Joseph Brant Hospital Annual Report 2021-2022

Deborah Brown

Deborah joined the Board in June 2021 and hit the ground running after accepting the offer to be Vice Chair of the Governance & Nominating Committee embracing the demands of that role. Click to read more.

Ted McMeekin 

   Lisa Kearns

Over the past year, JBH continued to embrace new tools to provide timely access to care during a critical time in the pandemic, when public health restrictions and infection prevention and control protocols created challenges that required innovative solutions.

JBH teams held 38,910 virtual outpatient clinic medical appointments for patients attending appointments that do not require an admission to the Hospital. We focused our efforts on continuously improving the process to create the optimal patient experience, such as the introduction of Convey, a self-registration and virtual appointment app. We are continuing to expand virtual medical appointment offerings in additional outpatient clinics. In the future, patients will have access to virtual medical appointments as well as in-person appointments, depending on what is most appropriate for their care.

For individuals staying in the hospital, we know how important connections with loved ones are in the journey to recovery. This year we began offering virtual visits for inpatients and their loved ones and we are now exploring the potential to continue this service on a permanent basis. 

 "Patients often light up when they see us bringing in a tablet - several people have told us that it brightens their mood and motivates them to get better and get home to their loved ones.” 

We know these visits make a difference – read more in the story shared from our Recreation Therapists. 

In December 2021, Nina’s Place, Halton Region’s Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Centre, marked 20 years of providing survivor-centred care and services for adults, youth, and children in Halton Region. Located inside the hospital, Nina’s Place has a team of specialized nurses, physicians, and social workers who provide care and support in a safe, private, and quiet environment. 

“The most rewarding part of my job is to ensure survivors are treated with dignity and respect, holding space to create a supportive, caring, non-judgemental and compassionate approach to healing.” 

Read more about the unique services provided at Nina’s Place and how it supports the community in this story shared by Linda, Charge Nurse at Nina’s Place.

In March 2021, JBH opened its doors as a site for the Halton Region COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic. JBH staff, physicians and volunteers contributed in making the clinic a success, administering over 58,000 vaccines between April and August 2021. In December 2021, the clinic reopened to support Halton Region’s efforts to administer COVID-19 vaccines, including third doses, to our staff, physicians, learners, volunteers and Halton residents.

We received overwhelming support for our clinic, our teams and our hospital from the community. We are grateful for the kind and encouraging words, emails, social media posts, lawn signs and letters. 

Our teams were honoured to have the opportunity to participate in this important moment in the fight against COVID-19. 

 “As a part of the vaccine clinic, just being able to help with the distribution of the vaccine and feel as though I am making a difference is the most impactful part of the role. To be able to say that I helped with the beginning of the end of COVID-19 is big.”

Read more in the story shared from two of our COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Volunteers.

Through our participation as a partner of the Burlington Ontario Health Team (OHT), JBH collaborates with health and social service providers who plan and work together as one coordinated team. The purpose of the Burlington OHT is to provide integrated services and supports to meet the health needs of Burlington and surrounding communities. 

This year, JBH was involved in developing and launching the OHT-led Navigator app – a first among all OHTs in the province. The mobile app provides 24/7 navigation to healthcare and social service providers in Halton. The Burlington OHT Community Wellness Council, patients and community partners were involved at every stage of design, testing and development, alongside the Burlington OHT partners.

We see the positive impact of this app for our community and the collaborative efforts of Burlington OHT. 

 “If you need healthcare or social services and don’t know where to begin, the app or website brings all of our community’s providers into one secure place, searchable by health concern or specific population,” said Chloe Gallagher, Burlington OHT patient partner and Community Wellness Council Vice-Chair.”     

Read more about the app in the release shared to recognize its launch. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the challenges JBH has faced in recent years to address our community’s growing need for mental health and addictions care. This year, JBH launched an awareness campaign to support an expansion and redevelopment of our Mental Health and Addictions Program, which will help us meet this urgent need and keep care close to home. An updated pre-capital request was submitted to the Ministry of Health in October 2021, with the goal to obtain government approval and funding for this project.

We are grateful for the support of the JBH Patient and Family Advisory Council, the Halton Leadership Group, local governments in Halton Region, local school boards, Ontario Health (West and Central Regions), Halton Children’s Aid Society and Halton Regional Police Service, and other community groups.

This year, our care teams worked closely with patients and families to ensure those who no longer required the services of an acute care hospital were able to transition home safely sooner. We worked in collaboration with various community partners to ensure viable supportive discharge plans were in place to help support patients in the community after discharge. 

Since 2019-2020, there has been a 50% increase in patients accessing the Ontario Breast Screening Program at JBH. We are very proud of our Complete Breast Care program. Our team of dedicated, compassionate staff – including booking clerks, volunteers, technologists, nurse navigator, radiologists, and surgeons – worked tirelessly to provide timely access to care in the face of provincially mandated ramp downs of non-urgent surgeries and procedures during the pandemic.

Patients continue to say that they feel supported and guided by the entire Complete Breast Care team.

Throughout the pandemic, our physicians have worked collaboratively with their colleagues in nursing, allied health and leadership to provide the best care and experience for their patients and families. The Medical Staff Association Awards were introduced to showcase their incredible contributions to patient care and our hospital during one of the most challenging periods in JBH’s history.  

 “Dr. Rawlinson is a role model in patient-focused care; he champions the values and mission of JBH; provides mentoring and education; and he gives his time to humanitarian or community causes not necessarily limited to health care.”  

Read more in this story about the calibre and skill of the seven medical staff award winners.

JBH continued to forge stronger ties with its healthcare partners this year, working together to support fluctuations in care needs at each hospital and increased numbers of COVID-19 cases across the region. This work has been is vital to ensure that no single hospital and its patients lack available patient care beds due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. 

Hospitals in the Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand, Brant and Burlington (HNHBB) region, including JBH, developed the COVID-19 Regional Model of Care, with the goal of managing escalating demand for COVID-19 care while minimizing any potential disruption of scheduled, regional, and community care.

During Wave 5, as more hospitals in Ontario required support in providing critical patient care, JBH played an essential role, working alongside 22 healthcare organizations to coordinate the transfer of critical care patients, to prevent any one hospital from being overwhelmed. This level of partnership is something that has never been done before. 

We are very proud to have been a part of this collaboration, as together our organizations built the foundation for future partnerships that will enhance the care provided in the region.

Last spring’s third wave of the pandemic required the biggest healthcare system response in Ontario’s history. With mounting pressure on Emergency Departments and Intensive Care Units due to the impact of the Delta variant, hospitals were facing a province-wide health care staffing shortage that was having a significant impact on the workloads of their clinical staff. 

These new challenges required many hospitals, including Joseph Brant, to rethink how best to deliver compassionate, skilled care to patients. In response, JBH implemented a team model where groups of healthcare professionals worked together, using their diverse skills, education and qualifications to provide and share responsibility for the care of a group of patients. Despite changing restrictions that impacted loved ones entering the hospital, our teams kept focused on including patient families as part of the circle of care. 

Non-clinical staff also helped in responding to the needs of our community, taking on routine tasks to allow care teams to stay closer to the bedside and utilize their expertise and skill sets to care for our patients. 

During this period, Burlington saw the highest number of daily COVID-19 case counts since Wave 1. But through their perseverance, commitment and flexibility, all our care teams were able to maintain and deliver compassionate and skilled care to our patients - we are incredibly proud of their tremendous work and contributions.  

“Speaking to my experience, I found that I had to become extremely malleable to the needs of the ICU as well as the entire organization. I was entering an environment that was completely foreign to me, during a particularly pressing time—new colleagues, new equipment, new care protocols, all under the umbrella of a pandemic.”

Read about Sandip incredible story in being redeployed to the ICU just months after starting her nursing career at JBH, here.  

This spring, JBH’s Emergency Department was ranked sixth in Ontario’s Pay for Results performance ranking system. It is an incredible achievement for our staff and physician teams, who have been collaborating to improve patient flow across the hospital.  As we continue to see more visits to the Emergency Department, community members have shared feedback on an improved experience when receiving urgent care. 

We made significant gains in our focus on research and education this year. Through JBH’s membership in Clinical Trials Ontario, the hospital participated in provincial-level research projects. JBH also joined Ontario Biosciences Innovation Organization, providing access to new research project opportunities and the early adoption of healthcare technologies.

We continue to expand our contributions to research publications, based on research done in the hospital. We are incredibly proud of our staff and physicians whose work was published this year.

JBH continues to host the Family Medicine Residency Program affiliated with McMaster University and looking to expand educational partnerships in undergraduate and post-graduate medical education. Residents from across the province have done rotations and electives at JBH in Emergency Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Anesthesia, Inpatient Psychiatry and Critical Care. This year, JBH welcomed over 138 Medical Students, 81 Residents, 17 Family Medicine Residents and 4 Physician Assistant students. 

In July 2021, JBH’s Pharmacy received accreditation from the Ontario College of Pharmacists for the fourth year in a row. In September 2021, the Department of Laboratory Medicine received accreditation from the Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare. All department staff are involved in the preparation process for accreditation, demonstrating their commitment to continuous improvement. They ensure our quality systems meet hundreds of accreditation requirements. Congratulations to both the Pharmacy and Laboratory Medicine teams for their hard work in achieving full accreditation. 

Throughout the pandemic, our staff, physicians, volunteers and learners continue to live our organizational values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Excellence and Service, known as our CARE+ Commitment, through their actions and behaviours.

Each day, they help our patients and their loved ones understand what they can expect when they walk through our doors and strive to provide the best experience possible.

Read more about our team’s dedication and living of our CARE+ Commitment through these two stories shared from Peter, Cathy, Gail and Jean, four long-serving volunteers, and from Anastasia, a Clerk IV and Team Lead in Registration and Admitting.   

 “Collectively, we have volunteered for over 55 years!”

Read more in this story about our volunteers, Peter, Cathy, Gail and Jean here.  

“I enjoy the opportunity to provide patients and their families a positive experience during what may be an otherwise stressful or traumatic time for them.”

Read more about how Anastasia lives the CARE+ commitment as she registers patients coming to the hospital, in this the story.

The third wave was one of the most challenging times JBH faced during the pandemic, with our community needing our care more than ever and our health human resources strained due to the impacts of the Omicron variant. In response, both clinical and non-clinical staff were redeployed to departments and units in greatest need of assistance, with the training and expert guidance they needed to support those teams.

It was an inspiring example of how our people come together and do whatever it takes to ensure our patients receive the care they need. 

Read more about this experience from Ann Marie, Manager of Human Resources as well as Sandip, a nurse who was redeployed to the Intensive Care Unit months after beginning her career at JBH.

“Our genuine willingness to collaborate and partner, both internally and beyond our hospital, is distinct. The sense of family we feel towards each other, our patients and our community is unmatched.”

Read more about how Ann Marie contributed to redeploying and hiring staff during the pandemic, here. 

In February 2022, JBH welcomed back volunteers as part of daily hospital operations – an important service that was paused during the pandemic - keeping the health and safety of our volunteers as our top priority. Our patients, families, staff and physicians had all missed seeing our volunteers every day and were thrilled to see their faces as volunteers began coming back to key roles in the hospital. 

This year, our volunteers generously contributed 20,945 hours of their time in over 20 areas in the hospital. Though volunteer roles aren't back to their full scope (generally no evenings or weekends), our teams are very grateful for the dedication of our volunteers in supporting a positive patient experience. The incredible contributions of our volunteers and the impact that they make with their presence and support, are so valuable - their efforts cannot be thanked enough. 

We are recruiting new volunteers to fill available roles. 

Read the stories from Max, winner of the Auxiliary Scholarship Award for 2022 and Simone, co-Lead of the Eating Matters program, as they reflect on their contributions and impact as volunteers at JBH. 

 “I have made many fond memories and gained useful experiences thanks to JBH’s volunteer program."

Read about Max's contributions to bringing joy to a patient's experience during his past four years of volunteering, here. 

“The moment I arrive for my shift, I feel a connection amongst other volunteers, staff and patients throughout the hospital.”

Read how Simone helps to support patients during meal time, in the story here.