The BC Patient Safety and Quality Council awarded the North Shore’s Kiwanis Care Centre and HealthConnection Clinic with two 2015 Quality Awards in the End of Life Care and Living with Illness categories and VGH’s ICOUGH team with an award in the Storyboard category for their quality improvement work.  These awards celebrate extraordinary work in health care.

Hats off to these talented teams!

The Kiwanis Care Centre

Staff at the Kiwanis Care Centre were recognized for the Daisy Project that makes end of life care part of the conversation with residents, families and staff. “Too many residents died in the emergency department or in an acute bed, far away from the staff and residents who knew them. We all believe in resident centred care and this must include their end of life wishes.” said Jane Webley Manager Kiwanis Care Centre.

Through the Daisy project staff began to engage in open dialogue about death and dying with residents, are trained in palliative care and provide supportive resources in the days before and after the loss of a resident.

Left to right: ( front) Homa Fetemi RN, Pam Claro, RN, Hana Minarikova RCC (rear) Francoise Laity, RCC, Luanne LeClair, SW, Person standing in for Ewa Pawlak, RCC (Missing from this photo), Jane Webley, Manager

“How we die matters as much as how we live. The Daisy Project was made possible through the dedication of  the Kiwanis staff who embraced the framework and changed their practices.  To have other people see your work as valuable is an amazing reward for the time and energy spent,” said Jane Webley Manager Kiwanis Care Centre.

The HealthConnection Clinic

Staff at the HealthConnection Clinic were recognized  in the Living with Illness Category for their primary care services. They serve  more than 300 residents on the North Shore who don’t have a GP and struggle with multiple health and social issues including mental health, chronic disease and a lack of housing.

The variety of health care professionals from GPs, nurse practitioners to social workers at the clinic are actively involved in the ongoing care of clients to help them manage complex conditions and access social supports such as housing.

The HealthConnection Clinic team. Left to right: Dr. Dean Brown, Lexy McKinnon, Margaret English, Sandy Bennett and Dr. Michelle Brousson.

“Being recognized for these efforts is very gratifying confirmation that we are moving in the right direction. The team of VCH staff and the Division of Family Practice doctors and community partners  involved with the clinic are very committed to supporting such a vulnerable and marginalized population and to constant quality improvements in the services delivered,” said Sandra Edelman Manager HealthConnection Clinic.

The ICOUGH team

For the second year in a row, the T8 &9 inpatient surgical units at Vancouver General Hospital were recognized in the Storyboard category for their quality improvement work. This year, the award highlighted the Challenges of Sustaining a Post-Operative Pneumonia Prevention Initiative. The multidisciplinary ICOUGH team adapted their strategy and reduced the pneumonia rate on T8&9 by an amazing 33.3 per cent by December 2013.

“I wanted to share with the province our amazing results, and how we addressed challenges and identified strategies to sustain the momentum of our program,” says Tracey Hong, the clinical quality and patient safety coordinator for the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) who leads the VGH T8&9 ICOUGH program,  “The commitment of the nursing leadership team, frontline staff, the peri-operative teams and the Community Engagement Action Network members to provide quality patient care has been inspiring and vital to the success of the program”

The ICOUGH team. Left to right: Sheila Kelley, Annette Postman, Laurie MacCaulder, Christina Eng, Rita Mah, Kylie Perrins and Beata Zakrzewska.

How they’re making a difference

Since the Daisy Project launched in January 2014, 100% of Kiwanis residents who passed away were registered with the North Shore Palliative and Supportive Care Program compared to only 15% before the project. None of these residents were inappropriately transferred to acute care in their last months. Kiwanis staff is now sharing what they’ve learned with other residential care facilities across BC.

Since the HealthConnection clinic opened in July 2013, clients who visited the drop-in clinic saw  a 22% decrease in hospital admissions and length of stay and a reduction in alternate level of care days from 11% to 0%. The next step is to expand the clinic’s hours to full time and to implement home visits for frail, socially-isolated seniors.

By December 2013, the T8 &9 inpatient surgical units reduced the pneumonia rate on T8&9 by 33.3 per cent.

More about the winning teams

Visit the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council website.

Listen to the interviews we did of the staff and clients at the HealthConnection Clinic on VCH News Radio: True North Now  Read the VCH News story The Big Picture of Health.