Patients as teachers
Coronavirus Information for Patients and Families:
Unity Health Toronto is actively monitoring the situation with the novel Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV) as it unfolds. At this time, the Public Health Agency of Canada states that the risk to Canadians is low. More details.
February 2020 – It’s been two years since Jennifer Schultz first stood in front of a group of medical students and shared her story — about going through a breast cancer diagnosis, months of treatment, surgery and recovery. Since then, she’s refined the story and told it to hundreds of other surgeons, helping them connect the patient they may be operating on with the human who’s being impacted in such an enormous way.
“The Patient as the Teacher program helps students see beyond the medical — it opens their eyes to the lives, not the diseases, lived during cancer,” Schultz said. “I tell the students every time that the day you diagnose someone with cancer, you’re dropping a bomb on them — you don’t know what’s going on in their lives, but now every aspect of that life is impacted. This program helps bring that into focus.”
Full story in our February 2020 Our Shared Purpose newsletter
NEWS
Mental health: how to break the stigma and take action
Jan. 29, 2020 – Mental health affects everyone in their own way and it can often be difficult to talk about.
For Bell Let’s Talk Day, we wanted to open up the conversation to see how everyone can help break the stigma and support those dealing with mental health issues or illnesses. Here is what some of our people had to say.
NEWS
Meet Irfan Dhalla: Unity Health Toronto’s first vice president of Physician Quality and director of the Care Experience Institute
Jan. 6, 2020 – We’re excited to introduce you to Dr. Irfan Dhalla, our new vice president, Physician Quality and director, Care Experience Institute. From 2013 to 2019, Dr. Dhalla was a vice president at Health Quality Ontario where he and his colleagues transformed the way the provincial agency supported Ontario’s health care system. In particular, HQO partnered with patients and tried to support improvements in care for all Ontarians. Irfan oversaw the work the organization did to support decisions about which health care services should be publicly funded and he also envisioned and led the development of Health Quality Ontario’s quality standards program which is now widely used across Ontario as a basis for evidence-based quality improvement. We caught up with him to ask him a few questions to help you get to know him a little bit better – here’s what he said.
NEWS
You’ve got the flu – now what?
Dec. 31, 2019 – You got your flu shot. You’ve been cleaning your hands often. And yet you’ve just woken up with a fever, terrible fatigue and aches that feel worse than any cold you’ve ever had. You’ll probably have to stay home from work or school, but now what?
We asked two of our experts – Drs. Mark Downing and Matthew Muller – for their tips on how to recover quickly.
Dec. 24, 2019: Holiday initiatives across Unity Health ground us in our mission and values
Dec. 18, 2019: Introducing our Care Experience Charter
Dec. 17, 2019: Michael Garron Hospital and Unity Health Toronto open Bariatric Centre of Excellence
Nov. 26, 2019: Seeing green: Unity Health Toronto launches a sustainability campaign
Nov. 25, 2019: Honouring the people behind the research: This year’s Research Month Awards winners
Nov. 22, 2019: Our Shared Values reception honours network’s award winners