Managing the H1N1 flu outbreak
Bring out the best in each other
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- NHS Awards of Excellence – A number of different award presentations are organized each year that stem from nominations by staff for their peers and colleagues. Interprofessional Awards are the newest group, awarded to clinical team members who exhibit a patient-focused mindset. Nursing Awards are given to RNs and RPNs who go above and beyond the call of duty. Awards of Excellence are given to staff in all job areas and are selected for their embodiment of our success factors and CPR – compassion, professionalism and respect.
- Pioneer in Nephrology leaves lasting impact – Dr. Art Shimizu retired at the end of 2009 after a distinguished career serving kidney disease patients in Niagara and Hamilton. One of his greatest achievements was the creation of the Canadian Renal Failure Registry in 1972, still used today. The Dr. Art Shimizu Award will be given each year to a medical student who displays a commitment to excellence and an interest in Nephrology.
- Raising awareness for organ donations – In partnership with the Trillium Gift of Life Network, last year the number of eye donations at Niagara Health climbed to 132 eyes recovered. In addition, there were eight multiple organ donors, resulting in the recovery and transplant of 23 life-saving organs, and five multiple tissue donations (such as skin, bone and heart valves), enhancing the lives of over 300 individuals.
- NHS winner of gold award – For the fourth year, Niagara Health was honoured with a Gold Award from Healthy Living Niagara, which celebrates workplaces that encourage healthy eating, physical activity and smoke-free living. This is the fifth year the NHS has received an award from the regional initiative led by Niagara Region Public Health.
Niagara was among the first in the province to experience an outbreak of H1N1 last fall. Patient volumes across Niagara rose alarmingly. An average number of total daily visits to our six ERs and Urgent Care Centres in the fall is 526 patients. However, on Oct. 28, that number rose to an overwhelming 756 patients, and more than half of those patients had flu symptoms.
To manage this incredible volume, Niagara Health opened a dedicated Flu Assessment Centre in St. Catharines, where the highest number of patients were presenting with flu symptoms. In a short five days, the old ER space at Ontario Street Site was cleaned, equipped, stocked, staffed and taking patients, thanks to people from myriad departments all working together.
Daily routines were interrupted, hospital entrances were restricted and monitored, and the hospital had to deal with a high number of our own staff off sick with the flu by postponing patient procedures and clinics and redeploying staff to vital areas.
“This was an extremely difficult period, but as in any emergency, our staff and physicians rose to the occasion,” says CEO Debbie Sevenpifer. “I am immensely proud of the effort we put forth to serve the Niagara community with partners such as Niagara Region Public Health and Community Care Access Centre. Our pre-planning for a pandemic was enormously helpful, and we have integrated learnings from H1N1 to ensure an even better response next time.” «
Addiction treatment leaders, from left, Abby Smith, Norma Medulun and David Barry stepped up to open and co-ordinate staffing of a Flu Assessment Centre. Niagara Health operated the centre for the first half of November to manage the increased volume of patients at the height of the H1N1 outbreak.
