Message from President & CEO Debbie Sevenpifer

Debbie Sevenpifer,
President and Chief Executive Officer

In the last few weeks, everyone working in our Emergency Departments as well as across our inpatient units, clinical services and support areas has been extremely busy.

The ER is the first point of contact for many patients and their families, and people accessing care in the ERs are experiencing lengthy waits for care depending on the seriousness of their condition. Our healthcare team members are doing their best to see patients in a timely manner.

The impact of this period of heavy activity is being felt across our system, in particular in our inpatient Medical and Surgical units, Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory departments. Our partners at Niagara Emergency Medical Services are also being impacted, and I would like to thank the paramedics for their efforts through this challenging time.

Everyone across our sites is working together to find solutions on behalf of our patients and their families. Daily teleconferences are being held with healthcare professionals representing all areas of the hospital system and with our community healthcare partners.
We can all help out by sharing the word about our Urgent Care Centres. Please tell your friends, your family and neighbours to use the Urgent Care Centres in Port Colborne, Fort Erie and St. Catharines when appropriate for their care needs. Wait times in our three Urgent Care Centres (Port Colborne, Fort Erie and Ontario Street sites) are significantly lower, and patients will be seen much quicker.

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I had the opportunity recently to meet with the 2009 PEERS, employee volunteers who support broad organizational initiatives aimed at improving the organization.

There are 24 PEER staff members across NHS. The goal of the initiative is to have seven PEERS at each of the larger sites and three at each small site. PEERS meet once a month to share and provide feedback on hospital matters. Each of them is committed to patients and families and providing care in a compassionate and professional way.

This past year especially, our PEERS were instrumental in carrying, sharing and ensuring communication with your colleagues about patient safety. They made discussions happen across the system where there might not have been the opportunity to raise the questions and issues. They made it known far and wide that infection control practices are everyone’s responsibility.

This upcoming year, our PEERS will be looking at re-branding their group to reflect their work as change advocates. They will also continue to act as facilitators, communicators and advocates for the workplace relations policy and to model the behaviours that demonstrate our values of caring, professionalism and respect.

I would like to thank our PEERs for making a positive difference in the work life of fellow staff members and in the experiences of our patients and their families. «