Executive Message
We are pleased to provide the communities that we serve and those who serve with us the 2008-2009 Annual Report for St. Joseph's Health Centre. Our annual report provides us with the opportunity to look back and celebrate as we move forward to achieve our Vision to be Canada's Best Community Teaching Hospital.
This year's annual report celebrates the successes we have seen in the first year of our new strategic plan. We are proud of our plan because it reflects St. Joseph’s true spirit of collaboration and community.
In 2007, we sought feedback from almost 1,000 of our key stakeholders who gave us valuable advice on what would make us successful as your community teaching hospital. Our plan reflects the diverse voices of our patients and their families, community and government partners, our volunteers, our direct care staff, our physicians, our leaders, our Board of Directors and our Foundation Board. And in developing our new plan, we took care to ensure that we were building on our past, where our rich history began - the plan is firmly anchored by the legacy of The Sisters of St. Joseph who founded the hospital almost 90 years ago. The Sisters grounded our Mission, Values, Vision and Role and created the platform for our success into the future.
Our 2008-2011 plan set out 5 priorities: Put Patients First, Enhance the Health of the Communities we Serve, Inspire Our People, Create a Culture of Inquiry and Innovation and Use Our Resources Wisely. All of the work that we do here at St. Joseph's is aimed at delivering on these 5 priorities. We are proud of our accomplishments over the first year of our plan and the way they have directly improved the care we provide you and the diverse communities we serve. Throughout the pages of our annual report you will see stories about our achievements.
2008-2009 was a busy year starting in April with our Accreditation Canada Survey and site visit. Accreditation is an important part of helping us to become "Canada's Best Community Teaching Hospital", because it compares how well we are doing against nationally set standards, helps us to learn what others are doing and identifies areas where we can make improvements to processes, programs and services for the benefit of those we serve. We are pleased to report that we were awarded with another 3 year accreditation.
Our culture of patient safety was recognized with a Diamond Award given to hospitals that have met exceptionally high standards in implementing safety engineered medical devices. St. Joe's was the only Canadian hospital to receive the Diamond Award this year - the highest level of recognition. This builds on last year's success of achieving the Platinum award.
We continued to make improvements that provide our patients with the right care, at the right time, in the right place, for the right amount of time, 100% of the time. The changes that we have made to reduce waiting times for those receiving care in our Emergency Department and our General Medicine inpatient units have been recognized across the province - we have shared the lessons that we have learned about patient access and flow with other healthcare service providers to help them improve.
Our innovative partnership with St. Michael's Hospital and the Toronto EMS has saved lives - inside this report, you will meet Kevin Mundier who is alive today because of our innovative STEMI program.
This year we embarked on a journey that will transform the way we care for the 500,000 residents living in our catchment area. Our electronic health record strategy is the largest patient care project that St. Joe’s has ever launched. It aims to put the health record right at the point where health care is delivered - at the bedside, where patient and care provider come together. It means better and safer patient care and a more efficient way of delivering health care services.
Promoting health equity in Toronto is an important objective for the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network and St. Joe’s has created a plan to work in partnership with the community and other service providers to break down the barriers that prevent people from getting the care they need. It is crucial that hospital services are provided in a way that reduces health inequities. In our Annual Report you will meet Glen Pappin, a man who has used his personal story with mental illness and his experience in the healthcare system to provide valuable feedback though our Population Panels on the way we provide our services to you and your family.
The next generation of health care professionals continue to chose St. Joe’s as the place to learn how to meet your health care needs now and in the future. We delivered over 32,000 days of training to students in medicine, nursing, rehabilitation sciences, respiratory therapy, social work and laboratory medicine. But, we don't just educate the next generation of professionals, we ensure that our staff benefit from opportunities to upgrade knowledge and skills - we provided over $193,000 in educational assistance funding to staff members for a job or career-related certificate, diploma, undergraduate and/or graduate degree educational programs.
Looking forward, we are excited about the opportunities that we have to improve the health care of the communities that we serve - the construction of our new Our Lady of Mercy patient care wing has started and will provide a state of the art environment to match the state of the art care that we provide every single day.
Being transparent, innovative and accountable stewards of the resources entrusted to us is what binds together our Vision, Mission and Values. Last year, an employee survey showed us that overwhelmingly staff have a strong commitment to these and our corporate strategy. People are proud to work here and are committed to the patients and families we serve.
Carolyn Baker
President and CEO
Richard Ross
Chair, Board of Directors
Tom Harmantas
Chief of Staff
