Working together to build a Healthy Community

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Working together to build a Healthy Community Message from Tom McHugh, President and CEO Every acute care hospital is striving to meet the expectations of its community – patients want state of the art care, close to home. Part of our success lies in comparing ourselves to hospitals big and small in the province and across the county. In our last edition we focused on our accreditation results. This time I’d like to pass along our patient satisfaction scores. Like all hospitals in Ontario, we send out questionnaires to a random sampling of our patients, asking them to rate their experience. In recently published scores our overall satisfaction for emergency patients was 89.9 (Ontario average 84.6) and for inpatients it was 96.2 (Ontario average 93.2 ). In this issue we highlight voice recognition. Every x-ray, ultrasound and CT we take at TDMH is analysed by a radiologist, a medical doctor specializing in reading these images. Just seven years ago we were storing all of our images on film and waited for a part-time radiologist to come to the hospital to report on these images. Now our images are captured in a computer and immediately added to the worklist of a radiologist, no matter where they are in the region. When that radiologist dictates his/her report, it will routinely go straight into the electronic patient record, ready to be used by your local hospital. Of course radiologists like Dr. Romano will still come to the hospital to work with our team and do specialized procedures for our patients. But in between visits our images are being analysed more quickly than we could ever imagine. The same turnaround time, the same high-quality care right here at home. Finally, I want to thank the community, on behalf of all of us here at the hospital, for the generosity you showed in our first “Angels of Giving” campaign. Through your giving, we are able to keep our hospital state of the art and exceed the expectations of our community. Tom McHugh President and CEO TDMH Board of Directors Erwin Hawel, Board Chair Duaine Nelson, 1st Vice Chair Larry Phillips, 2nd Vice Chair Richard Barth, Treasurer Tom McHugh, Secretary Brad Bennett, Past Chair Peg Andrews Elaine Balpataky Scot Bolton Reg Butcher Josie Edwards Paul Ens Jane Esseltine Mel Getty Julie Gilvesy Jean Girvin Tom Graham Dr. Howard Lamb Daniel Rasokas Chris Rosehart Dr. Barry Roth Dr. Gerry Rowland Published quarterly by the Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital and Tillsonburg Hospital Foundation. 167 Rolph Street, Tillsonburg Ontario N4G 3Y9 519-842-3611 ext. 303 TDMH Foundation: 519-842-3611, ext. 311 www.tillsonburghospital.on.ca Visit our new website at www.tillsonburghospital.on.ca and click on “Foundation.” Donating is now made easy using our secure “on-line” process. Pictured on our front cover: (left to right) Janis Barnard, Registered Nurse: Mark Holmes, Physiotherapist; and Gerdien Goud, Registered Practical Nurse Page 2 - TDMH
CT scanner provides better view CT scanners are not a onesize-fits-all panacea. But in selected situations they provide an invaluable three-D look into virtually any anatomical area of the human body. “It’s a great tool,” said Dr. Walter Romano. “Not for everything – but certainly in selected cases it is ‘the’ tool. “And now that Tillsonburg has it, in those cases, it’s a huge win for us to assist in the diagnosis and then course of treatment for our patients here at TDMH.” The analogy Romano likes to use is that of a loaf of bread. X-ray technology provides a ‘two-D’ look at the entire loaf. A CT scanner on the other hand, allows medical staff to extract any one of multiple ‘slices’ and view it in exquisite 3-D detail from all 360 degrees. In most cases, says Romano, this capability provides a quicker, more accurate diagnosis and as a result, access to directed and expedited treatment. “It’s made care, particularly in our emergency department, much more streamlined,” said Romano. Tillsonburg’s CT scanner did not come with additional operational funding and as a result, its usage is essentially for urgent (for example, stroke confirmation or surgical use) and emergent (accident Tanya Byers, Medical Radiation Technologist prepares patient for a CT scan. trauma) applications. “It has changed the way we deliver care in certain areas of the hospital,” said Romano of what he describes as ‘another important tool’ for surgeons, interns and emergency doctors. The CT scanner’s presence also provides additional benefits. In the first place, real-time connectivity exists with all eleven medical facilities in the Thames Valley region through Picture Archiving Communication technology. Basically speaking, all data collected by one CT scanner is available throughout the region guided by confidential and privacy regulations for fulltime reading and interpretation. This feature provides an opportunity for instantaneous access to experts in other hospitals for feedback, direction or preparation in the case of a patient transfer, once again, upgrading the timeliness and level of care. Secondly, CT scanners have become a standard of care, and the fact Tillsonburg has one is viewed as an asset for both staff recruitment and retention. “We are able to help the patients that need urgent and emergent care and we are hopeful, if we can secure more funding, we will be able to offer routine CTs that are necessary for all our patients to access close to home, that currently do not meet the criteria of urgent or emergent scans,” explained Lorelei Thompson, Service Coordinator, Diagnostic Imaging. In the meantime this CT technology helps us offer the required CT’s for the patients most at need here at TDMH in a timely manner, and the results directly enhance the circle of care for our patients. Life can change in a moment Tom Hanson’s life changed in one cataclysmic fraction of a second. His recovery has been long and is ongoing. But the CT scanner at TDMH provided a crucial first step. “That’s exactly right,” said his wife Ann, noting that the CT scan precisely identified critical trauma whose nature may have resulted in delayed diagnosis. “And I may have died,” said Tom. Tom remembers little of being struck while standing on the sidewalk in Otterville last May in a chain-reaction vehicular collision. Banged, bruised and scraped but without broken bones, Hanson was rushed to TDMH’s Emergency Department where a timely CT scan revealed a bleed on the brain, by far the most serious and pressing issue. Dr. Howie Lamb informed Ann of the diagnosis and Tom’s impending transfer to London’s trauma unit. “And the ambulance was there immediately,” she recalled. The Hansons’ experience illustrates a CT scanner’s ability to provide Page 4 - TDMH a rapid three-D look into virtually any anatomical area of the human body. Ann and Tom Hanson are thankful to Dr. Lamb and the nursing staff for the wonderful care. And while Tom can’t say enough about the quality and level of human care he has received throughout, the couple is also aware of the role that the state-of-the-art CT Scanner played, and what its lack might have meant. “It could have been disastrous,” said Ann. “It really could have.” TDMH ~ Page 3
Page 4 and 5: Growth and development through cont
Page 6 and 7: Message from Neil Tull, Foundation
Page 8: Thank You... Thank You... Thank You

Working together to build a Healthy Community

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