Every day our people at Sinai Health are doing extraordinary things. Captured Caring is a series featuring submissions from our people to provide you with inspiration and encouragement as we care for patients and each other. Have your own story or photo to share? Submit it here.
“May is Speech and Hearing Month and although celebrations are limited, I want to take a few moments to acknowledge the amazing work that is done each day by the speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and communicative disorders assistants (CDAs) at Hennick Bridgepoint. We are not a large group, however the impact to our patients is very significant. Every day we help our patients optimize their communication, swallowing and hearing so they have the best quality of life. So please, if you see an SLP or CDA wish them a Happy Speech and Hearing Month and maybe throw them an air high five!”
Submitted by: Krista Caulfield, Clinical Practice Lead, Speech Language Pathology, Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital
“Speech and Hearing Month is a wonderful opportunity to recognize the significant contributions of our speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to our patients, teams, programs and community. The SLPs are highly trained professionals with expertise in the assessment and treatment of speech, language, communication, cognitive function and swallowing. They work closely with our interprofessional teams in acute care from ICU to the inpatient wards to address these issues patients face.
During the pandemic, the SLPs worked closely with the ICU team to address patient communication, oral care and swallowing issues to facilitate effective recovery, especially for longer stay ICU patients. They also provide care to various patient populations across our inpatient and ambulatory programs, including ENT patients, dementia, stroke and oncology. Thank you to Mitzi, Sheila, Darcy, Tim and Suzy for being so awesome. Happy Speech and Hearing Month!”
Submitted by: Katherine McQuaid-Bascon, Sr. Director, Health Disciplines and Celine Nathoo, Sr. Manager, Rehabilitation and Clinical Nutrition, Mount Sinai Hospital
“The Biomedical Engineering department at Sinai Health supports the safe and effective use of medical equipment. Our small but mighty team are responsible for more than 12,000 pieces of medical devices as we work behind the scenes to ensure the safety and performance of each medical device for patient use and treatment. Join us as we celebrate the International Biomedical/Clinical Engineering Week from May 15 to 21.”
Submitted by: Adeel Alam, Manager, Biomedical Engineering, Mount Sinai Hospital
“May is National Physiotherapy Month, a time to celebrate the wonderful care and treatment our physiotherapists (PTs) and physiotherapy assistants (PTAs) provide to our patients, families, teams and communities. The role of physiotherapy is highlighted even more today as they are pivotal in guiding and promoting the recovery of long COVID-19 patients. In addition, PTs and PTAs are providing timely and effective treatment to promote the recovery, function and mobility of our most complex patients across programs, including in the emergency department, ICU, General Internal Medicine and Surgery. Their ability to provide early mobility helps our organization facilitate patient flow, especially important during a time when we are challenged with higher number of patients requiring more care. We appreciate each of our wonderful PTs and PTAs. Happy Physiotherapy Month!”
Submitted by: Katherine McQuaid-Bascon, Sr. Director, Health Disciplines and Celine Nathoo, Sr. Manager, Rehabilitation and Clinical Nutrition, Mount Sinai Hospital
“Helen Cheong, one of the nurses in Labour and Delivery, wore her mother’s nurse’s uniform, a scrub dress, during Nursing Week, to pay tribute to her mother’s work as an international nurse.”
Submitted by: Nancy Watts, Manager, Quality, Women’s and Infants’ Program, Mount Sinai
During Volunteer Week in April, we celebrated volunteers across Sinai Health. In just the past year, 335 volunteers gave over 30,000 hours of service across both our campuses, supporting our people, our patients and family caregivers in a variety of ways. Below are some examples of the impact that volunteers make every day.
“I want to commend the MAUVE volunteer who was really helpful in supporting an older-adult patient with dementia who was in the Emergency Department all day long. He probably doesn’t even realize how important he was to the patient’s care. It was a great example of how helpful the MAUVE volunteers can be in improving the experience of older-adult patients, taking a big load off the nursing team and medical staff.”
Submitted by: Dr. Don Melady, Geriatric Lead, Schwartz-Reisman Emergency Centre, Mount Sinai Hospital
“A patient’s family member shared with the social worker on the unit how much the patient loves her volunteers. She had such wonderful things to say about them (specifically the person on Thursday)–stating they take time with her, make sure she is comfortable and speak with her in her first language. The family is so appreciative.”
Submitted by: Melissa Turner-Joseph, Speech Language Pathologist, Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital
“Since debuting at Mount Sinai Hospital in late 2021, our new da Vinci Xi surgical robot has assisted in 37 complex laparoscopic operations, helping patients achieve better outcomes.
Upon its arrival, our people were invited to take part in the Name the Robot contest to suggest a name that would best represent the robot’s innovation and spirit. Over 200 participants engaged in the contest, with the name LEO selected as a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci and his study of the human body. Pictured beside LEO is Joanna Ascenzi of Orthopedic Surgery, the contest winner. Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest!”
Submitted by: Darnell Williams, Senior Director, Phase 3A Capital Development, Mount Sinai Hospital