THUNDER BAY – For the past nine years, patient centred family care has been the benchmark for a new way of health-care thinking, not only in Ontario, but around North America.
It got its start at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre in 2009.
Since then the program has been used as a model for hospitals, a success story that has improved the way patients experience the health-care system.
Keith Taylor, a patient advocate, says it’s had a tremendous impact locally, embracing the patient and making them a partner in their health care and health-care team.
The results are there for all to see.
“We do measure things, like length of stays, readmission rates. Having patient family advisors involved in the hospital business, we’ve managed to improve, actual statistics, when you’re coming down to the money end of it,” Taylor said.
“So not only is it really the right thing to do, morally to involve patients and their families into the health-care system, it really improves the efficiency of this hospital.”
On Thursday, staff from departments throughout the 15-year-old hospital set up displays, showcasing how the sharing and caring philosophy has worked for nearly a decade.
Bonnie Nicholas, the patient and family care lead at Thunder Bay Regional, echoed Taylor’s thoughts, saying the program started for the right reasons and has blossomed ever since.
“It wasn’t just the senior leaders that were committed to it, it was the people that were working right at the bedside that were committed to it. It was our volunteers that were committed to it,” Nicholas said.
The public is welcome to take part in Thursday’s Sharing and Caring event.
“Anybody can come to this event and it will really give them an insight as to what is happening within our organization,” Nicholas said, adding staff often see better ways of doing things through the displays, which improves care in other departments.
