Message from President & CEO Debbie Sevenpifer

Debbie Sevenpifer,
President and Chief Executive Officer

This March marks a significant milestone for the Niagara Health System – it’s been 10 years since eight hospitals amalgamated to one system, the largest number of hospitals amalgamated in Ontario.
Amalgamation brought many opportunities to create an integrated hospital system. Before 2000, the stand-alone hospitals in our Niagara communities had very few connections, both from a technological and relationship perspective. Different computer systems, different clinical standards, and multiple employers made it difficult for both patients and staff to manoeuvre between sites to ensure effective and efficient delivery of service.

The amalgamation has not been an easy one. And yet, despite our sometimes bumpy road, we continue to integrate our programs and services successfully and have become a model for the province. The past decade of hard work means our clinical and support programs span the region for the 500,000 patient visits each year at our seven sites. And our future holds great opportunity with our successful securing of new regional services of cancer, cardiac catheterization and tertiary mental health.

Our renovations and expansions since 2000 have been significant. Welland and Greater Niagara General sites have new Emergency Departments and renovated Ambulatory Care Units. A major expansion of Dialysis services outside St. Catharines occurred in 2008 with the newly-constructed outpatient unit at Welland. We are planning to expand Dialysis further to Niagara Falls. We are also awaiting provincial approval to create new space for the Urgent Care Centre in Port Colborne. And, of course, the major construction of the new healthcare complex and Walker Family Cancer Centre is now underway, bringing new hospital-based services to Niagara in 2013.

The benefits of an integrated system are particularly evident in emergency situations. The violent snowstorm that pummelled Fort Erie in October 2006 could have been disastrous for the hospital and the health of residents. The Douglas Memorial Site emergency generator ran for 56 hours straight – a record for any of our sites. Food for patients was thawing out and medical equipment was needed there urgently.

Our system-wide departments stepped up quickly and efficiently – whether it was maintenance staff who offered to cover shifts to monitor the generator 24 hours a day, the biomedical engineer who braved the driving conditions to get emergency patient equipment to Fort Erie, or site staff who put their own flooding problems at home on the back burner to come into work. Together, we made sure those hospital doors stayed open for the duration so Fort Erie could be served.

More recently, our system-wide response to H1N1 demonstrated tremendous collaboration to ensure continuity of services across our sites and is to be commended.

It is people who make a system, and I reflect on our first 10 years with pride for what we’ve achieved during challenging times, with gratitude for the passion and dedication of my colleagues every day, and with hope that the next 10 years will see the fulfilment of our goal to improve patient care in a sustainable hospital system.

Congratulations to our 6,000 strong team of staff, physicians and volunteers. We’ve come a long way together, and I salute you. «