Mackenzie Health Insider: Pioneering the way forward

Pioneering the way forward

We continue to navigate the challenges presented by COVID-19, while providing the best care possible to our community. You can read about the incredible journey of our first COVID-19 patient, and one of the first admitted to a hospital in Canada in the Toronto Star.

The support we’ve been receiving from our community partners is not going unnoticed and our staff appreciate the outpouring of generosity from everyone who has offered to help.

In the midst of the pandemic, we know that our community is also eagerly awaiting the opening of Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital and we are too! Construction continues and equipment is already being delivered and installed in some departments.

These updates and more in the latest Insider.

Providing care during a pandemic

From left: Jane, Pam and Dawn, three front-line leaders of patient care units at Mackenzie Health, stepped up to test residents at a long-term care home earlier in April as part of our mobile COVID-19 assessment team. Read about them in Post City Magazine.

We want to thank our community for following the social distancing measures that have been put in place across the province. Although we still have a number of patients with COVID-19 at our hospital, we haven’t seen the volume of COVID-19 patients we originally anticipated, which is good news and a testament to your efforts. We do have plans in place to ensure we’re prepared for a surge in COVID-19 patients if that happens.

We also appreciate the support from our community in recognition of health care workers fighting COVID-19. We’re excited to share our Wall of Thanks where you can write a note of gratitude, which goes a long way in helping our health care team stay motivated, inspired and encouraged to keep pushing through this challenging time.

Testing at the Mackenzie Health COVID-19 Assessment Centre:

We continue to adjust and expand our criteria for testing at the Mackenzie Health COVID-19 Assessment Centre as directed by public health officials. As part of province-wide efforts to increase COVID-19 testing, we have extended our Assessment Centre’s hours of operation. We have also made it easier to schedule an appointment. In addition to calling our scheduling office, existing or previous Mackenzie Health patients can take advantage of our SMARTScheduling system and book a COVID-19 assessment appointment directly from their MyChart account.

Supporting Long-Term Care:

We are answering the provincial government’s call for hospitals to support the long-term care community as well as retirement and congregate living spaces where the impact of COVID-19 is being felt the most. We’ve created a support team consisting of nurse practitioners, registered nurses and managers to support the community sector seven days a week. The team is in contact with long-term care homes and facilities across southwestern York Region to share best practices and help as needed. Our mobile COVID-19 assessment team has already supported a number of local long-term care homes and swabbed more than 700 people to date. Several staff members have also volunteered to be redeployed to long-term care homes, our medical experts have shared their expertise and answered questions through webinars, and our Infection Prevention and Control team has provided consultation and educational materials.  

Continuing to provide emergency health care services to our community:

Our Emergency Department at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital remains open 24/7 and we want to ensure all those who need urgent care come to us without hesitation. During this COVID-19 crisis, we are doing everything possible to keep everyone safe. We have restricted access to our hospital to only essential visitors and have a separate entrance for our COVID-19 Assessment Centre.

Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault (DASA) services at Mackenzie Health also remain available during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide emergency care following abuse or an assault. Emergency DASA services continue to be available in the Emergency Department.

Returning to a new normal:

We recognize that we’ve had to put a number of services and procedures on hold during this pandemic, including elective surgeries, and we’re eager to get back to a new normal just like we know our community and patients are. It’s important that any return to normal hospital operations is done as part of a collective effort based on provincial direction. We’ll take our lead from Ontario Health and will put a coordinated plan in place to begin elective surgeries and other non-emergent clinical activities ramping up again when it’s safe to do so.  

The new automated chemistry and hematology track in our renovated laboratory is just one feature of smart design that’s being incorporated at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and at Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital.

In April, renovations on our diagnostic laboratory at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital were completed. Our laboratory professionals now have new, high-tech automated hematology and chemistry systems. This technology – the first of its kind in Canada – will improve efficiency and turnaround times, introduce standardization to the process, minimize errors and improve the accuracy of results all with the end goal of enhancing the quality of care that patients receive.

For our health care teams, these updates will mean they can spend less time performing manual tasks and filling out paperwork and more time at the patient’s bedside. For patients, receiving accurate test results faster means that their physicians can make a diagnosis and provide the right treatment sooner.

Construction continues at Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital

Pfaff forges the Ultimate campaign forward with a $2M gift

From left: Krista Finlay, President & CEO, Mackenzie Health Foundation; The Hon. Maurizio Bevilacqua, Mayor, City of Vaughan; Christopher Pfaff, President & CEO, Pfaff Automotive Partners; Luci Anderson, Vice President, Philanthropy, Mackenzie Health Foundation; and Michael Talmage, Executive Vice President, Pfaff Automotive Partners.

Earlier this year, Mackenzie Health Foundation announced a $2-million gift from Pfaff Automotive Partners to help build and equip the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital. This transformational gift will be directed towards the ultrasound zone in the medical imaging unit on level 1 of the new Vaughan hospital. Ultrasounds are important tools for our care teams and help them gain a clearer picture of a patient’s health so they can make an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan.

“When we decided, as a company, to focus our philanthropic efforts in the communities where our employees live and work, we knew that donating to the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital made perfect sense,” says Christopher Pfaff, President and CEO, Pfaff Automotive Partners. “We began as a local family business in York Region and we’re happy to be able to give back to our community in a way that will benefit people for many years to come.” 

Thank you, Pfaff Automotive Partners, for your support and partnership and for helping build the ultimate in medical imaging at Mackenzie Health.