Ending violence against women, CKHA awards, United Way event

Morning Coffee – By Aaron Hall

Weather forecast for Monday, November 27, 2017

Today – Clearing. High plus 5.

Tonight – A few clouds. Wind becoming southwest 20 km/h near midnight. Low plus 3.

National Day of Remembrance and Action to End Violence Against Women

In 1991 the Parliament of Canada declared December 6th as the National Day of Remembrance and Action to End Violence Against Women.

It was on December 6, 1989, a day known as the Montreal Massacre, that 14 women were systematically separated from the men and killed by one man at École Polytechnique de Montréal, for no other reason except they were women.

This year in Chatham-Kent, the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, Domestic Violence Community Coordinating Committee and Unifor Local 127 will commemorate the lives of those 14 women who were killed in Montreal at the W.I.S.H. Centre located at 177 King Street East in Chatham, on Wednesday December 6 at 6:30 p.m.

Admission is free.

In addition to a screening of the documentary film, NO PLACE TO HIDE: The Rehtaeh Parsons Story, those in attendance will hear from 24-year-old Jacob Wells.

Jacob, the guest speaker for the event, knew Rehtaeh Parsons and the young men who took pictures while they sexually assaulted her, then posted the photos online.

After two years of harassment and bullying that followed the sexual assaults, Rehtaeh ended her life.

The film reveals the far reaching effects of cyberbullying and the extent of rape culture and victim blaming.

Jacob will share his unique insight and message with youth and adults and there will be time for discussion.

Viewer Discretion Advised: This film contains graphic content and may be upsetting and triggering for some. The group is recommending that elementary school-age children not attend, and youth under the age of 16 attend with parents or guardians.

The first 30 students 16 or older, or accompanied by a parent or guardian, will receive a $10 gift card to McDonalds.

Free parking is available and refreshments will be provided.

Chatham-Kent Health Alliance announces 2017 Alliance Awards of Excellence

The 2017 Alliance Awards of Excellence recipients, from left to right: Leanne Crawford (Values Award), Terry Dejonge (Mission Award), Kimberly Smith (Team Award). Absent from photo: Dr. Anthony Dixon (Vision Award) ***(Submitted photo)***

The most prestigious honour that a healthcare professional can earn at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is an Alliance Award of Excellence. This annual Awards program, now in its 13th year, honours staff, physicians and volunteers who exemplify performance excellence within and beyond the healthcare environment.

Mission Award: Terry Dejonge, Clinical Resource Nurse, Emergency Department, Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Program – Terry, a Registered Nurse working in CKHA’s Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence (SA/DV) Program and as a Clinical Resource Nurse for the Emergency Department (ED) is highly dedicated to advancing compassionate quality care for patients and those seen within the SA/DV Program. Part of Terry’s role is to ensure stakeholders are informed of upcoming changes within the SA/DV Program and to seek guidance and advice from experts within a particular field when required. Pharmacy, Lab, Public Health and Professional Practice all play an important role within the ED and SA/DV Programs. Terry works cohesively with these and other groups to ensure the safe delivery of patient care. She consistently shows compassion day-to-day not only within the program, but with her co-workers and patients she cares for. Her knowledge and commitment to advancing high quality care makes her a role model and ‘go to’ within the department for practice changes and new initiatives. Terry is truly invested in her work, ensuring that patients have safe and timely access to high quality care.

Vision Award: Dr. Anthony Dixon, Chief and Program Medical Director of Emergency Medicine – Dr. Dixon, as Chief and Program Medical Director of Emergency Medicine, has demonstrated CKHA’s vision of being an exceptional community hospital, setting standards – exceeding expectations through his work in improving access to physicians within the ED. Dr. Dixon’s work in aligning physician shifts to better meet patient flow has been commendable and has proven to be a real improvement to access. So far by all indications, his efforts have been very successful at reducing Physician Initial Assessment (PIA) wait times for patients while not sacrificing on other quality indicators tracked for the ED. The proof of his work is demonstrated in CKHA’s PIA wait time ranking that brought the organization to being in the top third (24th out of 73 hospitals) in June, July and August. While being an innovator and challenging the process is a definite strength of Dr. Dixon, he has also been very respectful that others are experts in their field, and by better understanding the impacts on the ED, he helps others re-evaluate their work and shift to better meet patient needs.

Values Award: Leanne Crawford, Registered Practical Nurse, Emergency Department – Leanne is a Registered Practical Nurse within CKHA’s ED and has served as Chief Steward for the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) for the last 9 years. She is compassionate, respectful and considered a leader within her department and the organization. Leanne always demonstrates a positive attitude and approach in everything she does. She respects others and is respected throughout the department and organization as she has navigated her way through union leadership, her clinical nursing role and as a nursing instructor. She displays strong leadership and teamwork skills – not only through her role as Chief Steward but also through supporting internal departmental process changes to improve patient flow and the patient and staff experience. Leanne is consistently advocating for a positive culture and relationships within the nursing profession and interdisciplinary team members. Leanne is a very caring, compassionate and skilled nurse whose approach with patients, peers and leaders makes a difference.

Team Award: Complex Discharge Review Team (Andrea Ellis, Colleen Lewis, Darlene Robert, Corinne Shaw, Mark Carr, Antonia Rivard, Jackie Duceder-Vanheule, Kimberly Arens, Kimberly Smith, Shane Helgerman) – The Complex Discharge Review is a process to discharge patients safely home and maintain the ‘home first philosophy’. This process involves a dynamic team of formal leaders, social workers, Unit Clinical Leaders, Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network (ESC LHIN) and community partners. Enhancing the patient experience through collaborative team work in creating safe discharge plans is this team’s goal. Collectively, the Complex Discharge Review team comes up with several options for discharge and often creates out of the box solutions to meet patient needs. This team creates joint plans, individual plans and back up plans for patient sustainability in the community and provides constant reassurance to patients and their families during the discharge process. In addition to providing safe discharges, this team has had a positive impact on patient flow through efficiencies to inpatient beds, utilization, and Alternative Level of Care (ALCs). An unexpected outcome of this group’s work was improved relationships with community partners such as ESC LHIN, Alzheimer’s Society and March of Dimes.

Awards were presented by Lori Marshall, President & CEO, Dr. Pervez Faruqi, Chief of Staff, Jerome Quenneville, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Information Officer, Lisa Northcott, Vice President, Chief Nursing Executive & Chief Professional Practice and Debbie Ancocik, Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer. Recipients received a crystal keepsake award and an educational bursary.

“I’m proud to recognize the recipients and nominees of this year’s Alliance Awards of Excellence,” stated Marshall.

“This exceptional group is dedicated to the delivery of compassionate, high quality care and serve as role models to their peers and all of us within the CKHA family, including our patients.” She added, “And I would like to thank all of our staff and physicians who were recognized for their committed years of service to CKHA. Your talents and contributions truly make us an exceptional community hospital.”

This year’s recipients were selected from peer nominations by a panel which represented staff and past honourees.

Awards were presented during CKHA’s Annual Recognition Banquet last Friday night at Club Lentina’s in Chatham.

‘Paint The Town Red’ event on Tuesday

The Paint The Town Red event is taking place on ‘Giving Tuesday’ in support of the United Way of Chatham-Kent.

Participating restaurants will be donating 25% of their daily pre-tax food sales.

Participating restaurants in Wallaceburg include: James Street Eatery, The Black Goose Grill and The Clubhouse at Baldoon.

More details, here:

Energy savings to be reinvested in patient care

Ontario is investing in hospitals to improve energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gases and redirect savings into patient care across the province.

John Fraser, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, was joined by Chris Ballard, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, at the Hospital for Sick Children last week to announce the Hospital Energy Efficiency Program, which will help hospitals save energy and encourage the use of more renewable energy technologies.

The Hospital for Sick Children is receiving funding for 10 energy-efficiency projects.

This year, Ontario is funding 180 projects at 98 hospitals across the province, including 117 heating, ventiliation and air conditioning projects, 35 lighting projects and 28 projects that address other energy efficiency needs at hospitals.

As a result of these and other improvements, almost five megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent gases are expected to be eliminated from the environment by 2050, the equivalent to taking about 40,000 vehicles off our roads.

By 2020-21, it is estimated that over $60 million will be generated in annual energy-related savings.

“The Hospital Energy Efficiency Program is another example of the government’s commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our health care system,” stated Dr. Eric Hoskins, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, in a press release.

“These new investments will help ensure hospitals can focus on helping patients get timely access to appropriate, high-quality health care within a sustainable system.”

This program is an initiative of the Climate Change Action Plan and uses proceeds from Ontario’s carbon market to modernize facilities such as hospitals, universities, and heritage buildings.

“Ontario’s actions to help hospitals fight climate change and improve energy efficiency will reduce greenhouse gas pollution, increase patient comfort and redirect savings into patient care across the province,” Ballard stated.

“Our Climate Change Action Plan and carbon market are working together to help reduce greenhouse gas pollution and save energy costs while ensuring a cleaner, healthier and more prosperous low-carbon future for all Ontarians. ”

Provincial officials say improving patient care at hospitals across the province is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

More details:

– Ontario is investing $64 million this year in the Hospital Energy Efficiency Program.

– The Hospital for Sick Children is receiving $1.5 million for 10 energy-efficiency projects. As part of the 2017 Budget, Ontario is also spending an additional $9 billion for new hospital projects, bringing the total planned investment in hospital infrastructure to more than $20 billion over the next 10 years.

– Ontario is making the largest investment in hospitals, schools, public transit, roads and bridges in the province’s history – more than $190 billion in public infrastructure over 13 years, starting in 2014-15. To learn more about what’s happening in your community, go to Ontario.ca/BuildON.

– The Climate Change Action Plan and carbon market form the backbone of Ontario’s strategy to cut greenhouse gas pollution to 15 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, 37 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050. The government will report on the plan’s implementation annually and review the plan at least every five years.

– Ontario’s carbon market proceeds will be invested into projects that help families lower their energy costs and save money.

Partnerships with Chinese businesses creating 860 Ontario jobs

Provincial officials say last week at a ceremony in Beijing, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced almost $600 million in new agreements expected to create 583 jobs in Ontario.

Ontario and Chinese businesses and institutions signed 25 agreements, including:

– Ontario’s OTT Financial Group and Tencent Cloud are working together to build a Business Accelerator Centre in Toronto that will foster entrepreneurship, introduce applications of internet technologies, and provide start-up businesses with funding, technology and administrative support. They are also working together to develop Tencent Cloud markets in Canada. Together, the projects are valued at $15 million

– Queen Financial Group signed a cooperation agreement with China Taihe Group and Funding Investment Management, valued at $500 million, to co-sponsor the establishment of the Haichuang Fund, a high-tech talent innovation venture equity investment fund

– Western University signed an agreement with the China Automotive Battery Research Institute (CABRI), valued at $3.35 million, to establish a joint laboratory to develop next-generation all solid-state batteries for electric vehicles. They also announced that CABRI has registered a new Canadia n-based R&D company.

“China and Ontario have a long history of collaboration, especially in the science and technology sector,” Wynne said in a press release.

“Countless Ontario businesses have already forged strong relationships in China, and the agreements signed today signal that our relationship continues to grow. By connecting more of our businesses, scientists, engineers and experts around the globe, we can fuel innovation, create good jobs and ensure Ontario’s businesses remain competitive in a fast-paced global economy.”

Premier Wynne also participated in a discussion on women and entrepreneurship, facilitated by Diane Wang, CEO of DH Gate, a leading business-to-business e-commerce provider that offers a platform for small and medium enterprises.

The Premier spoke with Diane Wang and Em Roblin, founder and managing director of Circles2, about ways to increase women’s participation in entrepreneurship, improve women’s economic empowerment, and take further steps towards equality around the world.

The Premier also met with Wan Gang, China’s Minister of Science and Technology, to re-sign a Memorandum of Understanding that was originally signed in 2008, further strengthening Ontario and China’s joint commitment to research and innovation collaboration. Including today’s announcement, the agreement has generated over $30 million in joint funding for collaborative industry and academic research projects.

More details:

– More than $14 billion is spent on R&D in Ontario each year. Globally recognized technology companies like Apple, Google, IBM and Amazon all conduct R&D in Ontario.

– Ontario plans to boost the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by 25 per cent, and aims to graduate 1,000 applied masters students in artificial intelligence-related fields per year, both within five years.

– In 2016, two-way trade in science and technology between Ontario and China totalled nearly $18 billion, 42 per cent of the regions’ total two-way trade.