Making important connections with our community as the pandemic continues
While the new year began with hope as we welcomed the first New Year’s baby to be born in Vaughan, we are also navigating the challenges of yet another trying wave of the pandemic.
The Omicron variant has put our health care system in a strained and vulnerable position and we need our community’s help to slow the spread.
We’ve had to make some difficult decisions to keep everyone in our hospitals safe, including restricting visitors. We know this isn’t ideal for anyone and we’re doing all we can to keep families and patients connected, including redeploying staff to assist with virtual visits while visitor restrictions are in place.
Our health care team is giving their all for our community and we ask that the residents we serve continue to be patient, respectful and kind.
All this and more in this edition of the Insider.
Welcoming Vaughan’s first New Year’s Baby
Baby Amina was born at 8 lbs, 11.7 oz at 3:31 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2022 making her the first New Year’s Baby to ever be born at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital. Not only did the third baby for proud parents Sabira and Ahmed make history, baby Amina also received a special gift basket donated by RCC Media and the Tony Romanelli and Matthew Fusco families to welcome her to the world.
Since the Woman and Child program moved to its new facilities at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital in June 2021, more than 1,700 babies have been born supported by an expert team using the latest technology and techniques. To learn more about our Woman and Child program, visit our website.
Continuing to support our community through the pandemic
Christian, a screener at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, ensures all patients coming in for their appointments enter the hospital safely.
Staffing challenges and hospital operations
With the rapid community spread of the Omicron variant, health care workers at hospitals across the province are feeling the impact. Many of them are becoming ill themselves or need to isolate because they were exposed to COVID-19 at home or through a close contact. Staffing shortages are putting further strain on our health care workers who are already experiencing exhaustion and burnout.
Staffing has become a significant challenge and we are doing everything we can to ensure patients continue to receive safe, quality care. This includes redeploying some staff into different areas of the hospital that are challenged with staffing pressures.
The provincial modelling does give us hope that this wave of the pandemic may ease soon, however hospitals will continue to see higher volumes of patients for weeks to come. Volumes in our Emergency Departments continue to be higher than anticipated and the volumes of those needing care for reasons unrelated to COVID-19 also continue to rise. This month our ICUs at both Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital operated over capacity for days at a time. Unfortunately, in recent weeks we have also had a number of patients admitted to our Emergency Departments waiting for a bed to become available each day.
Pausing non-urgent scheduled surgeries and procedures
The Omicron variant has worsened the capacity pressures already being felt by Ontario hospitals. In an effort to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed, the provincial government directed all hospitals to pause non-urgent scheduled surgeries and procedures. While this is necessary to create capacity to treat the high volumes of patients coming to our Emergency Departments who need to be admitted for care, we know it’s incredibly disappointing and challenging for those who’ve had their surgeries and procedures delayed. Urgent and emergent surgeries and procedures continue and patients who need urgent care will continue to receive it. As soon as this wave eases, we will reschedule these surgeries and procedures and work through the backlog as quickly as we can. We understand our patients’ frustration and we appreciate our community’s support and patience as we navigate these challenges.
Supporting our community partners
The Mackenzie Health community support team continues to work with more than 100 congregate care facilities across western York Region to ensure residents in long-term care and retirement homes and other congregate care settings remain supported throughout the pandemic. Our team provides an average of 120 education and audit sessions per month to staff and essential caregivers to sustain best practices in keeping residents as safe as possible and minimizing the spread of infection. With a number of these congregate settings experiencing outbreaks this month, our community support team has continued to work to build capacity within these homes by teaching screeners how to perform swab tests as well as reinforcing the Infection Prevention and Control champions at each site.
Repurposing our Assessment Centre
Effective Dec. 31, the provincial government updated the list of those eligible for publicly-funded PCR COVID-19 tests. PCR tests are being prioritized for those at increased risk of severe outcomes and those living or working in the highest risk settings like hospitals and long-term care homes. A full list of eligible individuals can be found on the provincial government's website.
Mackenzie Health is now only conducting COVID-19 tests for those who meet the government’s narrowed eligibility criteria. This has allowed us to repurpose our Assessment Centre at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital and open a new Clinical Assessment Centre in the same space to help alleviate some of the volumes of patients coming into our Emergency Departments. Patients who need attention but not necessarily emergency care can be referred from our Emergency Departments or by their family physician for an appointment at the Clinical Assessment Centre. At their appointment, patients will be assessed by a physician who will be able to provide a diagnosis and treatment options without the patient needing to wait in the Emergency Department. Please note that an appointment is required and walk-ins will not be accommodated.
Visitor guidelines
To keep everyone within our walls as safe as possible we made the very difficult, but necessary decision to no longer permit visitors at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital or Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital for the time being, with limited exceptions. For more information and a list of exceptions, consult the visitor information page on our website.
We recognize that support from family and friends is an important part of a patient’s healing process and how challenging it has been for families who want to connect with their loved ones. To help patients and families stay connected, we have provided dedicated resources to our care teams to support virtual calls, including on weekends.
As soon as we feel it is safe to do so, we will ease our visitor restrictions again so loved ones can visit by the bedside and support patients through their care journey in person.
Helping make virtual connections
Alyssa, a campaign coordinator at Mackenzie Health Foundation, is currently helping patients at the Reactivation Care Centre stay connected to their families virtually.
While it was necessary to close our hospitals to visitors to keep our patients and staff safe as Omicron surges through the community, we know how challenging it is for families at home wanting to stay connected to their loved ones in hospital. That’s why we redeployed some non-clinical staff, like Alyssa, a campaign coordinator at Mackenzie Health Foundation, to our clinical units to support virtual calls between patients and their families so they can stay connected.
Administrative and other non-clinical staff are stepping up in a big way to help fill the gaps and allow clinical staff to focus on delivering care to patients. They’re delivering food trays, scheduling patient appointments, performing administrative tasks and helping families connect virtually. In her time at the Reactivation Care Centre, Alyssa has helped dozens of families and patients connect in private one-to-one virtual visits on tablets available to patients at all our care locations.
“The joy I hear in the voices of patients and families when I connect the virtual call and hand over the tablet is rewarding,” Alyssa says. “The amount of thanks I get for this small act means the world to me. I know I am doing something small that has a big impact and I’m grateful for this opportunity to help Mackenzie Health make a difference in the lives of patients.”
Patients like Anton, receiving care at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, have been able to connect with their families virtually and Anton’s family says it has made a world of difference in his recovery.
“Mackenzie Health has allowed us to keep Grandpa safe from possible viral illness during his recuperation from surgery while also allowing us to stay in touch virtually via Zoom – encouraging him, loving him and supporting him in his time of need,” say Anton’s grandchildren. “This has been his difference maker to recovery, seeing us on the screen, being there in the room with him in a way that makes him feel valued and important, as he is to us! We love Grandpa! With Mackenzie Health’s creative solution to connecting patients with their families, they elevate their patients’ recovery with optimism and courage.”
Redeployed staff like Alyssa see themselves as an extension of the patient’s team. Everyone is working collectively to ensure those receiving care here are receiving the best possible care, even while navigating the challenges of this latest wave of the pandemic.
Support our frontline
At Mackenzie Health, we are doing all we can to care for our community during these very challenging times. But the need remains, and it’s urgent. Donate today to ensure that we have the resources to effectively respond during this crisis.