2011 Award Recipients

TOP INNOVATION – AFFILIATE
Gold Apple Winner
Award of Merit Recipients


PROVINCIAL HEALTH CARE HERO 

HEALTH CARE HERO  – AFFILIATE

HEALTH CARE HERO  – FRASER HEALTH

HEALTH CARE HERO – INTERIOR HEALTH

HEALTH CARE HERO – NORTHERN HEALTH

HEALTH CARE HERO – PHSA

HEALTH CARE HERO – VANCOUVER COASTAL HEALTH

HEALTH CARE HERO – VIHA

2011 Awards Luncheon Program

TOP INNOVATION – HEALTH AUTHORITY
Gold Apple Winner
Award of Merit Recipients


WORKPLACE HEALTH INNOVATION
Gold Apple Winner
Award of Merit Recipients


COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS
Gold Apple Winner
Award of Merit Recipients




Top Innovation - Affiliate
2011 Gold Apple Winner


Organization:
Providence Health Care
Project: Partners in Care, Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise (RACE)
Project Leader: Margot Wilson – Director, Chronic Disease Management Strategy
Location: Vancouver
Team Members: Clay Barber, Liz Flores, Carol Gillam, Dr. Gordon Hoag, Scott Lear, Dr. Bob Levy, Dr. Garey Mazowita, Helen Roberts, Camille Rozon,
David Thompson, Valerie Tregillus

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The number of patients with complex chronic conditions is increasing in BC and these patients often navigate multiple care interfaces and may experience fragmented care and poor outcomes. Patients can often wait months to see a specialist; however minor advice may be all that is needed. Specialists and family practitioners at Providence Health Care saw the increasing challenge of chronic disease management as an opportunity for creative, collaborative and innovative solutions. A partnership was formed between Providence Health Care and the Shared Care Committee, a joint committee of the BC Ministry of Health and the BC Medical Association, in collaboration with Vancouver Coastal Health to identify gaps in the care process for patients with chronic diseases and to develop and test prototypes for improvement which are transferable and scalable.

Out of this project came an innovative model of shared care to enhance patient care. The Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise, or RACE model, is a telephone advice line where family practitioners can call one phone number and choose from a selection of specialty services for real-time consultation. The telephone call is routed directly to the specialist’s cell phone or pager for real time educational advice. User satisfaction has been unanimous – all family practitioners said they would use the service again and viewed it as an excellent resource, allowing for practical and specific advice in real time. Ninety per cent of calls were returned within one hour and 75 per cent of the calls were returned within 10 minutes. RACE is also having a financial impact. All of the family physicians using the service said RACE reduced the number of unnecessary referrals to specialists, prevented some ER visits, reduced costs and placed less of a load on specialists.



Top Innovation - Affiliate
2011 Award of Merit Recipients
      
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Organization: Providence Health Care
Project: Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Link Nurses
Project Leader: Dr. Marc Romney – Medical Director, Infection Prevention & Control
Location: Vancouver
Team Members: Celia Ambery, Jim Curtin, Wayne Gilbart, Dr. Elisa Lloyd-Smith, Mary McNaughton, Craig Pienkowski, Howard Green, Luz Vierneza

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The Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Link Nurses are specially trained by Infection Control Practitioners to act as a local resource for their colleagues, promoting awareness of infection control issues. IPAC Link Nurses have been found to be proactive educators, positive role models and an effective resource for staff to turn to with infection controlrelated questions at the front line. While IPAC Link Nurses are common in Europe, the Providence Health Care program is one of the first in North America. Since September 2009, 43 Link Nurses have been trained and there are currently Link Nurses in all Providence Health Care clinical programs. The Link Nurses program is proving to be an extremely cost-effective way of disseminating information on a wide scale to front line staff and is raising the profile of infection prevention and control at Providence. From June 2009 to December 2010, hand hygiene compliance rates increased by 40 per cent. The Link
Nurses program has helped foster a culture of patient safety and reduce the spread of health care-associated infections at Providence.

Organization: St. Joseph’s General Hospital
Project: Extenway Bedside Terminal
Project Leader: Eric Macdonald - Vice President, Finance, Capital & Support Services
Location: Comox
Team Members: Lorne Antonsen, Dawn Lawrie, Katja Waldman

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Extenway represents the very latest in bedside technology that boosts clinician efficiency, simplifies administration and offers patients an improved bedside environment. Saint Joseph’s is the first hospital in BC to adopt this technology which is the convergence of VOIP (voice over internet protocol) telephone, high definition television, video linkage and broadband internet access, in a patient-friendly, bedside touch screen device. Extenway offers patients unprecedented autonomy, freeing up staff time for more urgent tasks. Using a radio frequency chip in staffs’ ID badges and the patients’ wrist bands, a staff person’s photo appears on the screen if within eight feet and patient’s ID can be authenticated at any workstation in the hospital. The system has unlimited application opportunities for the hospital and the patients, such as: education, satisfaction questionnaires, progress toward discharge, access to personal health records and menu selection. Extenway can save caregivers hours per shift. Its benefits are enhanced operational efficiency, heightened patient satisfaction and cost savings.



Top Innovation - Health Authority
2011 Gold Apple Winner

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Organization: BC Cancer Agency (Provincial Health Services Authority)
Project: Chemo SmartBook
Project Leaders: Dr. Scott Tyldesley & Martin Puterman
Location: Vancouver
Team Members: Ruben Aristizabal, Vincent Chow, Susan D’Alosio, John French, Kevin Huang, Dennis Jang, Christian Kollmannsberger, Lindy MacKinnon, Lynne Nakashima, Devon Poznanski, Travis Nordin, Nancy Runzer, Pablo Santibanez

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The British Columbia Cancer Agency’s (BCCA) Vancouver Centre delivers 15,000 chemotherapy treatments to over 2,000 patients each year. Schedulers face significant challenges in arranging over 60 daily appointments while accounting for patient time preferences, laboratory, radiology and oncology appointments and pharmacy capacity, as well as balancing nursing workload, conforming to nursing shift schedules and avoiding overtime. Faced with increased patient volumes, new chemotherapy treatments and budget restraints, chemotherapy appointment scheduling had exhausted the capabilities of the manual, paper-based system that was introduced in the 1990s. The consequences included late patient confirmation times, considerable clerical rework, unbalanced nursing and pharmacy workloads, and heightened stress for patients and staff.

To address these problems, the Operations Research for Improved Cancer Care (ORICC) team, a collaboration between the BCCA and the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, reviewed BCCA chemotherapy appointment scheduling processes and proposed a new, flexible process with innovative, customized schedule-planning software, Chemo SmartBook, at its core. Implementation required process change, tightened protocol guidelines, information system modifications, software development, staff training and communication of new practices to patients and staff. Attention to detail and carefully executed project and change management promoted organizational buy-in. The new system went live in June 2010, just 15 months after the study began. A comprehensive post-implementation evaluation showed a 58 per cent reduction in late patient appointment notification and a waitlist reduction of 84 per cent. Patient surveys confirmed heightened satisfaction with the appointment booking process, while staff feedback reported improved nursing workload distribution and reduced stress levels.
The success of this project has heightened organizational awareness of the potential benefits of analytical solutions in other areas.



Top Innovation - Health Authority
2011 Award of Merit Recipients 
       
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Organization: BC Centre for Disease Control, BC Children’s Hospital& BC Cancer Agency (PHSA)
Project: Reduced Dosing Schedules for Gardasil® (Q-HPV) Vaccination for Grade 6 Girls in BC
Project Leader: Dr. Gina Ogilvie - Associate Director, Division of STI/HIV Prevention & Control (BCCDC)
Location: Vancouver
Team Members: Dr. Simon Dobson (BCCH), Dr. Mel Krajden (BCCDC), Dr. Monika Naus (BCCDC)

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This project determined that two doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine provides the same level of protective immunity from HPV as three doses – the previously recommended dosage. Based on these results, the immunization schedule for HPV has been changed in BC to two doses given to grade six girls, followed, if necessary, by a third dose five years later. At a cost of about $100 per vaccine dose, ultimately reducing the schedule to two doses could result in a substantial cost saving to the province’s immunization program. Furthermore, elimination of the third dose would also reduce the work load for public health nurses and delivery costs for the program.

Organization: BC Mental Health & Addiction (PHSA)
Project: Provincial Specialized Eating Disorders Program for Children & Adolescents
Project Leader: Kathy Tremayne - Program Director, Provincial Specialized Eating Disorders Program for Children & Adolescents
Location: Vancouver
Team Leaders: Dr. Connie Coniglio, Leslie Arnold, Dr. Jana Davidson, Betty Kerra

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This project is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary program designed to assess and treat children and youth with eating disorders and their families. In January 2009, a project began within this program to expand inpatient and day treatment services, and to implement a change in philosophical and treatment approaches to align with best and promising practices in the treatment of children and adolescents. Program redesign offers several key benefits, including streamlined and simplified patient charting and tracking, elimination of errors and improved efficiency. As a result, the program has significantly increased capacity to care for more patients within existing resources. This includes a 100 per cent increase in capacity for patient assessment, a 56-day reduction in wait time from patient referral to assessment (from 66 to 10 days), and a 34-day reduction in wait time from assessment to treatment (from 48 to 14 days).



Workplace Health Innovation
2011 Gold Apple Winner    
 
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Organization: Vancouver Coastal Health & Vancouver Island Health Authority
Project: Safety Coaching
Project Leader: Helen Tam (VCH) & Heidi Robinson (VIHA)
Location: Vancouver & Victoria
Team Members: Desiree Betz (VCH), Clemens Braun (VCH), Sarah Burrell (VIHA), Catherine Fast (VCH), Craig Harris (VCH), Chris Hogan (VIHA), Sharon Horncastle (VIHA), Tanya Kessling (VIHA), Evan McKay (VIHA), Kathleen McKinnell (VIHA), Todd Michalski (VIHA), Tracy Morgan (VCH), Michael Pierzchalski (VIHA), Stephen Rose (VIHA), Nils Thompson (VIHA), Pat Tillotson (VCH), Jennifer Wade (VIHA)

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According to WorkSafeBC, musculoskeletal injuries account for approximately 45 per cent of injuries in the health care and social services sectors in BC. It is a serious issue for many health authorities including the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). Despite implementing patient handling equipment such as ceiling lifts, floor lifts and lateral transfer devices and ensuring that staff were fully trained on their use, both VIHA and VCH found staff were not routinely using the ceiling lifts and were still experiencing high rates of musculoskeletal injuries. VIHA and VCH worked together to find a solution and concluded that the traditional strategy of focusing on staff education in a classroom did not create change in practice and would not result in the desired level of improvement over time. Experience told them that a successful musculoskeletal injury prevention program must include a new method of staff education – coaching.
VCH’s safety coaching program focused not only on safe patient handling and ceiling lift use but also on developing effective communication, mentoring and facilitation skills.

Today there are 38 peer safety leaders in 12 residential care facilities. At VIHA, the major emphasis of the project has been to introduce new patient and material handling equipment and support safe practices along with the introduction of peer coaches trained in safe patient and material handling techniques. Today there are 55 peer coaches in 31 VIHA facilities. The results tell the story – at VCH, there has been a 22 per cent decrease in musculoskeletal injuries at intervention sites and a
50 per cent reduction in WorkSafeBC claims costs at intervention sites. At VIHA, there was a 14 per cent reduction in these injuries to staff from 2008 to 2009.



Workplace Health Innovation
2011 Award of Merit Recipients

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Organization: Interior Health
Project: iLearn – Staff Safety E-learning Modules
Project Leader: Lisa Wherry - Ergonomic Specialist
Location: Salmon Arm
Team Members: Marjorie Brims, Sue Filek, Karen Leach MacLeod, Chuck McEwen, Rebekah Rush Pedersen

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In early 2009, Interior Health’s Injury Prevention team brought in a new technology that allowed them to create e-learning modules that would be available to all staff via desktop computer, regardless of shift schedule or location. Created using in-house subject experts, iLearn provides standardized information which brings best practice to all sites across Interior Health on a 24/7 basis. The slider sheet system developed by Interior Health’s Injury Prevention team was the first large-scale implementation using iLearn. It has been very well received in all sectors with more than 950 staff taking the slider sheet course in January and February 2011 which exceeds the total number of injury prevention-led, face-to-face education attendees in all of 2009. Other modules include acute care patient assessment, asbestos awareness and fit-tester training; many more are in process. Interior Health’s goal is to make e-learning the preferred method of knowledge transfer.Organization: Prince Rupert Regional Hospital (Northern Health)

Project: Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention Program
Project Leader: Angenita Gerbracht – Manager, Rehabilitation Services
Location: Prince Rupert
Team Members: Cleo Carlos, Helen Coleman, Michael Curnes, Cheryl Doerksen, Debbie Foster, Chris Gordon, Jennifer Hogan, Janess Iverson, Simon Kruithof,
Laurie Macrae, Susan Marraty, Nicola West, Jane Wilde, Mary Welsey

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In the spring of 2010, Prince Rupert Regional Hospital was notified that it was a high-risk site for musculoskeletal injuries and would receive visits from WorkSafeBC. The hospital was found to lack clear processes and procedures that would eliminate or reduce risk of musculoskeletal injuries and an order for compliance was issued. Out of this, the musculoskeletal injury prevention (MSIP) program was created. While many times the focus is on a “quick fix” in one area to achieve compliance, something very different happened at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital. It was realized that a sustainable solution required buy-in from all levels. As a result, the program focused on a number of key areas such as communication, equipment, education and evaluation. Program assessment is ongoing, but now everyone at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital is engaged in preventing musculoskeletal injuries and the project is a demonstration of what can be achieved
when a team works toward a common goal.



Collaborative Sollutions
2011 Gold Apple Winner      
  
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Organization: Northern Health
Project: RoadHealth
Project Leader: Dr. David Bowering – Chief Medical Health Officer
Location: Prince George
Team Members: MaryAnne Arcand (Road Health Coalition Coordinator/Central Interior Logging Association), Kevin Bennett (WorkSafeBC), Staff Sergeant Gord Flewelling (RCMP), Mike Green (BC Coroner’s Service), Gayle Hesse (BC Wildlife Vehicle Crash Prevention Program), Kate Iverson (BC Forest Safety Council), Darhl Paley (Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement), Diana Poser (ICBC), Gerry VanderKwaak (Ministry of Forests, Lands, & Natural Resource operations), Gord Wagner (Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure)

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Driving conditions in Northern BC can be hazardous and the fact that Northern BC’s injury and death rates are more than double the provincial average confirms this.
This was unacceptable to Dr. David Bowering, Northern Health’s Chief Medical Officer. He shared his concerns with other agencies in his community and together they realized that collaboration, cooperation and communication were critical to turning these alarming statistics around and saving lives. The result is RoadHealth, a collaborative initiative that uses four main strategies to reduce the high rates of injury and death due to motor vehicle crashes in Northern BC. These four strategies include: engineering – increasing road safety; enforcement – reminding drivers of their legal responsibilities; education – increasing public awareness; and engagement – getting the public involved and taking action at the community level.

The group provided grants to community groups across the North including First Nations communities, parent groups and researchers. They initiated a series of conferences and reports and produced a video called “Impact” featuring Northern people telling their stories about how motor vehicle crashes had impacted their lives. A media campaign called “Sharing the Roads” was delivered with more than 7,000 radio safety messages along with a “Stop! Revive! Survive!” public awareness campaign focusing on driver fatigue. Cell phone users were also targeted with a “Hang up and Drive” campaign. These efforts are paying off in the best possible way – they are saving lives. In 2002, there were 69 deaths due to motor vehicle crashes. In 2009, there were just 32.



Collaborative Solutions
2011 Award of Merit Recipients

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Organization: BC Mental Health & Addiction Services (PHSA) & Coast Mental Health Foundation
Project: The Coast Cottage Forensic Mental Health Housing Program
Project Leader: Leslie Arnold – President (BCMHAS)
Location: Coquitlam
Team Members: John Jacobson (BCMHAS), Angus Monaghan (BCMHAS), Clem Poquiz (BCMHAS), Beata Zaleska (CMHF)


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Lack of housing is one of the most difficult challenges faced by people living with a severe and persistent mental illness. The Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission, an agency of BC Mental Health & Addiction Services (BCMHAS), was faced with an escalating problem of finding housing for people with mental illness being discharged from the BC Forensic Psychiatric Hospital. Partnering with the Coast Mental Health Foundation (CMHF), they developed an innovative housing program to address numerous barriers relating to the reintegration of these clients back into the community. After a period of hospitalization at the BC Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, these individuals then move to townhouses, or cottages, that provide round-the-clock services. Patients are supported to develop independent living skills to help them resume their lives as contributing members of society. By supporting the success of each client, the program provides a novel method for challenging the inaccurate stereotypes that forensic mental health clients cannot be safely supported in the community.

Organization: Northern Health, BC Cancer Agency (PHSA) & Ministry of Health
Project: Northern Cancer Control Strategy (NCCS)
Project Leader: Hal Collier - Chief Project Officer
Team Members: Dr. Ronald Chapman (Northern Health)

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This project is a joint partnership focused on addressing higher cancer incidence rates and poorer outcomes in the North when compared to other BC regions. The goals of the NCCS are to: reduce cancer incidence rates; reduce mortality due to cancer; improve access to cancer services for the north; and improve the quality of life for northern patients living with cancer. Much has been accomplished. A new regional cancer centre is set to open in Prince George in late 2012. Six community cancer clinics have been upgraded and two new ones opened bringing the total number of clinics in the North to 10. A radon gas awareness campaign has been implemented with affected residents working with environmental health officers to learn about mitigation strategies. An Aboriginal cancer care strategy is being developed in consultation with Aboriginal health representatives from across the north. Hereditary screening programs have been implemented and are delivered via telephone consultation, or tele-health, to nine centres. Using tele-health services, patients and physicians in remote areas now have access to services that were previously not available including oncology pharmacy services, psychosocial services and nutrition support.



Health Care Heroes                                                                             top
2011 Gold Apple Winner - Affiliate & Provincial Health Care Hero
                         

Glenda Phillips – Manager, Home & Community Care

Organization: Bella Coola General Hospital (United Church Health Services Society)
Location: Bella Coola

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Glenda Phillips has been tireless in finding ways for seniors to get the support and care they need with limited resources. Without long-term care facilities, the only option for seniors is to come to Bella Coola General Hospital. Glenda developed a partnership with Health Canada and the Nuxalk Nation to provide the community’s first integrated home and community care program, seven days a week. She consulted with community members, elders, chief and council, and the RCMP to help design a program that would work both on and off the reserve to meet the needs of seniors in a very isolated community with high health needs. Glenda leads a team who go out into the community to help those who remain at home and she is a strong link with the Nuxalk Nation’s Health and Wellness Program. Glenda is always looking for new ways to connect with seniors and to provide services with clients. For example, when the seniors group meets for lunch at the local church hall, she will drop by to talk to people and take a quick blood pressure check. Glenda has been invited to share her program success with Vancouver Coastal Health Home and Community Care. Health Canada has asked her to participate in the National Home Care Nursing Summit and in March of this year, she presented at the First Nations Nursing Conference.



Health Care Heroes
2011 Gold Apple Winner - Affiliate                                                    top 

Carole Clark – Programs Manager, Mental Health Services

Organization: Bella Coola General Hospital (United Church Health Services Society)
Location: Bella Coola

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When Carole Clark came to Bella Coola, she saw the need for extra effort to ensure that people in this remote community had access to mental health services. She collaborated with other agencies and service providers to devise ways of getting mental health and addictions clients, family and friends together with caregivers and professionals. One successful example is The Supper Club, which has been running since 1998. This weekly event brings together a diverse group of people to enjoy a good meal and good company. Carole and other service providers also sought ways to make sure Bella Coola youths knew where to get support. They started “Dysfunctional Pizza”, a weekly event at the high school that provides students with a safe, welcome place to be. Thirteen years later, “Dysfunctional Pizza” is attended each week by a group of about 50 students who are grateful for the food and opportunity to connect with others and feel part of their community. Carole was also instrumental in starting video conferencing assessment, therapy and consultation with psychologists and a psychiatrist from outside the area resulting in hundreds of people receiving direct services that they would have otherwise never received.



Health Care Heroes
2011 Gold Apple Winner - Fraser Health                                          top


Cindy Gagne – Recreational Therapist Supervisor

Organization: Langley Memorial Hospital
Location: Langley

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Cindy Gagne is passionate about ensuring that hospital residents continue to experience life beyond the walls of their care facility, despite various health issues and disabilities. Cindy organizes major events for residents to participate in each year, including the Langley Community Days Parade. Residents are pushed in wheelchairs by a group of Brownies and Girl Guides who together hand out toys and lollipops to small children along the way. Another group of residents is bussed to the event to observe the parade front and centre. At the end of the day, the residents head to A&W for a parking lot party. During the Olympics, Cindy organized a special torch relay with the torch moving from building to building via a resident’s hand-off. Cindy’s enthusiasm for these events is infectious. As a result, many hospital staff volunteer to assist in the events on their own time and the families express their joy at seeing their loved ones so happy and involved in the community. As one co-worker puts it, “Cindy exceeds her role and it is her passion for our residents to have an exceptional quality of life that spurs her on. Cindy always has the best interests of the residents at the forefront in all aspects of every event, large or small. Cindy is a role model and has taught me so much.”



Health Care Heroes
2011 Gold Apple Winner - Interior Health
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Debbie Morgan – Team Leader, Public Health Nursing

Organization: Interior Health
Location: Ashcroft

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Debbie Morgan is a passionate and strong advocate for her profession and for her colleagues. Debbie worked as a public health nurse and in the emergency room at
Williams Lake Hospital before becoming a Team Leader in public health nursing four years ago. As team leader, she has always supported her colleagues near and far to practice to the best of their abilities. Public health has seen a multitude of changes recently but no transition has been too difficult or insurmountable for Debbie, a reliable and knowledgeable advocate for change. She goes above and beyond to assist those looking for help. As one colleague says, “Debbie gets to the bottom of things no matter how difficult the situation is to address. She is respected by many and her compassion and commitment to the registered nurses that go to her for help is commendable.” Another says, “No matter how unclear or unknown the future of public health is, Debbie perseveres through to calm our doubts and fears. She continually advocates to her colleagues, which in turn affects their practice with clients. In this way, she ensures that her colleagues can look to her for help to assist clients better. Her confident, evidence-based support guides us to deliver high quality services.”



Health Care Heroes
2011 Gold Apple Winner - Northern Health                                     top 

Loretta Robinson - Medical Imaging Manager

Organization: Prince Rupert Regional Hospital
Location: Prince Rupert

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Last year, when the Queen Charlotte Islands Haida Gwaii faced a loss of ultrasound services, Loretta Robinson quickly developed the necessary scheduling, budgeting and staffing for her department in Prince Rupert so that she could travel to the village of Masset once each month to conduct an ultrasound clinic. Last year alone, 400 patients were scanned locally, avoiding costly trips to the mainland. It is not easy work – in a typical day, Loretta sees 15 patients, working long hours to ensure that everyone who needs an ultrasound receives one. Loretta’s initiative and commitment to serving this remote community extends beyond the ultrasound clinic. Under her leadership, Prince Rupert was the first facility in northern BC to offer virtual colongraphy, a procedure using CT technology to obtain a visual recording of the colon or large intestine. This has been a huge benefit for certain patient groups in this region including the frail and elderly. Loretta has also inspired,
encouraged and supported technologists to seek additional training in areas such as echocardiography, so that this service can be established at the hospital. Loretta
truly goes above and beyond to create innovative solutions to serve the people of her community.



Health Care Heroes
2011 Gold Apple Winner - Provincial Health Services  Authority
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Dr. Connie Coniglio – Director, Health Literacy and Clinical Director, Provincial Specialized Eating Disorders Program for Children & Adolescents and the Provincial Mental Health Metabolic Program

Organization: BC Mental Health & Addiction Services
Location: Vancouver

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Dr. Connie Coniglio has overseen many successful projects and initiatives that have involved collaboration with key stakeholders throughout BC. She developed the
Provincial Child and Youth Healthy Living Initiative to help children, youth and their families receiving treatment for mental health and substance use. Connie has demonstrated a fierce commitment to change in eating disorders services across the province. Using PHSA’s imPROVE methodology that empowers employees to redesign their work processes to reduce waste and improve patient safety, quality and outcomes, Connie has helped enhance program access, quality and safety. Connie has also championed a family-based therapy workshop for eating disorders practitioners. In March 2011, 80 community providers, in addition to the team at BC Children’s Hospital, participated in a two-day training session on this subject led by international experts. Connie is highly respected in her field; as one of her co-workers says: “Connie has that rare ability to develop programs, initiatives and strategies with a provincial focus while maintaining a pragmatic, hands-on approach to all her work. This ensures real outcomes are being achieved for clients of the health care system. She leads, she inspires, and best of all, she cares.”


Health Care Heroes
2011 Gold Apple Winner - Vancouver Coastal Health
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Amanda Brown - Director, Re:Act Adult Abuse & Neglect Response Resource

Organization: Vancouver Coastal Health
Location: Vancouver

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Amanda Brown has been a tireless advocate for the prevention and intervention of adult abuse and neglect. Amanda’s dedication was the foundation for the Re:Act program at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) helping staff to recognize, report and to act on abuse and neglect. She provides education, consultation and system support for VCH employees who have a mandate to respond to situations of adult abuse, neglect and self-neglect. Amanda is the regional lead on issues related to the Adult Guardianship Act and she has partnered with other agencies also working to support vulnerable adults experiencing abuse and neglect. Amanda has taken the Re:Act brand and developed it into a province-wide resource. It is also embedded at a national level with the First Nations Re:Act manual and interactive tools, endorsed by First Nations groups and funded by Health Canada. As one colleague says of Amanda, “She sees the needs of these vulnerable people and brings all of her compassion, skill and time, well beyond the work day, to implement the responses they require.”



Health Care Heroes
2011 Gold Apple Winner - Vancouver Island Health Authority
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Dr. Marilyn Bater - Medical Director, Older Adult Mental Health & Geriatrics

Organization: Vancouver Island Health Authority
Location: Victoria

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Thanks to Dr. Marilyn Bater’s unwavering determination to provide high quality services for seniors, she has successfully raised the profile of geriatrics within her organization and the community. Under her leadership, seniors service excellence has become a strategic imperative for VIHA. Marilyn leveraged VIHA’s scarce geriatricians and seniors specialty teams by having them refocus efforts to seniors at the highest risk. As a result, a local geriatric program was able to expand and became a health authority-wide program. Marilyn is also known as a superb clinician who truly listens to patients, families and staff. A family complaint inspired her to gain greater understanding of the health service delivery system from the patient’s perspective. She re-enacted the patient’s journey through the entire health service continuum, including home and community care, outpatient clinics, multiple hospital moves and residential services. By doing this, she was able to identify opportunities to improve patient care. With the family’s permission, this patient’s experience was turned into a video story called “Mrs. G” that has become an invaluable teaching tool, has inspired change and has raised the profile of caring for seniors in BC.