify patients conserving the limited and costly blood supply. with anemia, have played integral roles in the success The program was recently featured in the Toronto Star. of the ONTraC program. Huge Over the past decade, St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto advances have been made in has spear-headed this province-wide program, which has terms of health care costs savings, resulted in a dramatic decrease in blood transfusion rates as well as a better utilization of the for elective heart bypass and joint replacement surgeries. provinces blood supply. With this program, overall blood transfusion rates during heart bypass surgeries has decreased from 60% to 25% HSN is proud to play a role in this and from 25% to 10% in knee replacement surgeries. worthwhile initiative. This month I will begin my second round of CEO unit I am looking forward to discussing the plan with you and to meetings with staff. The purpose of these meetings is to discover, together, how we can further develop the pillars of share with you our new strategic plan that will guide Health our academic mandate. At the core of our work will be our Sciences North over the next five years. drive to become more patient-centered. Why is a strategic plan important for an organization? A I look forward to the path we have set with this new strategic plan is like a roadmap that helps shape and guide strategic plan. It is a course that will greatly benefit our an organization -- who it serves, what it does, and why it community and our patients. does it with a focus on the future. Our strategic plan not only articulates where we are headed as an organization, it also helps to keep us on course as we work together towards common goals. Successful Accreditation for Laboratory Congratulations to the Laboratory on achieving a four year Ontario Laboratory Accreditation. Since its inception, the Lab’s Quality Management Program has been working toward the goal of being internationally recognized as a competent provider of accreditation to medical laboratories. HSN’s 2012 OLA Accreditation status is now recognized internationally and the new certificate displays the OLA 15189 Plus™ accreditation symbol. The Lab’s Quality Management Program is now able to use this symbol on test reports, operational documents and advertising material as a sign of their world-wide accreditation status. Congratulations to everyone in the laboratory services for their continued diligence and commitment to improve laboratory processes. This effort results in excellent care provided to the patients we serve at HSN! Editor: Loretta Bostrom Dialogue is published for HSN employees. We’d Like to Hear From You! Dialogue is your publication. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and story ideas for future issues. Please forward your submissions to [email protected], or via inter-office mail to Loretta Bostrom, Communications (ext. 3638, Ramsey Lake Health Centre). New Community Crisis Model Making Impact A new approach to providing community-based mental The downtown location is accessible and well appreciated health crisis care is leading to significant benefits for by our community. Youth in particular have been early individuals living in our community, as well as benefits for adopters of the new model and seem to highly favour the our Emergency Department and Greater Sudbury Police downtown location over the Emergency Department. Services. Additionally, the impact of training nearly 300 staff at On October 1, 2012, a new Community Crisis Model Greater Sudbury Police Services is paying off. Police are opened its doors at HSN’s Sudbury Mental Health and diverting, on average, 8 clients per month to community Addictions Centre at 127 Cedar, which provides urgent crisis rather than ED. mental health care for those feeling overwhelmed and offers a calm and more private environment away from There has been a 24% decrease in overall apprehensions the hospital’s busy emergency department. As part of the under the Mental Health Act (47 fewer apprehensions new model’s approach to better serve the community, the compared to the same period last year). With fewer downtown location at 127 Cedar St is now open seven trips to the Emergency Department, police are saving days a week from 8:30 AM to 10:00 PM. The Crisis Mobile approximately 60 hours per month in time spent by officers Outreach team has also expanded its hours to 7 days per in the ED. week. Thank you to everyone involved for their hard work. This The community is responding very positively to the new model of care is providing positive results for our changes. Since the launch of the new model, there has community and is resulting in quality care for all of our been a significant shift in volume to the community & patients and clients. away from ED, including: • A 12% reduction in ED visits for patients with a mental health issue in first 3 months of operation • An 85% increase in mobile outreach visits to people in the community • A 100% increase in overall crisis visits in the last 5 months (compared to the same period last year) Claire Gignac: CTTS-M HSN is proud to announce that Registered Nurse, Claire optimal clinical protocols, recommendations and implement Gignac, is one of only three Canadians who has recently tobacco management in our healthcare system. obtained a Master Tobacco Treatment Specialist (CTTS-M) certificate through the University of Massachusetts Medical Claire looks forward to bringing her new knowledge to School. the work she is presently doing as Clinical Educator and Tobacco Control Cessation “A Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist-Master is a Nurse for Corporate & professional who possesses the skills, knowledge and Mental Health at HSN as training to provide effective, evidence-based interventions well as her work with the for tobacco dependence across a range of intensities,” Smoking Policy Improvement said Gignac. “A CTTS-M may work in a variety of settings Committee. With the CTTS-M including but not limited to hospitals, community health certificate, Claire is able to centers, medical and dental practices, educational settings, provide extra knowledge social service agencies, public health organizations, drug required to promote the abuse treatment programs and mental health centres.