Each January, Unity Health Toronto’s Mission Integration team marks Providence Mission Day, which recognizes the hospital’s mission and values. The day culminates in the presentation of the Our Shared Values Awards, which honour a select group of staff, physicians, teams, patient and family partners and volunteers who exemplify a commitment to our values of Community, Compassion, Excellence, Human Dignity and Inclusivity.

This year’s virtual awards ceremony was hosted by Dr. Tim Rutledge, President and CEO of Unity Health, Melissa Morey-Hollis, Vice President of Clinical Programs, Dr. Ashley Verduyn, Chief and Director of Medical Affairs and Christopher De Bono, Executive Director of Mission, Values and Spiritual Care. More than 130 people came together online for the presentation.

The event featured excerpts from the recipients’ nominations. Here are some of their stories.

Rony Toma

Physiotherapist and Orthopedic/Amputee Practice Consultant

Winner of the Excellence Award for an individual or team who strives to achieve the best care and quality through innovation and continuous improvement

Rony Toma

According to Rony’s nominees: In his role as a Physiotherapist in the Orthopedic and Amputee Clinic, Rony consistently and tirelessly seeks to improve processes and efficiencies while providing outstanding care to patients. 

He is a skilled educator who takes time to patiently help clients understand their condition/diagnosis and the rationale for the exercises he gives to them, and ensures the clients know how to complete the exercises well to achieve the most benefit from them. Rony helps patients understand our clinical pathways and what comes next in their recovery.

Aside from patient care, Rony goes above and beyond to make sure things are running smoothly in the clinic itself. He always goes the extra mile to do the tasks that might otherwise be forgotten.

Matthew D’Silva

Clinical Resource Coordinator for the Adult Day Program

Winner of the Compassion Award for an individual or team that enables health and healing by understanding each person’s needs and by providing care with kindness and sensitivity

Matthew D’Silva

According to Matthew’s nominees: Matthew is a humble and compassionate leader. Although his redeployment to the Houses of Providence during the pandemic was a radical change, he leveraged his past experience to provide comfort and support to isolated residents.

Matthew created physically-distanced outdoor activities so that residents and family members who had been separated by the pandemic could see each other. Considerate to the emotional pain of separation, Matthew’s ability to comfort and support these residents provided them joy through the opportunity to reunite with loved ones.

Matthew has also compassionately adapted his work in the Adult Day Program during the pandemic. He was a champion for supporting clients in whatever way was possible. As a facilitator of virtual programs, he innovated exceptional programs like his virtual program partnership with The City of Toronto. Recognizing the challenges of virtual communication – particularly for people with dementia – Matthew met the needs of isolated clients through meaningful recreation. Stepping outside of his comfort zone, Matthew also applied his new virtual techniques with a positive attitude, supporting staff to better engage with clients.

Sharon Bissember

Registered Nurse in the Houses of Providence

Winner of the Excellence Award for an individual or team who strives to achieve the best care and quality through innovation and continuous improvement

Sharon Bissember

According to Sharon’s nominees: Sharon embodies all of our values including our value of excellence. One example of her commitment to excellence includes her work as a Falls Lead Champion. As part of that work, Sharon put tape on the walls next to the residents’ headboards to ensure staff knew the optimal bed height to allow the resident to get in and out of bed safely. She also co-developed simple and practical strategies such as putting a picture up to show non-regular staff the placement of objects on a resident’s table so that they can always reach essential items. These are examples of how Sharon found “outside the box ideas” to help prevent falls.

When Sharon won money from the Joy at Work Fund, she organized Recognition Trees to put up on each unit to show staff that all of their hard work and dedication is appreciated. Sharon provided seasonal cutouts where staff, residents and families could write positive notes to leave on the trees. These trees have become an area where staff gather, sharing positive thoughts and energies to get through challenging days and express thanks to colleagues in hopes of making a difference to someone’s day.

By: Jessica Cabral