Mackenzie Health Insider: Preparing for our ultimate future

Preparing for our ultimate future

Fall has officially arrived and we’re that much closer to opening our second hospital and doubling access to care for residents in Vaughan, King and Richmond Hill. Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital is needed now more than ever as we manage the second wave of the pandemic and need to do everything we can to support our community.

With state-of-the-art technology in spaces like the inpatient pharmacy at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, and critical upgrades to Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital funded by the provincial government’s Health Infrastructure Renewal Fund, delivering the ultimate in care to our patients will always be the top priority.

To help us achieve our $250 million Ultimate campaign goal to build and equip Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital and enhance care at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital, Mackenzie Health Foundation has ramped up its fundraising efforts. We recently launched the second phase of our marketing campaign to inspire giving within our community as we move closer to our two-hospital future.

Our teams have a lot of work to do in the months ahead before we’re ready to safely open our second hospital to the public, but we know how excited everyone is to get a behind-the-scenes preview. Be sure to take a look at a special feature in the Toronto Star for a sneak peek into a few departments in the new hospital and some of the work our teams are now beginning to get the hospital ready to open.

All this and more in this edition of the Insider.

Supporting our community through the second wave of the pandemic

Nurses Deb, Teresa and Tracy work tirelessly at one of the Mackenzie Health COVID-19 Assessment Centres. 

Throughout the summer months, Mackenzie Health treated a higher burden of COVID-19 patients than many other hospitals in the province while also resuming scheduled surgeries and continuing to treat everyone who came to us for care. As the case count across the province continues to rise, we’ve reallocated our resources to ensure we can support our community through this next wave of the pandemic.

We’re now in a much better position to manage the pandemic during this second wave than we were during the first wave. We know more about how to treat patients with COVID-19 and we understand how best to protect ourselves and those around us. We have also learned how to operate a hospital during a pandemic, while also getting ready to open a second hospital site.

What is different in this second wave, though, is the fact that volumes at the Nick and Roseanne Cortellucci Emergency Department at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital are already back to pre-pandemic levels. We’re seeing more patients come to the hospital who need to be admitted, and the number will only go up as we look ahead towards flu season. We have successfully resumed scheduled surgeries and are doing our best to work through a backlog to ensure we’re providing care to everyone in our community who needs it. We’re also continuing to support long-term care homes, congregate care settings, schools and our local school boards with testing and infection prevention and control best practices.

Since the early months of the pandemic, we have also opened two COVID-19 Assessment Centres in Richmond Hill and Vaughan. Operating these additional sites require a lot of additional resources – we’ve needed to add physicians, nurses, call centre and security staff to support the increased volumes of people seeking COVID-19 tests. While we continue to do everything we can to test as many people as possible, we are abiding by provincial government direction by adjusting our testing criteria and moving to an appointment-only system.

Our team of expert staff, nurses and physicians continue to give their all to fighting this pandemic, but it’s so important that we all continue to do our part. Wearing a mask, keeping your physical distance from others, practicing proper hand hygiene and getting a flu shot are the best ways to support our frontline workers and keep each other safe.

The pharmacy of the future is almost here

Robotic technology has been installed and is currently being tested in the pharmacy at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital to ensure it’s ready to prepare medications for patients on opening day. 

When Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital opens in early 2021, it will be home to the pharmacy of the future. The pharmacy will include a new platform for infusion pumps, integrate with a care team’s communication technology, and feature robotic technology to support our expert teams of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. The pharmacy was also designed to optimize medication management workflows and is the first new hospital pharmacy in Ontario to be designed in full compliance with all National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) sterile and non-sterile compounding standards. These advancements in technology will enable Mackenzie Health to increase patient safety, reduce medication errors and ensure patients get the right medications they need, when they need them.

Some of these new technologies are already being introduced and tested at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital. As an example, the platform for infusion pumps has been expanded to make the equipment easier to use and allow care teams to take advantage of the benefits of a comprehensive drug library when administering intravenous medications to their patients. Standardizing these pumps allows for increased safety measures and reduces the risk of error by ensuring that the correct dosage of medication is administered.

The 12,000 square foot pharmacy at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital will serve as the central medication production facility for both hospitals and state-of-the-art robotic technology will complement and enable our skilled team of pharmacists and technicians. This robotic technology will prepare and package daily medication doses for patients at both hospitals, enabling pharmacy team members to focus their efforts on assuring quality and ensuring the right medication is clinically appropriate for each patient.

The pharmacist who verifies these medication orders will be situated close to the pharmacy technicians, but in a bright room designed with the pharmacy team in mind, built with noise-reduction features to help them focus while they’re ensuring accuracy.

Once the medications are ready to be dispensed and delivered to patients, they will travel directly to the inpatient unit via a hospital-wide pneumatic tube system. Workflows for medication distribution have been designed to leverage the use of communication technology between the pharmacy and the care teams to ensure that medications are available when they’re needed. This will improve efficiency and safety and will save care teams time so that patients can get the medications they need faster to recover and get home to their families sooner.

Inspiring the ultimate generosity

We’re a few months away from transforming the way health care is delivered to the communities of Richmond Hill, Vaughan, King and beyond. Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital will soon join Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and our many community-based locations to double your access to the ultimate in care.

Our team is thrilled to share what the ultimate means to them. Hear about the features of the new Magna Emergency at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital that Registered Nurse Meliza Guiao is excited about the most.