TURNING THE PAGE ON TRAGEDY

THIS TIME LAST YEAR was very different for my family. In February 2022, my dad slipped and fell on some ice while out walking early one morning, hitting his head on the pavement. Thankfully, someone found him whilst he lay in a puddle partially conscious on the side of the road and called an ambulance. He was rushed to Canada’s first and busiest trauma centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where he spent several days in the intensive care unit. He had suffered a brain injury. The days he spent in hospital were filled with a lot of unknowns, as was the first month after he was discharged. He required around the clock supervision and assistance, and my thoughts inevitably went to long-term care. Instead of focusing on the benefits of this type of healthcare option should the need arise, my mind whirled with the tragedies suffered by many in these homes during the pandemic, including the appallingly deplorable conditions in which residents lived in some cases. Thankfully, my thoughts remained just that — my dad recovered in the ensuing months and while not yet 100 per cent, you would never know he suffered such an unfortunate accident.

Since the early days of COVID-19 when the horrors of long-term care were brought to the fore, governments have taken steps to improve the provision of services at these facilities. This has included the development of national standards, one of which is explored in this issue. CSA Z8004 addresses the design, operation, and infection prevention and control practices in long-term care homes. You can read all about it in A New Standard in Long-term Care.

Keeping with the topic of COVID, Navigating an Unexpected Crisis reviews Hamilton Health Sciences’ pandemic response from a facilities management point of view. It delves into requests the team stickhandled, operational impacts of COVID and projects implemented.

But to begin is our English-French feature on the first-ever use of a mobile medical device reprocessing unit (MMDRU) in Quebec. Implemented by the Laurentians Integrated Health and Social Services Centre, the high-performance sterilization unit has proven to be an indispensable tool. Mobile Specialized Equipment a First for Quebec delves into why the health authority decided to introduce the mobile unit and the design process, including criteria and obstacles.

Other topics tackled in this issue are the use of Internet of Things for space optimization, infection control red flags during hospital construction and how to manage flooding in the event it occurs.

If you are interested in contributing an article to the publication or there’s a topic you’d like to see covered, please contact me.

Clare Tattersall claret@mediaedge.ca