(May 7, 2020) – We know that living and working through COVID-19 is tough, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the wonderful things that are happening at our sites – and for our people – along the way.

Each week, we’re sharing a list of 10 great things that happened over the previous week. Have a story you’d like to share? Send it to communications@unityhealth.to.

1) COVID-19 outbreak in the Cardinal Ambrozic Houses of Providence was declared over

Effective May 6, 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak in the Cardinal Ambrozic Houses of Providence was officially declared over. Thank you to the entire Houses team – residents, staff and physicians – who worked hard to keep residents safe, engaged and motivated throughout the 30-day outbreak. Some outbreak precautions remain in place to ensure we continue to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

2) Two more floors opened in the Peter Gilgan Patient Care Tower for COVID-19 acute care

This week, the 6th and 8th floors of the Peter Gilgan Patient Care Tower (PGT) opened, with 16 beds each, for acute care of COVID-19 positive patients and persons under investigation (PUIs). The 6th and 8th floors are now the second set of floors to open in the PGT, following the opening of the 4th and 7th floors on April 15. The opening of these select floors in the PGT is supporting the critical and acute care of COVID-19 positive patients and PUIs at St. Michael’s Hospital.

3) St. Joseph’s NICU team provides additional support to parents and their newborns during the COVID-19 pandemic 

Alternating parental visits, nurse cuddles and virtual visits through iPads – Alie Drabble, patient care manager of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, explains how her team is supporting families whose babies are in the NICU during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more about this initiative.

4) Alaina Cox of St. Michael’s was named as CBC Toronto’s ‘Front-line Hero’

Alaina Cox, a nurse in the Emergency Department at St. Michael’s Hospital, was named CBC Toronto’s ‘Front-line Hero.’ Read about her here.

5) First Kidney Transplants performed this week at St. Michael’s Hospital

The Kidney Transplant Program at St. Michael’s Hospital performed its first transplant since the start of COVID-19 eight weeks ago. This is a positive step towards being able to carefully address urgently needed care that had to be deferred because of the pandemic.

6) MeditationWorks’ Mindstream bus pulls up to Providence for Mental Health Week

Mindstream – a mobile meditation studio that takes participants through guided meditations and provides an opportunity to de-stress – was at Providence Healthcare on May 6 to provide a meditation break for staff and physicians. The meditation session, donated by MeditationWorks, allowed staff to come together in a physically distant meditation, and staff inside the hospital or Houses of Providence had the opportunity to participate in the meditations through a FM channel. Thanks to Providence Healthcare Foundation and MeditationWorks for this Mental Health Week initiative! Watch a video of this event.

7) Living Gratitude Walls installed across the network to show gratitude to our staff & physicians

Last week, in honour of Patient Experience Week, Living Gratitude Walls were installed across our three sites. These walls will be updated continuously to show the outpouring of gratitude for all of Unity Health Toronto’s staff and physicians from our patients, residents, families and communities for all that they are doing to help our patients and residents heal every single day. The walls were launched through collaboration from the Patient Experience, COVID-19 People Support and Mission Integration teams, and can be found in the alcove near the cafeteria at St. Joseph’s, outside the Marketeria at St. Michael’s and next to the Tim Hortons at Providence. See the photos here.

8) How St. Michael’s Family Health Team physicians are supporting neighbourhood partners during COVID-19

When New Visions Toronto, a non-profit that provides housing and supportive care for people with developmental and physical disabilities, needed help to implement broad COVID-19 testing at their sites, physicians at Unity Health Toronto stepped forward to volunteer.

9) St. Joseph’s staff greeted with donated snacks as part of COVID-19 People Support Plan

On May 7, St. Joseph’s Health Centre staff were greeted with donated and individually wrapped treats at the Centre’s entrances as part of the current COVID-19 People Support Plan. This distribution of thank you treats, which is also happening at Providence and St. Michael’s in the coming weeks, was organized to thank our hardworking staff during this stressful time. View photos of this initiative.

10) Larissa Matukas shares her experience during this pandemic

Larissa Matukas, head of microbiology and biosafety at St. Michael’s and Unity Health, discusses her experience during COVID-19. On reflecting about her experience now compared to the SARS pandemic, she says: “One sentence was all that it took to lift the burden: ‘All outbreaks burn themselves out.’ This one will, too. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. It may be a long and dark tunnel, but we’ll get to the other side. We did then and we will again.” Read the full article.