OUR SHAREDPURPOSE

November 2018

Welcome to Canada Specialized

clinic provides support to children

with chronic illnesses (pg. 2)

Support to the end Providence’s

pallative program cares for patients

and their families (pg. 7)

New glucose meters going network-wide How this new technology is making a difference (pg. 3)

Take a picture A new program at St. Joseph’s that’s impacting mental health clients (pg. 8)

What it takes toinnovate (pg. 4)

RESEARCH101

OUR SHARED PURPOSE2 OUR SHARED PURPOSE 3

Sara says her “heart feels warm” every time she thinks about the

team at the Newcomers to Canada Clinic at

St. Michael’s Hospital.

Shortly after her family of three immigrated to Montreal from

Sudan last October, Sara’s nine-year-old son Mohamed, who lives

with cerebral palsy, began having issues with his feeding tube. This

landed them in an emergency department where Sara was told that

Mohamed’s complex condition would be best cared for in Toronto, at

the Newcomers to Canada Clinic.

By December, the family was settled in Toronto and amazed with

the immediate support they were receiving at the clinic.

“We were newcomers and we don’t have family or friends here

so they really helped us a lot. They contacted Mohamed’s school

board and got him registered, they set up him with Wheel-Trans

service, and they applied for funds to get him medical supplies,”

explains Sara.

The Newcomers to Canada Clinic serves infants and adolescents

with chronic illness who are new to Canada. After diagnosing and

treating its young patients, the clinic connects their families with

primary-care providers, specialists, schools, and resources in the

community to help ensure they have immediate access to the social

services they need.

“We developed a model of care that recognizes the issues

facing immigrants and refugee families and children. We incorporate

interpretation services and address issues such as social determinants

of health and barriers to care,” says Dr. Tony Barozzino, one of the two

physician leads of the clinic.

Dr. Shazeen Suleman, the other physician lead at the clinic, was

the first point of contact for Sara.

“These families are incredibly resilient. To arrive in a new

country motivated by the pursuit of life takes a lot of courage and

drive. Recognizing that resilience positions our clinic in more of an

empowerment role than a charitable role.”

WelcomingnewcomersThis clinic helps families

settle in the community

by Selma Al-Samarrai

Want more information?bit.ly/2Qru9r8

The rollout of new glucose meters this month at St. Michael’s is a

win, win, win, says medical technical specialist Liivi Pormeister.

The Nova StatStrip meters are much easier for nurses to use,

patients can count on getting more reliable test results, and it’s

an example of a network-wide approach to embracing a new

technology, says Pormeister.

“We’d get complaints from nurses trying to scan their badge like

20 times,” Pormeister says of the frustrations with the older glucose

meters, “and if you have inaccurate glucose results from your meters

then your insulin dosing will be off as well.

“This is a benefit all around, for the operators, for the patients,

everybody.”

To help with training and preparation for the rollout, Pormeister

visited St. Joseph’s - which began using the meters late last year - and

got advice on implementation from point-of-care technical specialist

Sarah Kim.

“It’s helping a lot with our implementation, so it wasn’t completely

new when we saw it here for the first time. Sarah gave me a lot of tips

on things that helped when she was implementing,” Pormeister says.

In addition to ease of use, the Nova StatStrip is the only glucose

meter approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for critically

ill patients, notes Daniel Beriault, head of St. Michael’s division of

biochemistry.

“As a trauma and acute care hospital we have a lot of critically ill

patients so that’s incredibly important to us,” says Beriault.

“In the last several years a high number of adverse patient

events have been traced to the use of less accurate glucose meters

in hospitals in the U.S. This meter will provide the highest level of

accuracy for all our patients.”

The glucose meters are expected to go in service mid-month at

St. Michael’s and in the new year at Providence.

Our Shared Purpose is a monthly newsletter highlighting our people and the ways they are improving care, patient experience and the health of our communities.

Learn more: www.oursharedpurpose.com

Accuracysaves lives

New glucose meters are

rolling out across the network

by Michael Oliveira

Liivi Pormeister shows off

the new Nova StatStrip

glucose meter while

Daniel Beriault holds

the older meter that’s

being replaced.

Pictured here are doctors

Shazeen Suleman and

Tony Barozzino, the

two physician leads for

St.Michael’s Newcomers

to Canada Clinic.

So youwant to do research?Researchers conduct innovative

research to keep our network on

the cutting edge of health care.

Though sometimes glamorous in

the end, research requires some

serious hustle, and often years to

complete. In celebration of

Research Month, we go behind the

scenes to see what it takes to

generate new knowledge.

Think of an innovative potential

solution to a problem or gap in

knowledge.

Develop aresearch question

• Find collaborators

• Explore funding options

• Conduct lit reviews

• Collect pilot data

Do the pre-study work

• Open necessary accounts

• Hire staff and students

Start theresearch!

• Work with Survey

Research Unit

Collect the data

1. 2.

Submit to the Research Ethics Board and funding contracts to the ORA

3.• Fill out fundng applications

• Submit application to the Office of

Research Administration (ORA)

• Piggy back onto an ongoing project

Obtain funding/support

4.

5.6.

8.• Work with the Applied

Health Research

Centre (AHRC)

• Submit progress

reports to funding

agencies

Analyze thedata

7.

Draw conclusions

and submit final

reports

9. 10.Share your new

knowledge• Publish

• Commercialize

• Communicate

START

280research

ersIn our network

we have over...-980researchstaff

$70in revenue fromresearchmillion

Coffee Break!

240students

1400researchpapers published$14

in Canadian Institute

s

of Health Research

funding

Celebrate!

million

Research Month

OUR SHARED PURPOSE6 OUR SHARED PURPOSE 7

November 17 is the 50th anniversary of the first successful heart transplant in Canada, performed at St. Michael’s by Dr. Clare Baker. The patient was Charles Perrin Johnston, who lived for over six years with his new heart. Dr. Baker was born in Saskatchewan and earned his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1946. In 1953 he became chief of thoracic surgery at St. Michael’s, where he performed vascular, thoracic and closed heart surgery before becoming involved in the new field of open heart surgery. After South Africa’s Christian Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant in 1967, teams around the world began performing the surgery, but most of the patients died soon afterward. Johnston survived longer than any other heart transplant recipient in the world at that time. Dr. Baker was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2002 and died in 2010.

NEW NICU DESIGNATION AT ST. JOE’S

CANADA’S FIRST HEART TRANSPLANT

When getting ready to welcome a new baby into their family, the last thing parents want to think about is intensive care. But many babies require additional support before they can go home – which is where the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) comes in. These specialized departments are equipped to support babies until they’re able to breathe and feed on their own. St. Joseph’s had been providing support as a Level 2B NICU and recently received a designation upgrade to Level 2C to care for sicker and smaller babies. “We can now provide care to babies anywhere from 30 weeks gestation upwards, compared to our previous 32,” says Dr. Jessie van Dyk, division head of the NICU. “This means that babies born elsewhere can also be transferred back to us sooner so families can be closer to home.”

SHARING MEDICAL IMAGING DATA TO CUT RADIATION DOSESPatients might expect radiation doses for CT scans to be comparable from one hospital to the next, but a team at St. Michael’s Hospital says the dose variance can be startling. The team is collecting and analyzing data from eight hospitals for the Medical Imaging Metadata Repository of Ontario (MIMRO) to help reduce the province’s average radiation dose per scan. Using artificial intelligence to sort the hospitals’ data, the team generated comparative data by facility, scanner and exam to help determine best practices. MIMRO is funded primarily by St. Michael’s and was created by two of its radiologists, Drs. Timothy Dowdell and Bruce Gray.

Radiologist Dr. Bruce Gray and data analyst Lianne Concepcion review data submitted to MIMRO. (Photo: Katie Cooper)

MAKING MEANING OUT OF DATA

Imagine if an online tool could help forecast patient volumes in hospitals, or foresee the amount of supply needed to meet a demand. With a new tool created by the Li Ka Shing Centre for Healthcare Analytics and Training (LKS-CHART), this is now a reality. Most recently, the LKS-CHART team used this tool to examine the accuracy of an estimate for the number of deaths in Puerto Rico after a hurricane. The LKS-CHART tool corroborated the findings, and a research letter on their work has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “This recent publication is a demonstration of an in-house developed tool being used at the highest levels of science,” says Dr. Amol Verma, a researcher at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. “It shows that our team at St. Michael’s is helping to make meaning out of data.”

Michael Pasquale and his mother, Rosie, always had fond

memories of Providence Healthcare. Close family members

had received exceptional care there and when the time came

to seek palliative care for Rosie, Providence was the only place

she wanted to be.

Providence’s Palliative Care program houses a 35-bed unit –

making it one of the province’s largest hospital programs – and staff

are committed to maintaining comfort, managing pain, and fostering

dignity for the dying.

Pasquale was his mother’s primary caregiver as she started

requiring more intensive care.

“We spent lots of time together and I cherished that; I wanted to

be able to care for her as she aged. But it was a difficult role for a son

because it was very personal, like bathing and dressing her,” he says.

“She had so many falls and I was nervous all the time. Ultimately,

she had a terrible fall that changed everything. Her mind was sharp

but her body was deteriorating quickly.”

In a hospital after the last fall, Pasquale, Rosie, and her doctor

recognized that palliative care was the best option.

Pasquale clearly remembers his Mom’s conversation with her

doctor. “She told him, ‘If I can go to Providence, I’ll be happy.’”

Providence renovated and relocated the program in 2016, with

great care taken in designing the environment and services to support

both patients and their loved ones.

In addition to a contemporary and home-like patient unit,

the new Family and Caregiver Floor includes two overnight suites

for family members needing to stay close by, a children’s room, a

business office, and a multi-faith prayer room.

Respite care is offered for up to two weeks to give caregivers

time for rest and renewal. Caregivers can use the time for self-care,

a vacation, or to manage professional obligations.

There’s also a “return home” option for patients who choose to

die at home after having their symptoms managed at Providence.

And patients can seamlessly return to Providence if things don’t go

as planned at home.

For the Pasquales, Providence’s program gave them the best

gift of all: peace of mind.

“We both felt at peace that Providence was her last stop. Her

doctor, nurses, and everyone on the unit were so good, and I always

felt taken care of too. She was safe. That’s all we could have wanted.”

Dr. Clare Baker, the surgeon who performed Canada’s first successful heart transplant at St. Michael’s Hospital on November 17, 1968.

Julie Pigozzo was able to spend more time with her baby Reese when she was transferred to her community hospital, St. Joseph’s.

The LKS-CHART team, including (L to R) Josh Murray, Dr. Muhammad Mamdani and Dr. Amol Verma created a tool that can forecast future data.

Peaceof mindPalliative care program supports

families with end of life

by Emily Dawson

Michael Pasquale,

pictured in the Patient

and Family Lounge,

visits the program

where his mother

spent her final days.

(Photo: Ramon Syyap)

OUR SHARED PURPOSE8

Art and therapy are being combined in an innovative new

program at St. Joseph’s that helps people manage their mental

health.

Outpatient mental health clients can join a six-week photography

group where members work together creating unique images and art

all while in a safe and supportive environment.

“The only requirements were that they feel comfortable enough

to talk about their work and to go out and take pictures,” said Sara

Salahub, occupational therapist in the mental health program and

one of the club’s creators. “If they want to share how their mental

illness affects them, they are welcome to, but never are they asked to

disclose.”

The hope for members is the group takes away their stresses and

creates confidence - by seeing something meaningful within, Salahub

believes it can build and spread to other parts of their life.

“Photography has been a part of my life for a long time, but this is

more than just about photos. Now I’m able to ask what emotion does

that evoke, and answer what does something mean to me? It gets me

in touch with myself and it’s helping my mental health and wellness,”

said Gero, one of the group’s members.

The assignments ranged from subjects on street photography

to urban landscape and perspectives. “It takes me a while to get the

perfect shot, but that’s what I like about it,” said Alvin, another member.

“Instead of worrying about the things I can’t control, it lets me focus on

the moment. It makes me super happy.”

The photography group was made possible by funding from

ImagineIF, the hospital’s Innovation Fund that is supported by a

generous donation. A gallery unveiling is happening this month to show

off the members’ pictures centred on the theme “What is Wellness to

you.”

Life through a new lensPhotography group promotes

mental wellness

by Ramon Syyap

A gallery at St. Joseph’s

will feature several

pictures taken by the

group’s members.

(Photo: Ramon Syyap)

Occupational therapist Sara Salahub (middle) discusses an

assignment with the photography group. (Photo: Ramon Syapp)