President's Report 2012-2013
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Transcript of President's Report 2012-2013
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
we can
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Health care from birth until death…and everything in
between. It’s known as the full continuum of care. Unless
you’re a part of it, few people can imagine the scope and
intensity of what happens inside a large health care system
on a daily basis.
At Eastern Health, we are a community of 13,000 individuals
with a single focus: to provide the best health care possible
to those we serve.
The medical curtain is a familiar symbol that suggests
targeted, respectful care of our patients, residents and
clients. It represents a myriad of one-on-one treatments
and procedures that, by extension, are relevant to all those
we serve and the public at large. Providing access ‘behind
the curtain’ also represents our accountability to be open
about our approach to health care and use of resources.
As the province’s largest health authority, Eastern Health
serves 290,000 men, women and children in the eastern
A Message from thePresident and CEO
“Providing access‘behind the curtain’also represents ouraccountability to beopen about ourapproach to healthcare and use ofresources.”
region, and everyone in Newfoundland and
Labrador, when it comes to specialized services
such as cancer care, cardiac care, mental health
and addictions and children’s and women’s
health.
Did you know, for example, that in the last fiscal
year we:
� saw 252,160 people in our emergency
rooms.
� performed 551,093 diagnostic
examinations.
� facilitated a total of 1,654,885encounters with the public?
This report offers our stakeholders a ‘behind the
scenes’ glimpse into the daily operations of
programs and services which embody our
strategic priorities of quality and safety and
increased access. In turn, these initiatives result
in improvements to the health of whole
populations and ensure sustainability to the
essential services we provide at Eastern Health.
These priorities are outlined in more detail in
Together, We Can, our strategic plan 2011-2014.
This year’s annual report provides detail on our
progress to date and can be found on our
website at www.easternhealth.ca.
We take what we do very seriously. We deal
with life and death on a daily basis, and our staff
and physicians approach both with skill and
compassion. Every one of our statistics
represents a human being who deserves no
less, and looks to us for care that is characterized
by excellence, respect, integrity and fairness.
Together, that is what we strive for. Pull back the
curtain and see for yourself!
__________________________Vickie KaminskiPresident and CEO
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Our Strategic Priorities
Quality and Safety:A Renewed Commitment
Access:Reducing Wait Times
Sustainability:Making the Best Use of Resources
Population Health:Promotion and Prevention
PopulationHealth
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Screen SaverNewfoundland and LabradorColon Cancer ScreeningProgram
It’s painless, proactive and done in the
privacy of your own home. It could also
save your life. The Fecal
Immunochemical Test (FIT) kit is a home
screening test for colon cancer, the
second leading cause of death from
cancer in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Colon cancer develops with few, if any,
warning signs. There is no single cause
but there are risk factors. Some, such as
diet, are within our control. Other risk
factors, such as age, are not within our
control, particularly among those over
50 years of age.
Enter the Newfoundland and Labrador
Colon Cancer Screening Program which
was introduced in western
Newfoundland in July 2012. In the first
year of operation, approximately 68 per
cent of all kits that Eastern Health mailed
to clients were returned. This
tremendous response speaks to the
value clients place on the importance of
population health. In June 2013, the
program expanded to central
Newfoundland, as part of the provincial
government’s plan to offer province-
wide screening by 2015.
Screening is free, voluntary and casts a
wide net: it covers the general
population of men and women
between 50-74 years of age, who are
considered at average risk for colon
cancer – or who may not feel they are at
risk at all.
Screening can stop that worst-case scenario in its tracks! If
detected early, about 90 per cent of colon cancers can be
prevented or treated successfully.
Taking a home screening kit also means taking control of your
own health, in partnership with health care providers. Home
screening represents a very effective way to detect colon
cancer early on - and in the greatest number of people. Taking
a few minutes now could save your life.
Think of FIT as your personal ‘screen saver!’
About 90 per cent of colon cancerscan be prevented or treated successfully.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Other highlights
� Mental Health and Addictions
Program partnered with
community agencies to offer
‘Strengthening Families’ – an
evidence-based substance
abuse prevention program.
� Relocation of the Diabetes
Collaborative (Primary Health
Care) to downtown St. John’s to
serve vulnerable populations.
� Health Status Report
completed July 2012.
� Community Health Needs
Assessments: Release of the
fifth and final needs
assessment report (Trinity-
Conception) – based on
geographical boundaries.
Quality & Safety
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Safety ShieldLong-Term Care’s Hands-on
Approach to Hygiene
The strength of effective health care
begins and ends with the hands that
provide it.
The hands of the health care provider
perform surgery, treat wounds, insert
tubes, administer eye drops, measure
pulse rates and wash bodies from head
to toe. Other than a pair of sterile gloves
during some procedures, nothingcomes between a health care provider’s
hands – and the patient, client or
resident being cared for. Nothing that is,
except hand hygiene. Proper hand
hygiene – either with soap and water or
alcohol-based hand rubs – is the most
effective way to prevent the spread of
infection and communicable disease
from one person to another.
Staff at Eastern Health’s nursing homes
in the Long-Term Care Program scored
the highest results in a 2012 Hand
Hygiene Audit. The majority of the long-
term care facilities increased
compliance over the 2011 audit, with
four of them meeting or exceeding an
80 per cent compliance rate – a direct
result of the priority placed on hand
hygiene and ongoing efforts among
managers and staff to improve
compliance. Long-term care employees
are very aware of what infection can
mean to their residents who are already
compromised with other, underlying
health conditions.
Hand hygiene acts as a shield between harmful micro-organisms and their targets: vulnerable men and women. It alsoprotects employees, families and visitors. Hand hygiene is ineveryone’s best interest – and there are no shortcuts to qualityand safety.
Neither is status quo an option in health care. Excellence isalways the goal. Encouraged by their improved compliance, thestaff in long-term care has already set a target of 100 per centfor the next hand hygiene audit. As they continue to serve andprotect their residents, they say next time they’re ‘going for thegold!’
Hand hygiene acts as a shield betweenharmful micro-organisms and their targets: vulnerable men and women.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Other highlights
� Began implementation of Safe
Surgery Checklist to ensure the OR
team is involved in safety
communication at three critical
points: before anesthesia, before
skin incision, and before patient
leaves operating room. It is based
on a World Health Organization
campaign.
� Decrease in surgical site infection
rates for c-sections and colorectal
surgeries.
� Redevelopment of Adult Insulin
Pump Clinic at Major’s Path to
provide Interdisciplinary Team
approach to diabetes patients.
Sustainability
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Through theLooking GlassA Neonatal Wonderland
They are tiny and vulnerable and to
survive, they need shelter in the safest
of environments - and highly specialized
care.
They are the patients of NICU – Eastern
Health’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at
the Janeway Children’s Health and
Rehabilitation Centre. They come from
all over Newfoundland and Labrador.
Many of these ‘neonates’ are premature,
some have experienced complications
during delivery, others are born with
heart or breathing issues. Their first
homes are inside the plexi-glass walls of
an incubator. Outside, dozens of highly-
trained nurses stand ready to provide
specialized, critical care of their tiny
charges until they can be released into
the care of their parents. Their instinct
for survival is extraordinary; their
recoveries often seem miraculous.
To sustain this specialized care 24/7 at
the Janeway, NICU nurses have received
specialized and ongoing training in the
critical (ventilator) care that many of
these infants require. In the past, the
critical care unit was separate from the
nursery for babies who weren’t so sick,
and nursing staffs from both the NICU
and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
(PICU) were trained separately. But
when both services amalgamated at the
Janeway Children`s Health and
Rehabilitation Centre, so did the
nursing staff. All full-time nurses have
now been cross-trained to provide both
levels of care, and training is ongoing with new hires and part-
time staff. The nursing staff is now well-positioned to meet the
ongoing demand, eliminating the need to occasionally send
babies outside of the province for the specialized care they can
receive here.
Now they remain close to home. In a climate-controlled
environment, often sustained by life-giving oxygen,
intravenous lines and feeding tubes, their tiny glass homes are
surrounded by personal mementos: family photos, music boxes
and framed pictures of their own footprints.
Most important of all, they remain connected to their families
who eagerly wait to give them their first cuddle, first feeding or
first bath. As one nurse puts it, “Giving families what they want
– seeing the babies’ health improve and being able to place
them in their mother’s arms for the first time – it’s the best
feeling in the world!”
All full-time nurses have now been cross-trained to provide both levels of care.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Other highlights
� Launched operational
improvement initiatives to be
implemented over a two-year
period to save $43 million and
reduce 550 full-time equivalents
(FTEs) through attrition.
� Achieved Ontario Laboratory
Association (OLA) accreditation for
all laboratories. The accreditation is
based on International Standards
Organization (ISO) criteria and
fulfills a recommendation of the
Cameron Commission of Inquiry
on Hormone Receptor Testing.
� eRecruit: Human Resources Client
Services introduced an online job
board to streamline the
application process for its users
and reduce recruitment
turnaround times.
Access
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Final FrontierHonour GuardPalliative Care Enhancements
Quality of life at the end of life. That is
the goal of Eastern Health’s Palliative
Care Services.
Palliative care has two objectives: to
relieve suffering and to improve the
quality of living of all people – of all ages
– who have a life-limiting condition.
Its guiding principle: to provide that
care with respect and compassion.
Palliative care has become an integral
part of our overall approach to health
care and is provided by teams of
professionals in our communities,
hospitals, long-term care facilities and
designated palliative care units.
As of the last fiscal year, 153 health care
providers throughout the Eastern
Health region had enhanced their skills
in end-of-life care through nationally-
recognized training known as Learning
Essential Approach to Palliative Care
(LEAP). These nurses, physicians, social
workers and pastoral care workers are
based in a variety of settings:
community, acute, long-term care and
palliative care…rural and urban.
Many people now choose to die at
home, in their own community. The
LEAP training has increased access
throughout the eastern region to
knowledgeable, skilled and consistent
care for those at the end of life,
wherever that may happen.
A new Palliative Care Patient Navigator will also ease the journey
of palliative care patients and their families by connecting them
directly to the care they need around the region.
Eastern Health provides health care from birth to death. No
point along this ‘continuum of care’ is any more – or less –
important than any other. The growth of the Palliative Care
Services reflects the attention and honour afforded to all those
we serve – from admission to ‘final discharge.’
The growth of the Palliative Care Services reflects the attention and honour affordedto all those we serve.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Other highlights
� Radiation services consistently
achieved national benchmarks:
96-98 per cent of newly-
diagnosed patients received
treatment within the 28-day
benchmark.
� Tele-Oncology service deemed
a leading practice nationally by
Canadian Partnership Against
Cancer (CPAC).
� Medicine Program
implemented non-physician
clinics for HIV – successfully
eliminating the waiting list, an
approach which has received
positive evaluations from
physicians, patients and the
interdisciplinary team.
� Expansion of Home IV
Therapy to Holyrood,
Heart’s Delight and
Whitbourne.
Population Health
Quality & Safety
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2012 � 2013
Sustainability
Access
www.easternhealth.ca