Welcome to E-Connect!

We are excited to bring you the final E-Connect edition of 2019. This year has been filled with celebrating, growing, and changing lives in our Windsor-Essex community.

Focusing on our three Strategic Drives, Our Patients, Our People, and Our Identity,

E-Connect has brought you stories of the triumphs of the patients and clients we serve as they strengthened their minds, bodies, and souls; new programs and initiatives were established including the collaborative efforts of the Mobile Outreach and Support Team, co-hosting the first International Safety Symposium, adopting and training staff on the Recovery Philosophy for those battling mental illness and addiction, and many more efforts all with the goal of enhancing the quality of care offered to Our Patients.

The year showcased the growth and dedication of our staff, physicians, and volunteers as they began each day with pride in knowing they are making a difference with every medication given, every meal served, every floor swept, every conversation had. This impressive team which we recognize as our greatest resource were instrumental in our organization receiving Accreditation with Exemplary Standing in June 2019, along with our commitment to providing them with a workplace that is safe and healthy, resulting in our Health Standards Organization Leading Practice Award for Workplace Violence Prevention.

We strengthened current and built new partnerships in our community, working together for a healthier Windsor-Essex. Whether by embarking on joint projects, giving donations, like the $100,000 to the ProsperUs initiative or receiving ones like the $350,000 from the Solcz Family Foundation for clients experiencing substance use disorder, we have stood by our Vision of being a trusted leader transforming healthcare and cultivating a healthier community for all.

As we wrap up another wonderful year we would like to thank you for your ongoing support to Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, our Changing Lives Together Foundation, and all that we do to support you and your loved ones.

See you next year...

Maciah

Last week, as part of their "Spreading Kindness" campaign, Grade 8s from A. V. Graham public school presented handmade holiday cards to Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and the Canadian Mental Health Association Windsor-Essex County Branch (CMHAWECB).

Filled with words of encouragement and love, the cards will be given to patients and clients of the mental health programs of both organizations.

Kind words can go a long way for those dealing with a mental illness, we are so thankful to these students for their thoughtful gift.

For some, the holiday season is one filled with joy, love, and togetherness, but for others, the opposite is true.

We'd like to remind our community, particularly those dealing with mental illness that help is available, even during the holidays.

Our Community Crisis Number is answered 24/7 including on Christmas and New Year's Day.

The holidays: time for togetherness, travel, and exchanging gifts. What we all hope isn't exchanged is sickness such as influenza or the common cold.

Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and the greater Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network (ESC LHIN) would like to remind our community the importance of receiving the influenza vaccine and practicing proper hand hygiene to reduce your risk of getting sick.

Some simple tips to avoid getting influenza or spreading germs include:

To further protect our patients at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, we ask that you do no visit the hospital and/or reschedule appointments if you are feeling sick.

For more information and to learn the difference between symptoms of the common cold versus influenza, please view this informative hand out.

Each year, we are proud to be able to offer festive luncheons to all of our outstanding People at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. These luncheons provide the opportunity for staff to celebrate the holidays with their colleagues over a delicious meal that is created by our talented Food and Nutrition Services team.

Tickets to the event, which lasts over three days, are sold for a modest $3 which adds up to a significant total. All proceeds raised are donated back into the Windsor-Essex community.

This year, 950 tickets were sold, equating to $2,850 raised which was shared amongst two great Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare partners: The Downtown Mission and Our West End. We were joined at the luncheon by Ron Dunn, Executive Director of the Mission as well as Fabio Constante, Founder of Our West End and Ward 2 City Councillor, to express how these funds will provide support and resources for the individuals they serve.

 

Thank you to our wonderful staff for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the year and for supporting such a great cause. 

View photos from the luncheons on our HDGH Facebook page .

Each year, hundreds of Canadian Armed Forces members are deployed during the holidays, missing precious time with their loved ones.

The courageous group took to social media this year to encourage the Canadian community to send cards to Any Canadian Armed Forces Member during the holidays, bringing them a taste of family, gratitude, and most importantly, home.

Their call out was answered, with over 30,000 cards arriving each day! Pouring in with cards from all over the country are ones from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare with dozens coming from our Inpatient Rehab team.

You can send a card of your own by writing to:

Any Canadian Armed Forces Member

PO Box 5004 Stn Forces

Belleville, ON

K8N 5W6

On Wednesday, December 11th, the Ontario government announced the recipients for Community Safety Grant funding for 2019 through 2021. Included in these grants are those specific to persons experiencing a mental health and addictions crisis.

 

When an individual experiences a mental health crisis and access to crisis support and primary care is limited, the individual will seek out help from whomever is available. 

Police and health care services are frequent recipients of these types of calls. When the police are contacted and respond to a call for service in this category, they must adhere to specific laws and regulations and have limited training in mental health and addictions. The police often take these individuals to hospital where formal assessments and dispositions are made. In doing so, this does address the immediate personal safety of the individual but is rarely the best option to provide a long term solution for the individual suffering the crisis.

In June of 2019, a joint proposal was submitted on behalf of the five local Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Police Services Boards serving the municipalities of Tecumseh, Lakeshore, Essex, Kingsville and Leamington to enhance the response to individuals experiencing a mental health and addiction crisis in Essex County.

Two distinct grants were applied for and both have been unanimously approved. These grants will work in addition to and in conjunction with Essex County OPP’s current Amethyst Award winning Mental Health Response Unit (MHRU) which involves a partnership between the OPP and Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare in providing individuals support post crisis ensuring all available resources can be accessed and utilized efficiently.

The Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team (MCRRT) will utilize a co-response model which will include a uniformed OPP member and a crisis worker from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare to attend and de-escalate situations where persons over the age of 16 years are experiencing a mental health and/or addictions crisis.

The second grant is a youth based co-response unit similar to the first but designed to help those youth under the age of 16 experiencing a mental health and/or addictions crisis where historically there has been limited access. This unit will be staffed by a uniformed OPP officer and a clinician from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare’s Regional Children’s Centre (RCC). These professionals will be instrumental in providing assistance, guidance and valuable resources to youth during a crisis in addition to follow up post crisis.

These grants afforded to the unique partnership between the OPP in Essex County and Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare with their individual skill sets will continue to better serve this community by more efficiently utilizing resources thus helping to save lives.

Last week, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare's Changing Lives Together Foundation received a pleasant surprise from friends at Hiram Walker and Sons Limited and J.P. Wiser's.

Each month, as part of their Safety Recognition program, Hiram Walker makes a donation to local organizations as a result of having no safety incidents for said month.

With November being one of those safe months, Hiram Walker chose Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare 's Cardiac Wellness program as recipient of a $1,000 donation!

Thank you!

Year ‘round, Our People at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare give generously. Whether it be feminine hygiene products for Tampon Tuesday, school supplies for children in need, non-perishables to fill local bellies, or whatever the most recent call-out might be, Our People are willing to help.

This philanthropic outlook is what made our third year participating in CBC’s Sounds of the Season food drive another success.

Sounds of the Season is an annual effort by CBC to raise food and funds for food banks across Canada. While this is a Canada wide effort, all donations raised in Windsor-Essex will go to support the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association, an organization representing 15 area food banks.

Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare is proud to support such causes in our community, strengthening our relationships with our Media Partners.

On Friday, December 13 ^th Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare donated canned goods, cereal boxes, granola bars, pasta noodles and sauces, and more great food for those in our community who need it most.

Totally more than 10 overflowing boxes, our Sounds of the Season have been heard, bringing much needed resources to our community.