Good afternoon,

And welcome to another jam-packed edition of E-Connect, your source for all things HDGH! In today's newsletter check out stories about a new video to support children of parents facing a mental illness, a recent publication featuring the work done to enhance quality of care for Our Patients, many wonderful gifts we've been receiving, a recognition for workplace safety, and more!

See you in two weeks for the last E-Connect edition of 2019!

Maciah

Having a parent with a mental illness is one of the strongest risks factors of children developing a mental health issue of their own.

 Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) along with partners at the Windsor-Essex Children's Aid Society (WECAS) and The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WEHCU) have developed an educational video for children ages 8-13 to increase knowledge and awareness about parental mental illness and promote positive coping behaviours.

 The project was funded by a $50,000 innovation grant from the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health and aimed to have parents, youth and service providers a part of planning and developing early intervention based on their identified needs. The idea to develop something for this population was that of Dr. Mary Broga, Executive Director of Lead Agency for Child and Youth Mental Health and also a more than 30 year veteran in the field, who acted as the grant's executive sponsor. 

  "Together we designed and executed a series of Design Lab workshops to gather information about needs, experiences, and potential solutions," explained Project Lead and HDGH Research Associate, Dr. Jennifer Voth. "We really wanted to hear from these groups on what they thought would be the best way to help youth who had a parent/loved one with mental illness."

 The committee, consisting of nineteen members, including youth, parents with lived experience and services providers hosted targeted design labs in neutral "non-stigmatizing" community settings. From these came the development of the video that will be shown online through all partners' social media outlets.

 

"The video is engaging, short and displayed in a way that kids can get information about this subject in privacy and at their own pace. We heard from participants that information resources should be delivered in an 'interactive' and 'engaging' format. This video captures all of this," explained Voth.

The video can be viewed on  HDGH's YouTube channel  or through the link above and will be shared throughout the community. Research of this kind is progressive and relatively new to Windsor-Essex. It is the hope that eventual programming can be developed for this often hard-to-target group of children and youth and help serve their unique needs.

Each year, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare shares results, highlights, and projects that relate to our three Strategic Drivers: Our Patients, Our People, and Our Identity in their self-titled publications.

Take a look at our most recent publication that focuses on our Quality Year in Review in Patients Matter .

This publication shares our successes and projects during 2018/2019, as well as key results and frameworks that relate to our Quality efforts.

"I am so very proud that over the past three years, HDGH has developed and advanced throughout the entire organization an unwavering culture and commitment to quality care, service and patient safety, culminating in accreditation with Exemplary Standing, Accreditation Canada’s highest award. On behalf of the Quality Committee, I thank frontline staff, leadership, physicians and volunteers for their ongoing diligence and dedication throughout the process – all in pursuit of the highest level of care for patients," says John Clark, Chair of HDGH's Quality Committee of the Board.

To read more publications from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, please visit our website at hdgh.org/publications .

For the past four years, patients transitioning through life’s final journey on the Palliative Care Unit at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare have been blessed to receive the gift of warmth and comfort from philanthropic community partners In Honour of the Ones We Love.

For more than 20 years, In Honour has been supporting cancer patient care in our community, today their efforts reach far beyond, supporting hundreds of patients and individuals in need. It was in 2015 that In Honour saw the need and true gift it would be for those at the end of life to experience the comfort of a warm blanket; and so, they generously purchased the first blanket warmer on the Palliative Unit.

Every year since, including yesterday’s donation, In Honour has hand-delivered 20 beautiful, soft fleece blankets to the palliative patients in our care, helping to make their final weeks and days feel as though they are wrapped in love.

Thank you, In Honour!

We are proud to share that from the collective efforts lead by our Human Resources and Occupational Health and Safety team, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare was a recipient of the Platinum Gord Smith Healthy Workplace Award this October.

The Gord Smith Healthy Workplace Award is provided and evaluated by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) with the purpose of recognizing local workplaces that provide comprehensive workplace wellness programming to their employees, retirees, and family members.

As an award recipient, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare demonstrates outstanding leadership in providing environments and policies that create and support healthy lifestyles for Our People. This year our organization received the Gord Smith Platinum Award by having a robust workplace commitment to wellness for our employees and our community. We met the criteria for 30 standards under 3 Wellness Topics, as well as demonstrated that we are a Living Wage Employer. The subjects range from Awareness Raising Activities, Education and Skill Building, Environmental Supports, Evaluation Activities to hear the voices of Our People, Comprehensive Workplace Wellness Policies, and Organizational Social Responsibility.

In our application this year, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare highlighted a number of safety and wellness initiatives including our Naloxone Education, Smoke-Free Workplace, Ergonomic Assessments, Health and Safety Week, Leading Practice in Workplace Violence Prevention, Employee and Physician Appreciation Week, Employee Assistance Program, Mental Health Seminars, and tons more.

Congratulations team for another outstanding year of providing a safe, healthy, and supportive workplace!

Jump starting the Season of Giving in North America, Giving Tuesday is a tradition that encourages people to spread blessings unto others.

On this year’s Giving Tuesday, and throughout the entire year, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare’s Changing Lives Together Foundation is fortunate to be the recipient of such blessings.

Donors, staff, and representatives gathered on December 3 ^rd to thank and acknowledge the dedication and donations of a number of different groups.

This year, LiUNA!625, Labourers’ International Union of North America, completed their $300,000 commitment to the construction of Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare’s Recreation and Wellness Centre. The unique outdoor space serves as a therapy option for our organization’s rehabilitation patients and offers a unique exercise area for all patients, staff, volunteers, and visitors.

"Each year, our commitment to community grows as we strive to support institutions and organizations dedicated to the health and wellness of our citizens,” said Rob Petroni, Business Manager of LiUNA!625. “This special 'age-friendly' facility brings together young and old from all walks of life, including LiUNA!625 Members and their families.”

Finalizing their generous donation are two vibrant directional signs that will guide patients and their loved ones to the impressive space.

Joining LiUNA!625 for the Day of Giving event was family of the late Opal Belawatz, a former patient of our Palliative Care program. In February 2018 Opal’s family established a fund in her name for continuing education opportunities for Palliative Care nurses at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare.

Recently, the fund had been used to train 200 frontline palliative staff on the Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative and End of Life Care (LEAP) which reviews fundamentals of Palliative Care with a focus on symptom and pain management, a unique educational opportunity made possible by the Belawetz family.

Finally, for the Changing Lives Together Foundation, the Gift of Time is just as significant and valued as a monetary gift. This gift was also celebrated as representatives of our Heart Breaker Challenge and Bob Probert Ride organizing committees were acknowledged for the many hours given to enhancing, organizing, and ensuring these two signature events run to the best of their ability.

“Whether it is a life-changing dollar amount or a few buck off your paycheck; a way to honour someone special in your life or a way to support a cause you’re passionate about; a few hours here and there or weeks dedicated to a project,” says Bill Marra, Executive Director of the Changing Lives Together Foundation as he closed out the Day of Giving event. “Every instance of giving to our Foundation changes the lives of the patients we serve. There is no gift too small, and we thank you for choosing Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare as the recipient.”

If you would like to give to Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare’s Changing Lives Together Foundation, please visit hdgh.org/foundation .

The neurodevelopment and neurocognitive wellbeing of children in Windsor-Essex is in increasingly capable hands after the first of three in-service Neurodevelopment and Education training session from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare’s Ozad Institute, in partnership with the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB).

The Ozad Institute was established in 1990 with the vision of improving the lives of children and youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Today at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare’s Regional Children’s Centre, the Ozad Institute continues to change lives every day by increasing competencies for care and treatment providers through research, education, and training for professionals, parents, and pre- and post-doctoral graduate students.

On November 20 ^th , 100 educators, administrators, and professional staff from across our region gathered to learn from Dr. John Strang, Director of the Ozad Institute and Dr. Erin Picard, Chief Psychologist with WECDSB and Science Practitioner with the Ozad Institute. The two Clinical Neuropsychologists combined resources for delivering a newly designed in-service training program that was created to provide frontline educators – including school principals, clinical staff, special education coordinators, and Learning System Support Teachers (LSSTs), all from the WECDSB – with additional information about children and youth with neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive disorders and how best to help them in the educational setting.

This targeted community-based training meets with the Ozad Institute’s goal of moving from Annual Conferences to educational and training efforts in the community that meet organization-identified needs for their staff. This particular community presentation provided the necessary tools to better equip WECDSB educators, administrators, and professional staff whose roles centrally involve meeting the educational and mental health needs of children and youth with neurodevelopmental or acquired neurocognitive disorders.  

“I am particularly pleased with these presentations as they reflect our Ozad Institute Values and fit with our goal of pairing our Ozad Institute education with meeting our community partners’ education needs for their staff,” writes Dr. Strang.

We are thankful to all those who participated in the first training sessions and to Joseph Ibrahim, WECDSB’s Superintendent of Education – Student Achievement K-12, who has continually expressed his enthusiasm and has provided administrative support for the education series.

Two more education sessions in this Neurodevelopment and Education series will be taking place in the new year on February 20 ^th and April 8 ^th , allowing even more educators to support the needs of the children we all serve.

Founded in 2013, TransForm is a not-for-profit organization that provides a broad range of integrated services including Information Technology/Information Management, Supply Chain, Innovation and Project Management to Bluewater Health (Sarnia), Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, Erie Shores HealthCare (Leamington), Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, and Windsor Regional Hospital. They also deliver provincial digital health solutions in Erie St. Clair and lead innovation across the region. For more information visit www.transformsso.ca. 

TransForm is currently accepting Expressions of Interest for Independent Board Members. Qualified candidates residing in Erie St. Clair, and especially those with skills, knowledge and/or experience in the following areas are encouraged to apply for a seat on the Board: 

To apply, submit a short bio and/or resume, along with an Expression of Interest in being on the Board to the Attention of Karen Montminy, Governance Coordinator no later than Friday, December 13rd.