In this edition of the Insider:
- Supporting our community through an unprecedented cough, cold and flu season
- February is Heart Month and the Mackenzie Health Cardiac Clinic is marking one year in its new space
- Sharing a new mom’s experience. Michelle’s inspiring story of strength and resilience after a challenging delivery
- The early bird deadline is tomorrow for our 5K walk/run – Strides for Mackenzie Health. Join us to raise funds for our highest-priority needs and get free access to Canada’s Wonderland!
- Learn about Mackenzie Health’s Child Care and Early Learning Centre – spaces are available!
Weathering a triple threat
During the last few months of 2022, Mackenzie Health, along with many other hospitals in the GTA, was challenged with a triple threat of COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the regular cough, cold and flu season, putting significant pressure on our Emergency Department and pediatric unit. With twice the number of pediatric patients being cared for in hospital than in the previous year, our teams stepped up to support the littlest members of our community. We temporarily increased capacity in our pediatric unit and used the Emergency Department as a surge space when there were more children needing care than we had beds available – at times we surged above 250 per cent of our pediatric inpatient bed capacity.
We know the unprecedented volumes we were seeing in the fall were challenging for everyone and didn’t always allow for the short wait times and positive experience our patients have come to expect at Mackenzie Health.
While our Emergency Departments at both hospitals and our Urgent Care Centre are still seeing high volumes of patients – there are around 600 visits per day across the three sites – flu season has peaked, volumes in our pediatric unit have returned to normal and our teams are able to better manage day-to-day hospital operations.
Thank you to our community for your continued understanding and support.
Comprehensive cardiac services at one convenient location
Dr. Gupta is one of the expert cardiologists caring for patients at the Mackenzie Health Cardiac Clinic.
To support our community, Mackenzie Health offers a cardiac clinic located at 955 Major Mackenzie Drive to provide comprehensive cardiac services in one convenient location.
The Cardiac Clinic is one of Mackenzie Health’s community-based locations and offers a one-stop shop for patients where they can see their cardiologist, get a stress test or echocardiogram and be referred to other services in the community. Currently, patients can be referred to the clinic through either of our Emergency Departments or an inpatient unit, but soon family physicians in the community will be able to refer their patients to the clinic as well.
Our interdisciplinary team of experts made up of cardiologists, nurses, nurse practitioners, stress test and echocardiogram technologists has supported more than 11,000 visits since the comprehensive clinic was launched in February 2022. Streamlined services at this location include our Chest Pain Clinic, Heart Function Clinic and Arrhythmia Clinic with consultations, follow-up services and diagnostic services available to provide seamless, integrated care to patients.
Did you know that half of all women will experience cardiovascular disease in their lifetime? Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the country making it vitally important to take care of our hearts, especially for women. Watch below as Dr. Gupta shares her heart health tips during Heart Month.
Giving birth was a matter of life or death
Michelle credits the Mackenzie Health team for saving her life after giving birth to baby Julien.
One of Michelle’s biggest fears came to life when she was rushed to Critical Care shortly after delivering her newborn son.
At almost 38 weeks pregnant, Michelle delivered baby Julien in November at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital. What should have been one of life’s most precious moments was instead a memory of seeing bright white lights and feeling the touch of someone holding her hand before waking up in the Critical Care unit.
“I was not prepared to be an ICU mom. Let alone be the person who’s in a life-or-death situation,” she says.
Michelle had a retained placenta followed by postpartum hemorrhage, which accounts for life-threatening complications, including infection and excessive blood loss. After Michelle’s midwife tried removing the placenta, followed by the obstetrician on call, Michelle was rushed to the Operating Room. While she was originally under the care of a midwife for her delivery and didn’t have an obstetrician during her pregnancy, she was put under Dr. Shehata’s care right away. Dr. Shehata found it important to follow up with Michelle to make sure she recovered well with no long- or short-term complications.
Despite the fear and the loneliness of being away from her family during what she explains were the longest three days of her life while she was in Critical Care, Michelle recalls the comfort and care she received from the Mackenzie Health team was unmatched.
“The little things like staff setting up a Zoom call for me to see my son or nurses telling me stories about their own kids, didn’t make me feel robotic. I felt like I mattered.”
Thanks to smart bedside tablets, Michelle was able to see her baby boy from her room in Critical Care, and MyChart allowed her and her caregivers to stay up to date with her medical information.
“I wouldn’t be alive today without the people at Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital. They were empathetic, kind and simply human,” she says. “At a time when hospitals are busy and at capacity, I wasn’t just a number. It didn’t matter who I was or what I was doing, I put my trust in them, and I always felt like I had someone advocating for me. I never felt left behind.”
Mackenzie Health’s Woman and Child program offers an exceptional birthing experience for moms and their families supported by a team of skilled medical experts specializing in caring for new moms, newborns and sick children. In 2022, more than 3,500 babies were born in the state-of-the art birthing suites at Mackenzie Health.
To read Michelle’s full story, visit the Patient Stories page on our website.
Strides for Mackenzie Health is back!
Strides for Mackenzie Health presented by the newly-opened Lexus of Vaughan will take place on Saturday, May 13, 2023, and you’re invited to join us! Our largest community fundraising event returns to Canada’s Wonderland, where close to 1,000 people gathered for the first time last year to run or walk 5K on a new route through the amusement park. Register today to support Mackenzie Health’s highest-priority needs as we continue to invest in the very best care in western York Region. Plus, enjoy free admission to the park after the event. Learn more and register before the early bird deadline on Feb. 28. by visiting visit MHFStrides.ca.
Supporting our community’s littlest learners
Titilayo, Assistant Early Childhood Educator, supports kids’ development and learning with tactile play at the Child Care and Early Learning Centre at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital
For more than 30 years, the Child Care and Early Learning Centre at Mackenzie Health has been providing fun, innovative child care and early education services to children between the ages of one and six. Located at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital, our team of Registered Early Childhood Educators and Early Childhood Assistants supports each child’s learning and development, while instilling a bit of fun too.
“You couldn’t ask for a better daycare,” Ana, whose daughter attends the Child Care and Early Learning Centre, says. “The staff here is amazing and my daughter just loves them.”
While our staff benefit from having a child care centre on site at the hospital so they can drop off their children on the way to work, the Child Care and Early Learning Centre is open to all members of the community. Spots are currently available! To learn more about Mackenzie Health’s Childcare and Early Learning Centre, visit Mackenziehealth.ca/childcare.
