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Aug 19, 2020

Headwaters Health Care Centre Celebrates Achievements and Partnerships at AGM

ORANGEVILLE, ON – August 19, 2020 – During its Annual General Meeting held virtually on August 18,  Headwaters Health Care Centre celebrated a year of progress guided by its purpose statement of One Community, Caring Together; partnership building and looked ahead at the hospital’s plans during a new world of COVID-19.

Hospital President and CEO, Kim Delahunt also thanked community partners. “I would like to thank our volunteers, patient advisors, staff, physicians and Foundation team,” she said. “This year’s accomplishments are the culmination of your work, passion and love for this hospital and community.”  

In keeping with the hospital’s values of kindness, passion, courage and teamwork, recipients of the Dr. David Scott Award were area physicians, Dr. Michael Gagnon and Dr. Charlie Joyce. Recipients of the Chairperson’s Award were the COVID-19 Assessment Centre Start-Up Team and the Long-Term Care Response Team.

 “We are proud to honor all those who have contributed so much to the health and welfare of one another and people in our communities,” said Board Chair, Lori Ker.

Working together our teams have demonstrated unwavering courage and resolve to respond to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals and businesses responded with personal protective equipment, contributions of food and monetary donations in support of their local hospital and the people working there. Partners in the Hills of Headwaters Collaborative Ontario Health Team worked together to support one another.

“The generosity of spirit is one of our strongest assets and we would not be where we are today without that collective effort,” Ker added. 

Tray Nevin’s COVID-19 survival story was also shared at this year’s AGM in a video. Tray is a Registered Practical Nurse at the hospital who contracted COVID-19, along with her husband and two daughters.  
The Board paid tribute to outgoing Board members, Krista Collinson, Sandy Kang-Gill, Janice Peters, Past Chair, Louise Kindree and Carolyn Young for their service, leadership and contributions to Headwaters Health Care Centre.

The Board of Directors also welcomed five new board members Winnifred Anderson, Adrian Bita, Barb Fitzgerald, Gerry Merkley and Shelley Scriver. The board introduced a new role this year, the Patient Family Caregiver (PFC) Director. The PFC Director role demonstrates the Board’s commitment to the patient perspective and will have patient, family, and caregiver centricity as its primary function. The Board’s inaugural PFC Directors are Winnifred Anderson and Ken Topping.

The Board also welcomed Dr. Jeff McKinnon to his continued role as Medical Staff President and Dr. Mercedes Rodriguez to her continued role as Medical Staff Vice President. See here for a full list and biographies of the 2020/21 Headwaters Health Care Centre’s Board of Directors.

At the end of the fiscal year, March 31, 2020, Headwaters reported a deficit of $717,000. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, the hospital was projecting to have an operating surplus of $130,000.

Kim Delahunt, President & CEO said, “Last year was challenging, even with the one-time funding adjustment for medium-size hospitals, and then COVID-19 struck. The situation is not unique to our hospital and we continue to pay attention as to how we spend every dollar as we move forward in our new normal.”

The hospital’s Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements are also available online.

A backgrounder about the Award Recipients follows.

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About Headwaters Health Care Centre (HHCC)
HHCC, is an innovative, community centred medium-size hospital located in Orangeville, caring for the residents of Dufferin County-Caledon. Accredited with Exemplary Standing by Accreditation Canada, Headwaters offers acute and complex continuing care with 24/7 Emergency Department coverage as well as extensive outpatient services in its Ambulatory Care Centre. HHCC is also a proud partner in the Hills of Headwaters Collaborative Ontario Health Team. Visit www.headwatershealth.ca or www.hillsofheadwaterscollaborative.ca.

For further information or to arrange an interview please contact:
Jennifer Hamilton, MA, MBA Director, Communication & Stakeholder Relations, Headwaters Health Care Centre | Tel: 519-278-5085| Email: jhamilton@headwatershealth.ca | Subscribe to our e-newsletter


BACKGROUNDER

Dr. David Scott Award and Chairperson’s Award Winners

Dr. David Scott Award Recipients


The Award is named after retired surgeon and life-long Orangeville resident Dr. David Scott, who came to Orangeville in 1962 as the town’s first specialist in general surgery. He dedicated his life to improving the health and wellness of the community. The Dr. David Scott Award is presented annually and recognizes individuals or groups who have gone above – and - beyond to improve overall health and wellness in Dufferin-Caledon and promote linkages between the hospital and the community. Dr. Scott passed away earlier this year and this award will continue in his memory.

Dr. David Scott Award Recipient: Dr. Michael Gagnon
Dr. Gagnon is a family physician with a practice in Bolton. Since moving to this area over ten years ago, Dr. Gagnon has been a pillar within palliative care providing coverage across Caledon and Dufferin County. His honest down to earth approach, accessibility, team focus and passion for quality palliative care are just some of the many reasons Dr. Gagnon is being recognized.

He has worked to normalize death and dying and has been partnering with local schools to educate and support students to remove the stigma of palliative care. Always a team player and early to jump in, Dr. Gagnon has also been participating in the COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Headwaters.

His roots run deepest in community home care and Hospice Residential Care as the Medical Director of Bethell Hospice. He has also joined Headwaters’ in its growing Palliative Care consultation Program where he continues to provide excellent palliative care in a hospital setting. His greatest community impact is through his work with other physicians and health care providers. He has taught and mentored hundreds of doctors, nurses, personal support workers and allied health providers through his larger classroom LEAP training and his 1 to 1 mentorship with community physicians in particular.

He also supported palliative care training for all the Dufferin Paramedics. They are now one of the leaders in the province to provide palliative care treatment at home and look at alternate destinations such as hospice to ensure patient comfort and prevent unnecessary transfer to hospital.

He has used his many roles, both current and past, to ensure that opportunities to improve the care of those in the community are taken. He is helping to ensure that palliative care identification is included in physician’s electronic medical records, ensuring patients with palliative care needs are assessed and linked early with needed care and services. Last year he provided leadership to implement point of care ultrasound in the community. Following training and education amongst others, including the paramedics, Dr. Gagnon was the first to use it with his patients.

The impact of this change is huge as it allows patients to stay in the comfort of their homes for the ultrasound and the resulting treatment, avoiding an ambulance transfer, Emergency Department visit or possible hospital admission.

Dr. Gagnon’s ability to support and implement change locally has given him the motivation to be involved in larger system changes. In September, he will be part of the College of Family Physicians Board of Directors and hopes to be able to share his learnings provincially.

It is common to find him making essential home visits at the end of a long clinic day so an anxious patient does not have to wait, fielding a 2:00 a.m. call without hesitation, or sitting casually with a patient for as long as it takes to provide comfort and reassurance. He has deservingly earned a reputation in the community of being ‘the best of the best’.

Dr. David Scott Award Recipient: Dr. Charlie Joyce
Dr. Charlie Joyce moved to Orangeville in 2014 to complete his final year of medical training. He became a family physician one year later. He also provides palliative care to patients in the hospital and in the community. In 2019 he became the lead physician with the Highlands Family Health Organization.

This spring, he immediately stepped up to be the physician lead for the Headwaters COVID-19 Assessment Centre. The Assessment Centre is one more example of the collaborative work that our community seems to do with very little fuss. As mentioned in the Chairs Award, the COVID-19 Assessment Centre Start-Up Team was comprised of many community partners.

Dr. Joyce led the work on the various screening tools and documentation required. The Hospital IT staff worked to ensure the documentation was entered electronically. He also worked on a schedule for all the local physicians to ensure the Assessment Centre was staffed each day. This was no small task.

He is also a problem solver, critical thinker and always has the patients’ best interests at heart. To his colleagues, he is collaborative, thoughtful, reliable, always thorough, kind, caring and gentle.

Once the Assessment Centre was running smoothly and the processes were ironed out, it was apparent there were time delays and different reporting protocols of the various Public Health Units. Some results were coming back within 24, 48, 72 or more hours depending on the public health unit. This was causing distress among patients who were calling the hospital, the local health unit, the family health team trying to find their results. If the patient lived in a different health region, their results would be sent there.

Dr. Joyce made the suggestion to involve the Dufferin Area Family Health Team to call ALL patients, even though outside our region, with their results. By sorting out this process, it relieved a lot of stress for people. Of course, as the pandemic evolved the province initiated an online tool, so people could check their results themselves and reporting turn around times have also improved. Their intervention relieves a lot of stress for people.

The work we did on the initial phase of the pandemic is evolving and we are now planning for the next phase. He continues to be involved with shaping the future direction of the Assessment Centre, ensuring that he will continue to have a positive impact on the community.

Dr. Joyce is said to not shy away from challenges or new opportunities to expand his knowledge outside of his clinical work. He has taken on various administrative roles related to both the leadership of the Dufferin Area Family Health Team and the Highlands Family Health organization.

He is extremely well respected by his physician colleagues for his commitment to delivering high quality patient care, and especially in supporting patients at end of life.

Headwaters Chairperson’s Award of Recognition Recipients

The Chairperson’s Award of Recognition was created in 2014 by the Governance Committee to honour individuals affiliated with Headwaters Health Care Centre who have made an outstanding contribution to the hospital and to the Community.

Chairperson’s Award Recipient: The COVID-19 Assessment Centre Start Up team
This team pulled together early on when hospitals across the province received the directive to set up a COVID-19 Assessment Centres. There was an enormous amount of collaboration in a very short time. The Assessment Centre has also been a model for others across the province who have come to our site to learn from our experience. Since it opened on March 19 over 15,000 people have been assessed. Since June, the management of the Assessment Centre has been transferred to the hospital and plans are now underway for the next phase and winter months for the Assessment Centre to continue its operations into the longer-term.
  • Gary Staples, Deputy Chief of Dufferin Paramedics and Candice Kalapaca, Manager with Central West Local Health Integration Network Home and Community Care who co-managed the Assessment Centre for the first 3 months.
  • Dr. Charlie Joyce and Dr. Mercedes Rodriguez from the Highlands Health Network
  • Caledon Community Services
  • Central West LHIN Home and Community Care
  • The County of Dufferin
  • Dufferin Area Family Health Team
  • Dufferin County Paramedic Service
  • Clinical and Non-clinical staff at Headwaters Health Care Centre
  • The Orangeville Lion’s Club • Orangeville Police Service
  • The Town of Orangeville
  • St. John Ambulance
  • Larry’s Small Engines
  • James and Miranda O’Connor with The Art of Storytelling
  • Mark’s Work Wearhouse of Orangeville
  • Bryan’s Fuels
  • GATT Electric
Chairperson’s Award Recipient: The Long-Term Care Response Team
This team was made up of individuals who mobilized on the ground and also supported remotely to respond to a crisis in one of our local long-term care facilities in Shelburne. The response team covered the gamut of supports including clinical and non-clinical expertise who worked respectfully and diligently to support some of our most vulnerable community members.
  • Karen Redpath, Director, Acute Care Services and Sharon Hendry, Quality and Patient Experience Specialist at Headwaters for co-leading the team
  • Alex Kusiewicz, Infection Prevention and Control Practitioner from Headwaters
  • Jennifer Stewart, Hospital Services Coordinator who took the lead on organizing staffing
  • Chief Tom Reid and Deputy Chief Paul DePrinse from Dufferin County Paramedic Service
  • Thanks to the over 25 nursing, personal support and environmental services staff from Headwaters who volunteered to work in the Long-Term Care Home, when asked for support 
  • Headwaters’ Communications & Stakeholder Relations Team
  • Central West LHIN Home and Community Care
  • Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health
  • Partners within the Hills of Headwaters Collaborative Ontario Health Team
  • Dr. Dela Cruz and Dr. Sumabat, Primary Care Physicians
  • The County of Dufferin
  • The Shelburne Fire Department
  • Mayor Wade Mills and Deputy Mayor Steve Anderson from the Town of Shelburne