2013 Award Recipients
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TOP INNOVATION – AFFILIATE |
PROVINCIAL HEALTH CARE HERO HEALTH CARE HERO – AFFILIATE HEALTH CARE HERO – FRASER HEALTH HEALTH CARE HERO – INTERIOR HEALTH HEALTH CARE HERO – NORTHERN HEALTH HEALTH CARE HERO – PHSA HEALTH CARE HERO – VIHA 2013 Awards Luncheon Program |
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TOP INNOVATION – HEALTH AUTHORITY |
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WORKPLACE HEALTH INNOVATION |
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COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS |
Top Innovation - Affiliate
2013 Gold Apple Winner
Organization: Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division
Project: For My Health!
Project Leader: Lynn Spence – Provincial Programs Director & Associate Executive Director
Team Members: Sarah Hamid Balma, Bev Gutray, Michelle Prostak, Jennifer Quan, Joyce Resin (ImpactBC), Margaret Tebbutt, Katherine Warrendorf (ImpactBC)
For My Health! is an initiative of the BC division of the Canadian Mental Health Association and ImpactBC – a non-profi t organization that supports patients, providers and decision makers who are working towards health care improvement. It is a new and innovative approach to health promotion that focuses on the early identifi cation and prevention of mental health problems and lifestyle-related chronic conditions.
For My Health! is a fun, interactive workplace health event that integrates physical and mental health screening with education. Participants learn about their health and how to improve it by cycling through several health screening stations covering issues from blood pressure, mood, waist girth, stress and resilience, to cholesterol, anxiety and glucose. To address sensitivities around screening for mental health in the workplace, the project team developed a web-based assessment questionnaire distributed to participants on iPads. After completing the screening stations, participants meet one-on-one with a coach to review results and set a health improvement goal.
For My Health! was piloted at three industrial worksites, leading to success in engaging men, a population that is traditionally known to underutilize preventative health care services. In participant surveys, the overall satisfaction with the program was 92 per cent and nearly all respondents said they would recommend it to a friend. Participants also indicated that the program helped to increase their health awareness and supported them to set health improvement goals that they felt confi dent they could achieve.
Top Innovation - Affiliate
2013 Award of Merit Recipients
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Organization: Beacon Community Services
Project: Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee
Project Leader: Gypsy Siegner – Claims Management Supervisor
Team Members: Silke Allard, Dawn Badiuk, Andrea Birtwistle, Parris Champoise, Amena Cleveland, Carolyn Cutt, Hayley Davis, Jackie Downs, Samantha Gemmell,
Lesley Griffi th, Wendy Hammell, Anna Hudson, Margaret Kun, Leigh-Anne Lowe, David MacDonald, Carol Meyer, Carin Plischke, Judy Ryan, Nicole Skoreyko,
Denise Smith, Julie Thacker, Sarah Van Camp, Rebekah Welsh, Ty-Leigh Whitely, Teen Williams, Jody Yurkowsky
Beacon Community Services is a community-based, not-for-profi t, social, employment, health, recreational, housing and volunteer services agency, offering a wide range
of programs and services to thousands of clients in greater Victoria and Salt Spring Island. Through its Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee, Beacon Community Services has brought safety to the forefront of everyday work. By improving policies and education, continually messaging about staff safety and fi nding solutions to unsafe and unhealthy situations, safety has become ingrained in its workplace culture. The results of the Committee’s efforts are impressive. In a 2009 survey, 69 per cent of staff felt that their work environment was safe; in 2012, 90.9 per cent of staff felt that their work environment was safe. There has also been a signifi cant reduction in the time lost for workers suffering from a workplace related injury through the Return to Work program. The number of days lost to workplace injures has decreased from 4840 days in 2011 to 3550 in 2012; a reduction of over 25 per cent.
Top Innovation - Health Authority
2013 Gold Apple Winner
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Organization: Fraser Health
Project: Psychosis Treatment Optimization Team (PTOP)
Project Leader: Terry Steinke – Program Coordinator
Team Members: Dr. Natasha Afzal, Jaafar Aghajanian, Dr. Mansoor Anwar, Dr. Tony Benning, Julie Bilodeau, Linda Bjornson, Melanie Eaton, Susan Fedewa, Dr. Nigel Fisher, Lori Greenidge, Natalie Heinrich, Dr. Ijaz Hussain, Dr. Terry Ismura, Loretta Kane, Tracie Lake, Dr. Peter Lam, Dr. Jerome Lee, Dillys Leung, Andy Libbiter, Dr. Nizaar Lilla, Helen Lochbaum, Jane Mackenzie, Judith Macrae, Sarah Macrae, Darlene Million, Ashley Moran, Iain Nicol, Marie Nightingale, Ryan Quee, Katayoon Riwazi, Enrique Rodriguez, Pam Sargeant, Dr. Rafay Sherazi, Dr. Debbie Thompson, Dr. Paul Waraich, Simon Wong, Dr. John Wu, Sylvia Yee, Zoreh Yaghoub Zadeh
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It’s estimated that schizophrenia affects one per cent of Fraser Health’s population – more than 15,000 people. Around one-third of these patients will not respond well to traditional therapies and will be diagnosed with treatment-resistant psychosis. The Psychosis Treatment Optimization Program (PTOP) is a community program with
a Central Regional Psychosis Clinic located at Royal Columbian Hospital and three mobile community treatment teams in Surrey, Maple Ridge and Mission.
This program assesses and treats patients with treatment-resistant psychosis to reduce their admissions to hospitals and improve their quality of life.
The program teams provide a wrap-around model of care that improves access to assessment and follow-up, supporting patients, caregivers and clinicians. The teams
provide optimized treatment which includes possible anti-psychotic medication, complex patient assessments, peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and training, and
ongoing patient monitoring and reporting. Crucial to the success of PTOP is a highly skilled and dedicated multi-disciplinary team that works collaboratively to develop
and implement a regional program within a very short span of time.
The program has supported over 320 clients and has had a positive impact on patient’s health outcomes and quality of life, as well as on the health care system. Patients in the program pilot were less likely to utilize emergency and acute services reducing emergency department visits by 91 per cent; acute admissions by 76 per cent and total days in hospital by 80 per cent. This patient-centered model of care also improves health
outcomes and ultimately, quality of life, while also increasing collaboration between mental health centres and family physicians.
Top Innovation - Health Authority
2013 Award of Merit Recipients
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Organization: BC Children’s & Women’s Hospitals (Provincial Health Services Authority)
Project: Children’s & Women’s Hospital Site Redevelopment Project - Integrated Facility Design
Project Leader: Jie (Jane) Sun – Director, imPROVE Innovation Team Members: Patti Byron, Vicky Cromptom, Julie De Salaberry, Ruth Dueckman, Susan Greig, Susan Heathcote, Nancy Kotani, Eleanor Lee, Deborah McFadden, Linda Morris, Lori Nelson, Bernice Oxley, Becky Palmer, Roanne Preston, Eleanor Reimer, Marg Seppelt, Ash Singhal, Peter Skippen, Alan Talbot
The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) is embarking on a $682-million project to redevelop BC Children’s and BC Women’s Hospitals. Through its imPROVE program, PHSA has been using lean strategies to remove waste from care and services and it applied these principles to the design process for the new hospitals. Consultation with staff from all disciplines determined the most effi cient way to provide care. Then, using a 140,000 square foot warehouse and eight-foot tall cardboard walls, full-size mock-ups of each fl oor for the new Acute Care Centre were created. The team then moved the walls and reoriented the fl oor plan until they had produced the best design to meet patient, family and service needs and make the patient care experience as seamless as possible. This new design will decrease unnecessary admissions, length of stay, infection and readmission rates, defect and adverse event rates, reduce non-value added time for the patients, nurses and doctors, and reduce duplication and waste while increasing the number of people that are seen within the same resource base.
Organization: Northern Health
Project: Men’s Health Program
Project Leader: Brandon Grant – Men’s Health Coordinator
Team Members: Dr. David Bowering, Jim Coyne, Rosemary Dolman, Jonathon Dyck, Dayna Hegel, Jessica Quinn, Steve Raper
Faced with statistics showing poorer health outcomes for northern men when compared to the rest of the province, Northern Health created the Men’s Health Program. With an ultimate goal to improve the health status, quality of life and life expectancy for men in the region, the program takes a user-friendly, humourous approach to encourage men in the region to monitor their health and increase use of preventative health services. Innovative resources were developed including the MANual - a Men’s Health Survival Guide. Community-based screening events were held across the region, resulting in more than 2,000 men being checked for high blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol. As one of the few programs devoted strictly to men’s health in Canada, it has generated a lot of attention. In December 2012, Chief Medical Health Offi cer Dr. David Bowering and program coordinator Brandon Grant gave a presentation about the program at the International Public Health Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Workplace Health Innovation
2013 Gold Apple Winner
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Organization: The Fair Haven United Church Homes
Project: Building a Safety Culture – Violence Prevention Program
Project Leader: Susanna Yu – Clinical Nurse Manager
Team Members: Mickey Bigelow, Jennifer Tasker
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The Fair Haven United Church Homes provides complex care to 200 residents at two sites in Vancouver and Burnaby. A few years ago, Fair Haven was experiencing a higher than average number of injury claims – many due to violence against staff. Many staff felt that injuries were just part of the job, but the Occupational Health Committee knew that mindset had to change and initiated the Building a Safety Culture - Violence Prevention program to bring safety to the forefront at Fair Haven.
Their approach was multi-faceted and as the project suggests, implemented one step at a time. In the area of violence prevention, the committee took steps to identify and
eliminate or reduce all incidents and types of workplace violence. It created policies and procedures to protect employees, volunteers, student residents and visitors from
aggression/violence. It also focused on education and training in the assessment, prevention and management of workplace violence and aggression.
The work of this team has paid off. In the past two years, there has been a 76 per cent reduction in injury claims and a 62 per cent reduction in costs. And the number of
aggressive behavior incidents reported has increased signifi cantly, not because there is more violence, but because staff are now reporting it, having come to recognize that violence is not just part of the job.
Workplace Health Innovation
2013 Award of Merit Recipients
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Organization: Tabor Village
Project: Quality of Worklife Program
Project Leaders: Amy Bring – Human Resources Manager
Team Members: Roland Balzer, Hildegard Bandsmer, Harry Brandt, Inga Denter, Susanne Fehr, Joanne Jasienczyk, Dan Levitt, Joanna Martin, Cheryl McCutchen, Jackie Reiners, Ruth Sherk, Cathy Wiebe
Tabor Village provides independent living, assisted living and complex care to nearly 280 seniors in four facilities at its “campus of care” in Abbotsford. As part of its
commitment to be an employer of choice, Tabor Village implemented a comprehensive Quality of Worklife Program. The main goal of the project was to create and sustain an effective working environment that supports staff and energizes them to want to come to work and want to make a difference in the lives of seniors. Centered around four primary foundations – wellness, safety, recognition and education – the Quality of Worklife Program has had a positive impact on Tabor Village employees. By improving practices, processes and structures, overtime and absenteeism has been reduced, performance management is ongoing, work/life balance has increased, infl uenza immunization rates are over 90 per cent and the best people are recruited and retained in the right roles.
Organization: Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA)
Project: Violence Prevention Task Force: A Collaborative Solution for Health Safety
Project Leader: Lesley Moss – Executive Director, Occupational Health & Safety
Team Members: Dorothy Morris, Tracey Newlands, Stephen Rose
The Violence Prevention Task force was commissioned to develop system-wide policies to address specifi c issues related to violence in the workplace. Unlike traditional approaches to safety policy development, which is generally written by safety professionals for use by clinical staff, VIHA engaged approximately 80 frontline clinical staff and other relevant stakeholders throughout the development process. The complexity of addressing violence in health care and the interdependency of staff and patient safety required a broad stakeholder engagement strategy. Rather than just a set of policies, VIHA has developed seven systemwide policies with associated procedures along with practical and useful tools to support staff and leaders to effectively implement and use the policies at the frontline. VIHA now has an engaged group of frontline providers and stakeholders, who understand and appreciate the complexity, prevalence and impact violence has in health care, and who are truly committed to violence prevention, patient and staff safety.
Collaborative Sollutions
2013 Gold Apple Winner
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Organization: Northern Health
Project: STOP HIV/AIDS Pilot Project Campaign
Project Leaders: Kathy MacDonald – Regional Director, Preventive Public Health & Dr. Susan MacDonald – Chief Medical Officer
Team Members: Rosemary Dolman, Mike Doran, Murray Krause, Joanne MacDonald, Tara Mackenzie-Clark, Emma Palmantier, Bareilly Sweet, Vanessa West
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HIV/AIDS is still surrounded by myths and stigma,creating challenges for those wishing to share information about the virus and its transmission. Northern Health and the
Province of BC are addressing these challenges through the STOP HIV/AIDS pilot project – an ambitious, multi-media, community outreach collaboration. STOP – Seek and Treat for Optimal Prevention – is a four-year, provincially-funded initiative, running from 2010 to 2013 in Prince George and Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Northern Health’s Prince George-based project aims to normalize HIV testing; educate and bring awareness to northerners about benefi ts of early HIV testing and treatment; and ultimately reduce the spread of HIV in the region. Northern Health has worked extensively with community partners, actively supporting the HIV-positive population, connecting them with existing services and developing new testing initiatives. The project’s education and awareness component featured an aggressive public online and traditional advertising campaign. An important element of the campaign was “Faces of HIV” which featured real northern residents who bravely agreed to tell their stories of living with the virus. The campaign also featured numerous HIV champions who actively support friends or loved ones living with HIV. Showing real people experiencing real health care challenges is just one example of the leading practices demonstrated by Northern Health’s STOP HIV/AIDS pilot project.
The project has had dramatic results. During the last three years, HIV testing at the Central Interior Native Health Society – a project partner – has increased by almost
200 per cent. The percentage of clients on anti-retroviral medications has increased from 41 per cent to 78 per cent.
Collaborative Solutions
2013 Award of Merit Recipients
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Organization: Penticton Integrated Health Centre (Interior Health)
Project: Contract Pharmacy Integration into a Chronic Kidney Disease Clinic
Project Leader: Dr. Piera Calissi – Clinical Pharmacy Specialist - Nephrology Team Members: Lia Briceno, Dr. Brian Forzley, Dr. Gerry Karr, Lois Neufeld, Greg Wheeler, Susi Wilkinson
Patients with chronic kidney disease typically take a large number of medications, many of which require frequent monitoring and dosage adjustment, increasing the risk
for medication discrepancies and drug-related problems. In this pilot project, contract pharmacists from the Skaha Pharmacy (the BC Provincial Renal Agency contract pharmacy in Penticton) were integrated into a multi-disciplinary team to improve the quality of care for renal patients. Pharmacists performed medication reviews and reconciliations, identified medication discrepancies and drug-related problems. The contract pharmacist attended 18 clinics, interviewed 165 patients, reviewed 2069 medications, identified 692 discrepancies and 228 drug related problems and provided medication counselling (primarily new medications) to 55 patients. Ninety-eight per cent of patients seen by the pharmacist had either a discrepancy or drug-related problems with their medications. Due to its success, the program has been made a permanent feature of the Penticton clinic and has expanded to other renal programs in Kamloops and Trail.
Organization: BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre (Provincial Health Services Authority)
Project: Cesarean Task Force
Project Leaders: Dr. Jan Christilaw – President & CEO & Lee Saxell – Program Lead, Cesarean Task Force
Team Members: Adrian Aikens, Dr. Karen Buhler, Kathryn Dewar, Lehe Elarar, Dr. Ellen Giesbrecht, Dr. Georgia Hunt, Dr. Patti Janssen, Lily Lee, Dr. Horatio Osiovich, Dr. Dale Steele
In Canada in 1997, the national caesarean rate was 18.7 per cent. In 2010, it was 26.9 per cent while BC’s rate reached 31.8 per cent, the highest in the country. The Cesarean Task Force is an inter-professional committee of obstetricians, anaesthetists, paediatricians, midwives, family physicians, nurses and researchers, as well as representatives from Perinatal Services BC. The overall goal of the task force was to reduce the number of caesarean sections performed at BC Women’s and throughout BC. Two linked initiatives, the Best Birth Clinic and the Power to Push Campaign, were the lynchpins of the task forces’ strategies and have had an impact. In 2010, BC Women’s caesarean birth rate was at an all-time high of 34.1 per cent but fell to 31.1 per cent in 2012/13. Power to Push’s website (PowerToPush.ca) is one of the largest maternity care information sites in Canada and the program boasts 1,400 Twitter followers and more than 1,000 Facebook fans.
Health Care Heroes
2013 Gold Apple Winner - Affiliate top
Lourdes Bolinas – Care Aide & Senior Mental Health Worker
Organization: The Bloom Group (formerly St. James Community Service Society)
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Lourdes Bolinas, a Care Aide & Senior Mental Worker has spent the past eight years at The Bloom Group’s Victory House, a facility in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that cares for 48 residents with serious mental and physical health issues. Her work goes far beyond her job description with one co-worker saying, Lourdes is “everything” to Victory House. She orders supplies, supervises staff, organizes appointments and coordinates physician visits. She helps residents with their rooms, their fi nances, meals and bathing. When Handydart was not running due to snow, Lourdes accompanied a resident to an appointment she had waited six months for, taking the bus with her to make sure that she made it there. Lourdes serves as an inspiration to those around her. Staff and residents alike say her passion is contagious; that it has meant better care for residents and a better functioning, harmonious team at Victory House.
Health Care Heroes
2013 Gold Apple Winner - Fraser Health top
Dr. Robert McCormack – Orthopedic Surgeon
Organization: Royal Columbian Hospital & Eagle Ridge Hospital
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What sets Dr. Robert McCormack apart is his commitment to improving the quality of life for all orthopaedic patients. A Director at Simon Fraser Orthopedic Fund, the research arm of Fraser Health’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery, and an Associate Professor for the University of British Columbia’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Robert’s research background has provided a solid foundation for Fraser Health’s orthopedic surgery research program. This work in research takes place outside of his day-to-day work running a very busy practice in arthroscopy and athletic injuries, and teaching at UBC. He is also the Medical Director of the Canadian Olympic Team and the orthopedic team physician for the BC Lion’s Football team, Simon Fraser University and Trinity Western University varsity players, and is the team doctor for the Vancouver Whitecaps Major League Soccer team. Bob was recently in Africa volunteering with his ophthalmologist wife’s eye clinic,
and there participated in an orthopedic clinic. While Bob is recognized internationally for his research contributions, his work is also advancing patient care here in BC.
Health Care Heroes
2013 Gold Apple Winner - Interior Health top
Tracey Third – Home Health Nurse
Organization: Barriere Health Centre
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For more than nine years, Tracey Third has worked as a Home Health Nurse in Barriere, a remote community in BC’s interior. Meeting the needs of a diverse clientele in a rural setting can be challenging. Travelling through all weather conditions, a rural Home Health Nurse looks after a range of patients from those recovering from surgery or chemotherapy to palliative care. She cares deeply and profoundly about her client’s welfare. It is her smile, her gentle approach and her thorough attention to detail that
clients and colleagues have grown to love. What sets Tracey apart is her willingness to go that extra mile to ensure that proper care is provided. One client, a fi ercely independent and feisty senior, refused home care service and ended up in hospital. Tracey persisted with patience and compassion, and was able to work with the client and her family to get her back home. One colleague remarked, “I only wish someday that I can become as good a nurse as she is… and I strive every day to keep that level of commitment in my work.”
Health Care Heroes
2013 Gold Apple Winner - Northern Health top
Dr. Bill Clifford – Chief Medical Information Officer
Organization: Northern Health
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Dr. Bill Clifford’s interest in using data to improve systems began when he was designing programs to simulate and map forests. Bill had a Master of Science in
Forestry but returned to school to become a family physician, launching his practice in BC in 1987 where he developed a vision for better health care. His goal was to design a more effi cient and user-friendly electronic medical records (EMR) system to provide valuable information and improve patient care. In 1995, his practice went paperless – a rare achievement at that time. In 2000, many of Northern Health’s physicians were still using a paper system. Bill devoted hours to raising awareness of the benefi ts of EMR, certain in his belief that electronic medical records would allow physicians to improve the service they provide to patients. Today, between 90 and 95 per cent of Northern Health physicians are using EMR, compared to the national average of about 50 per cent and Northern Health is one of the fi rst health authorities in Canada to electronically distribute clinical information beyond laboratory results. One physician notes, “Bill’s technology is easy to use and he makes me look good. Bill has given me the tools to provide extremely good care to my patients.”
Health Care Heroes
2013 Gold Apple Winner - Provincial Health Services Authority top
Cheryl Ward – Provincial Lead, Indigenous Cultural Competency Training Program
Organization: Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA)
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Cheryl Ward’s colleagues describe her as “a visionary and a trailblazer”. Cheryl is Provincial Lead for the Indigenous Cultural Competency online training program (ICC),
part of PHSA’s Aboriginal Health Program. The Indigenous Cultural Competency training – the fi rst of its kind in Canada – is designed to increase aboriginal-specifi c knowledge, enhance individual self-awareness and strengthen skills of those who work both directly and indirectly with Indigenous people. Participants learn about terminology; diversity; aspects of colonial history such as residential schools, time lines of historical events; and contexts for understanding social disparities and inequities. Through interactive activities, participants examine culture, stereotyping, and the consequences and legacies of colonization. The goal is to provide cultural safety for aboriginal people seeking health care – something that has been a barrier for many. More than 10,000 people have taken the program in just over three years. While the training has an Indigenous focus to address the unique health disparities, the knowledge, awareness and skills that health care providers gain is enhancing the way they engage with all patients.
Health Care Heroes
2013 Gold Apple Winner - Vancouver Island Health Authority top
Allison Cutler – Executive Director, Population & Community Health
Organization: Vancouver Island Health Authority
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With more than 35 years of experience as a nurse, educator, senior administrator and leader, Allison Cutler has led many efforts to transform the way community services
are delivered. Allison led and fostered support for Primary Care and Chronic Disease Management on Vancouver Island. She facilitated a ground-breaking memorandum of understanding between the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA), island school districts and the Ministry of Children & Family Development to support early childhood development. She established and co-chaired VIHA’s Aboriginal Health Council – working with the aboriginal community to improve access to culturally-appropriate health services and develop an Aboriginal Health Plan for the region. She led the development of youth clinics across the Central and North Vancouver Island. Over her many years in health care, fi rst in public health and later in administration, Allison has never lost focus on the health of each person in the context of public health. She is a respectful leader who inspires her colleagues with her positive outlook, ability to remain
calm under pressure and sense of humour.