Page 23 - CEO Orientation

3.1 OUR SHARED HISTORY OF COLLABORATION

The three organizations have a strong history of partnership that has improved value for patients,
residents and clients. Examples of the success we have already achieved by working together include:

 St. Joseph’s, Providence and St. Michael’s are part of the Hospital Collaborative on Vulnerable
and Marginalized populations who work in partnership with other Toronto hospitals to promote
cooperation and planning to address caring for these populations. The work looks at best
practices and sharing resources with a focus on four common areas: those with addictions, the
non-insured, elder care/seniors and health equity.

 The Centre for Clinical Ethics (CCE), the first ethics service of its kind in Canada, is jointly
sponsored by Providence, St. Joseph’s and St. Michael’s. The CCE also provides ethics services
to nine other institutions across the province, and is home to a fellowship program in clinical
ethics which generates new leaders in this important area. By partnering, ethics leaders with
specific specialties are able to assist staff and physicians across sites on many different ethical
issues that rise in the course of care delivery.

 Staff from Providence work on-site at St. Michael’s to help patients move in a more timely and
efficient way from acute care to begin their rehab. Meeting with patients in acute care while still
recovering from an illness or surgery has positively impacted patients’ subsequent discharge
from rehab. At this early stage, we talk about how we can get them home through a
combination of inpatient and outpatient care, and how we will help them achieve their
maximum potential.

 Providence and St. Joseph’s are part of the spread of the work of St. Michael’s and others in
sociodemographic data collection. Known as the Health Equity Survey, this collection of
sociodemographic data allows the three organizations to better understand the people served.

 Toronto Heart Attack Collaborative, or THAC, an innovative alliance for patients having a type of
heart attack known as a STEMI (ST segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction). Even if a patient is
within the St. Joseph’s catchment area, they will be taken by ambulance directly to St. Michael’s
from their home for interventional STEMI treatment – a procedure that is not offered at St.
Joseph’s – then returned to St. Joseph’s for ongoing care. With this alliance, patients get the
best and most appropriate treatment as fast as possible.

 Acknowledging that St Michael’s did not have a thoracic surgical service, it signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with St. Joseph’s. With this partnership, patients requiring
emergency thoracic surgery services now have access to the combined expertise of the thoracic
surgery services at St. Joseph’s and the respirology and general surgery services at St. Michael’s
for the management and treatment of lung cancer and benign thoracic surgical disease.

Our Shared Purpose: Advancing the Health of Our Patients and Our Urban Communities Page | 15