VIDEO: iCARE & ITH team wows crowd at national conference
Front row (l to r): Shelina Meghji, manager, care management, VCH; Goldie Luong, director, special projects, VCH; Tim Brown, general manager, 3M Canada; Susan Seeman, director, strategic initiatives, VCH; Jennifer Petersen, clinical nurse educator, VCH; Flora Dong, patient flow advisor, VCH. Second row: Alice Kennedy, FCCHL, board chair, CCHL; Ray Racette, CHE, president and CEO, CCHL; Janice Lochbaum, director, home health, VCH; Lynda Lougheed, social work practice leader, VCH; Peter McCaw, corporate program executive, 3M Canada; Dawn Beaubien, business manager, long term care and home care, 3M Canada; Larry McBride, corporate programs executive, 3M Canada; Victor Brittain, physiotherapy practice coordinator, VCH; Scott Davis, key accounts manager, 3M Canada.
“It’s the closest we’ll ever feel like rock stars,” says Jennifer Petersen.
The VGH clinical nurse educator is referring to the attention and accolades she and her iCARE & ITH teammates received at the 2013 National Health Leadership Conference held in Niagara Falls June 10 and 11. At a 600-person luncheon, health care leaders from across Canada applauded Jennifer and her teammates for winning the 2013 3M Health Care Quality Team Award for acute care.
3M Health Care Quality Team Award: Our iCARE & ITH Working Group outshone 13 competitors from across Canada to win this highly regarded award recognizing innovation, quality and teamwork.
“It’s the largest and one of the more prestigious awards within the national awards program of the Canadian College of Health Leaders,” says Goldie Luong, who encouraged the iCARE & ITH Working Group to throw their hat in the ring. “The competition is fierce,” says the director of special projects, “but I felt the quality and scale of the team’s work to build and implement iCARE & ITH across Vancouver’s medicine units spoke volumes.”
Like the model of care they built, the iCARE & ITH Working Group crosses the continuum of care.
“The team came to the table with different professional perspectives,” says Susan Seeman, director, strategic initiatives, “but everyone shared a passion to improve patient care, and everyone saw an opportunity to ensure our care doesn’t end at the hospital door.”
Lynda Lougheed, social work practice leader, agrees. “We were united for a common purpose, and we all had a strong sense of ownership and accountability,” she explains.
Combining two care models — iCARE & ITH (Ideal Transition Home) — into one seamless patient-centred model of care is making a world of difference by:
- enhancing the patient’s journey across the continuum of care, including community and primary care
- freeing more than 40 acute care beds — per day
- strengthening interprofessional teamwork
iCARE & ITH was made possible in part by the generosity of VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation donors Anthony and Nancy Yurkovich. On behalf of our patients and staff, I’d like to thank our donors for their support and congratulate the iCARE & ITH Working Group on their outstanding achievements.
Lights, camera, action!
As sponsor of the award, 3M funded production of a video to share our iCARE & ITH story at the National Health Leadership Conference. The video features iCARE & ITH team members, including narration by Victor Brittain, physiotherapy practice coordinator, as well as Dr. David Ostrow, VCH president and CEO, and Mary Ackenhusen, interim CFO and vice-president of Systems Development and Performance. But, perhaps our favourite star is 92-year-old Rose Lachance, a former VGH patient. We dedicate this video to Rose and all the patients who inspire us every day. Click below to watch.
Watch VCH News for more on iCARE & ITH, as we begin to roll out this award-winning initiative to VGH surgical units in June.