The Chronic Disease Challenge The Chronic ... - Capital Health

NEWS AND NOTES
Women’s Health growing at Grey Nuns
The Grey Nuns Community
Hospital has opened two new
nursing units for moms and babies.
Completion of the new units has
freed up space for a major renovation
for Women’s Health. Work is
underway to expand labour and
delivery, postpartum and neonatal
nursery. Renovations planned for
the third floor include:
• Adding five Labour and Delivery
Rooms to the current seven,
• Adding a bereavement room
to the Labour and Delivery
Unit for patients and families
experiencing loss – this room
will also be used as an additional
labour room,
• Increasing the number of postpartum
beds from 40 to 55
across two newly renovated,
family-centred nursing units
Grey Nuns Women’s Health Patient Care Manager, Gail Cameron (right), with newborn
Ella and staff of the Women’s Health program at a preview of the newly renovated
Post Partum Unit.
offering single-room care and
sleeping benches for dads.
Each unit will also have four
new theme rooms supported
by the Caritas Hospitals
Foundation,
• Adding a new nursery that will
have 32 incubators, up from 21,
and will move from an intermediate
care nursery to a neonatal
intensive care unit.
Capital Health supports community-based
chronic pain programs
Work continues in developing
community-based education and
exercise programming to support
clients with chronic pain, and
telephone consultation services
for primary care physicians. By
increasing the level of community
supports available Capital Health
aims to improve early intervention
and secondary prevention opportunities
and reduce the number
of severe chronic pain cases.
“As an example of physician
education, a group of physicians
from East Central Health expressed
interest in expanding their chronic
pain assessment and treatment
abilities. Representatives from the
UAH Multidisciplinary Pain Centre,
LifeMark Health Institute and
Capital Health designed an interactive
education event,” says
Marguerite Rowe, Vice-President
and Chief Operating Officer for
Community Care, Rehabilitation
and Geriatrics.
Identification of the risk factors
for chronic pain development,
with available tools and strategies
for conducting comprehensive
chronic pain assessments, were
provided and a presentation of
current evidence for commonly
prescribed treatments. The East
Central clinicians also spent two
days at the University of Alberta
Hospital and LifeMark clinics to
gain practical, hands-on skills
for chronic pain management.
On April 11 and 12, 2008, Capital
Health and LifeMark Health
Institute co-hosted the Taking
the Pain out of Complex Pain
Management conference at the
Westin in Edmonton. The successful
event attracted over 120 attendees
from across the country.
The conference is part of a longterm
strategy to increase the availability
of current, evidence-based
pain education to providers.
20 CHQ ~ SUMMER 2008 www.capitalhealth.ca