A cat helping a mouse in a wheelchair tipped the scales in favour of this year’s selection in the third annual NHS holiday card contest. Congratulations to Viktoria Cubelic, 8, whose artwork now graces the official NHS holiday card. Viktoria is the daughter of Susan Cubelic, Regional Director of Pharmacy, left, with CEO Debbie Sevenpifer. Congratulations also to the winners in each of the three age categories, chosen from a field of 45 entries.

As the winning entry in the 2009 NHS holiday greeting card contest, Viktoria Cubelic’s artwork is now on the front cover of the NHS holiday greeting card, being mailed out to agency and healthcare partners across Niagara and Ontario.

Viktoria is the daughter of Susan Cubelic, Regional Director of Pharmacy. The family resides in St. Catharines, where Viktoria is in Grade Three at Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School.

Viktoria worked really hard on her submission, her mother says proudly. “She wanted new paints and brushes so she could do her best,” Susan Cubelic says. “She worked on it for weeks to get it just the way she wanted, and it’s wonderful to see her hard work being acknowledged.”

Judges were Board Chair Betty-Lou Souter, CEO Debbie Sevenpifer and Chief Communications Officer Christine Clark.

“We were impressed by the quality and the detail in Viktoria’s work and particularly liked the idea of a cat helping, rather than hurting a mouse,” said CEO Debbie Sevenpifer. “It was a pleasure to see all of the entries and we had a difficult time selecting the overall winner.”

Winners in the three age categories are:

• James Martinelli, 4, St. Catharines, grandson of Joan Martinelli, Charge Nurse at Port Colborne Site
• Monica Pastore, 7, Fonthill, daughter of Kerry Pastore, Resource Centre Representative at Welland Site
• Leah D’Aloisio, 11, St. Catharines, daughter of Rita D’Aloisio, Medical Radiation Technologist at Greater Niagara General Site

This is the third year for the contest. Viktoria received art supplies valued at $100 and her framed artwork. «

The new digital mammography unit at the St. Catharines General Site provides breast images with outstanding clarity and contrast, leading to a quick diagnosis and quality patient care. “This new digital technology will enhance patient care in many important ways,” says Niagara Health Chief of Radiology Dr. Amit Mehta. “Since the technology will be integrated into the regional image archive system, radiologists, surgeons, and other specialists will be able to simultaneously view and consult on a patient’s mammography from a computer within the hospital or the physicians’ offices.”

With digital mammography, low-energy X-rays pass through the breast exactly like conventional mammograms but the image is recorded by means of an electronic digital detector, instead of film. Like a digital camera, this digital image can be displayed on a computer screen.

The radiologist can manipulate the digital mammogram electronically to magnify an area, change contrast, or alter the brightness. Computer-aided diagnosis programs can be used to further increase the sensitivity of the test.

The equipment is located at St. Catharines General Site thanks to the ongoing fundraising efforts of the St. Catharines General Hospital Foundation.

“We were thrilled when Bryan Adams agreed to visit our city once again to perform to a sold-out audience in September in 2008 for this very important piece of equipment,” stated Ameer Wakil, President of the Board of Directors, SCGH Foundation.

“The concert raised nearly $250,000 toward this new digital mammography unit, the first of its kind in all of Niagara,” said Wakil.

“Through the generosity of many donors as recent as the Johnny Reid concert this past October, the SCGH Foundation has secured $700,000 toward the goal of $800,000. We are so proud of the generosity from our community and for the understanding of how early cancer detection saves lives.”

NHS operates five Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP) centres at the following sites: Douglas Memorial Site (Fort Erie), Greater

Niagara General Site (Niagara Falls), Port Colborne Site, St. Catharines General Site and Welland Site.

Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland OBSP Centres offer full screening services as well as follow-up diagnostics and treatment services.

Satellite OBSP clinics in Port Colborne and Fort Erie offer nurse examination and screening mammography with follow-up care provided at Greater Niagara or Welland sites.

All screening centres are accredited through the Canadian Association of Radiologists. «

I witnessed and heard about many wonderful examples of staff, physicians and volunteers going above and beyond to manage the situation at hand.

While we received a lot of feedback through our daily command centre calls during the pandemic period, we wanted to hear more and we wanted to hear directly from the people on the frontline of H1N1. We used a web-based survey to reach out to staff, doctors and volunteers who use e-mail.

Like your response to the H1N1 pandemic itself, the response was again amazing. As I write, we have received 855 web-based survey responses in addition to a number of written survey responses from our volunteers. The survey was set up to take respondents less than three minutes to fill out. Within an hour of sending out the e-mail link, we received over 100 completed surveys.

Here are some of the highlights from the survey feedback:

• 57% of respondents identified themselves as clinicians; 40% as non clinical; two per cent as doctors and two per cent as volunteers
• 98% of respondents received the H1N1 Update every day and 90% of respondents read the update daily
• 20% of respondents found the information in the H1N1 Update to be extremely helpful; 28% said it was very helpful and 40% said it was helpful to their ability to do their job during the pandemic
• 88% of respondents knew who to contact for information
• 80% of respondents had enough pandemic supplies like sanitizer and masks available in their work area

More than 400 individual comments were provided in the survey responses and in upcoming weeks we will group and theme the comments. Already some key themes are emerging – opportunities for improvement around controlled entrances, the role of the greeters, the process for calling in sick, and the redeployment process.

Another theme that emerged was the number of comments expressing thanks to the hospital for asking for feedback. I was impressed by the constructive, thoughtful and insightful comments that were shared. This feedback will be vital in improving upon our pandemic and emergency preparedness plans for the future.

I was also touched by the number of comments that acknowledged what a great job everyone did. Once again, the staff, physicians and volunteers of the NHS demonstrated great teamwork in continuing to deliver quality care during very stressful times.

I have heard many positive comments from residents in the community regarding the NHS’s response to H1N1, including thanks for our preparedness and timely response. Their thanks, and mine, are owed to all of you – our staff, physicians and volunteers. «

The older I get, the more thoughtful I become about what I do with my time. I realize the hours spent crawling the mall is time I will never get back. I don’t begrudge the time I spend on my family and friends as I know for the most part, the effort’s appreciated. Yet the older I get I recognize it’s less about the things you give and get and more about what you do for others.

I need to take a page from the wonderful role models around me – the people I work with at NHS. This holiday season there are many throughout NHS doing something for others – people they know, or may only meet once in their lives and for those who are spending their final days in hospital. It’s not about the bows, the packaging or the gift cards – it’s about humanity and the heart.

From the staff who bake home-made goodies for the palliative patients’ holiday tea to the long-service auxilian who worked the gift shop every Christmas, to those staff who buy or make and wrap presents for long stay patients, to the fellow who runs the annual ‘don’t pay a cent’ poinsettia sale, to the employees and docs filling the baskets and bins for the families in their local community who lack the means to put food on the table – there are many across our sites who celebrate humanity.

Thank you all for all that you do, thank you for being role models for others. And best wishes to all, a healthy, happy and caring New Year. «

Christine Clark, Chief Communications Officer

CCC is a higher level of care than what is provided by long-term care homes and other nursing facilities. These medically-complex patients have chronic illnesses or disabilities, and they typically require 24-hour nursing care and access to complex medical services. This level of care is very different from the level of care provided in Acute care beds, which are for patients requiring short-term medical treatment, including those recovering from surgery or admitted to hospital through the Emergency Department due to an acute illness or injury.

“Complex continuing care has significantly evolved over the last several years,” says Sue Matthews, Vice President Patient Services and Chief Nursing Executive. “Several years ago, these patients stayed in hospital an average of 500 days. Now, CCC patients typically spend between 60 and 70 days in hospital before transitioning home or to a lower level of care.”

The CCC bed closures are scheduled to take place in late April-early May 2010 as follows: seven beds at Douglas Memorial Site, 10 beds at Port Colborne Site; 22 beds at Welland Site. Once the closures occur, there will be 195 CCC beds across five sites of the NHS (all sites but St. Catharines General and Ontario Street Site in St. Catharines).

Meetings were held recently with NHS staff members who work in the areas that will be impacted by the bed closures. Approximately 40 full-time and part-time staff will be directly affected. Niagara Health will be working with our union partners to minimize the impact of any layoffs and are committed to adhering to the collective agreements.

The bed closures are consistent with what was put forward in the HIP and with the Port Colborne Site and the Douglas Memorial Site as well as the Memorandums of Understanding agreed to by each site’s local physicians and the NHS.

CCC units also provide care to palliative patients, slow-paced recovery patients, and those awaiting transfer to a rehab bed in the community or a long-term care home. «

After successfully writing the Canadian Gastroenterology Certification of Canada exam, Cindy was surprised to hear she had been selected by the Canadian Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates to receive the national Michele Paquette Certification Award. Cindy was presented with this award at the National Annual Conference in Toronto in October. Congratulations to Cindy, who is the only NHS staff member to achieve both this designation and the national award. «

This was a collaborative effort between the City of Port Colborne and NHS to bring more primary healthcare to the area.

Along with having a new physician, patients will have access to a Social Worker, Dietitian, Nurse Practitioner, and other health professionals in this Family Health Organization.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Xu joining us at the Port Colborne Site,” says CEO Debbie Sevenpifer. “This achievement is a wonderful example of how we can work together to enhance primary healthcare for Port Colborne and Wainfleet.”

“The NHS looks forward to more opportunities for Port Colborne and others, to provide access to new services,” says Debbie. “I congratulate Port Colborne Physician Recruiter Joanne Ferraccioli and Niagara Health System leaders Wendy Robb and Peter Osgood for their great work over the last several months to co-ordinate everything to make this possible.” «

The survey schedule starts with the surveyors’ visit to St. Catharines General Site Feb. 1 to meet our leadership and governance teams, examine communication and ethical decision-making processes and visit Cancer Care, Medical and ICU/Critical Care Units.

On Feb. 2, they will travel to Greater Niagara General Site to conduct a community partners focus group, visit Diagnostic Imaging, Mental Health, Surgery, Medical Devices and Equipment (Sterilization and Reprocessing), and examine Patient Flow, Infection Prevention and Control, Emergency Preparedness, Physical Environment and Integrated Quality Management processes.

The next day, they will visit Welland, Port Colborne and Douglas sites. In Welland, the surveyors will focus on Human Capital, Resource Management, Infection Prevention and Control, Medical Devices and Equipment and will visit Maternal Child to do a clinical tracer.

While in Port Colborne, they will visit Addictions Services and Complex Continuing Care areas. The focus for the Douglas Memorial Site visit will be on Urgent Care and Medication Management. At the end of the day, all surveyors will return to St. Catharines General Site, where Medication Management and Infection Prevention and Control processes will be reviewed.

On Feb 4, their last day, the surveyors will present their preliminary findings. The full results of the survey will be finalized by Accreditation Canada in the weeks following the surveyor visit.

Staff and physicians are asked to go to source•net and click on the Accreditation link for more information. Take time to prepare yourself for the visit by watching the Tracer video to learn how the surveyors will trace an entire process from start to finish to examine our compliance to standards.

Who the surveyors are:

• Kris Gustavson, RN, Corporate Director, Accreditation and Patient Experience at Provincial Health Services Authority Children’s and Women’s Health Centre, B.C.
• Sandra Kearns, RN, formerly Vice President, Corporate Performance and Medical Affairs, Bluewater Health, Sarnia.
• Catherine Danbrook, RN, formerly Vice President, Clinical Programs, The Ottawa Hospital.
• Dr. Orlando da Silva, Neonatologist, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, London; Clinical Epidemiologist and Professor at the University of Western Ontario.
• Sue Carpenter, Network Director of Emergency Services, Interior Health Authority, B.C. «

Niagara Health System recently recognized 745 staff members for their dedicated and caring service to the community at the hospital’s 9th annual Loyalty Recognition events.

These long-service employees were honoured for their five-year milestone anniversaries ranging from five years to 45 years of service and commitment to the people of Niagara.

“Our employees go over and above to deal with our day-to-day challenges, supporting each other and ensuring patients are cared for 24 hours a day, seven days a week with compassion and professional care,” says President and CEO Debbie Sevenpifer. “Please join me in congratulating our staff members for reaching these important milestones in their careers. Clearly, our hospital’s ability to adapt and evolve is a result of the great work that they do.”

View the complete list of the employees that were honoured at the event in the PDF version of this story.

From left, HR staff Barb Dixon, Terry McMahon and Annabelle Watson accepted the Healthy Living Niagara Gold Award on behalf of the NHS in November.

Congratulations to those staff members who encourage a healthier lifestyle

The NHS has been 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. The White Oaks-NHS Lifestyle Challenge is one example of how staff are encouraged to have healthier lifestyles.

Three cheers for Rob MacKay, RN, Telemetry at St. Catharines General Site, who will soon add to his credentials ‘Olympic Torch Bearer’.

A few months ago, Rob applied through RBC to participate in the crosscountry Olympic Torch Run and submitted a statement on reducing our carbon footprint as well as personal/professional achievements. He has been chosen to carry the Olympic Torch in Welland on Mon., Dec. 21 at app. 11:35 a.m. from Prince Charles Drive, up Ontario Road, to King Street, near our own Welland Site. Come out and cheer Rob on during his 300-metre walk/run and show your support!

Hats off to our Housekeeping/Hospitality staff who have come out squeaky clean on recent cleanliness audits conducted by Aramark.

The overall NHS score of 92% is based on an independent review of patient rooms, front entrances, elevators, stairwells and more. There has been consistent improvement in the cleanliness of our facilities and Nick Janscar, Director Hospitality and Linen, gives a special thank you to all our front-line staff for a job well done!