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economist suhlsiouffville tribune saturday aug 24 2002 15 markham stouffville hospital 381 church street po box 1800 markham ontario l3p 7p3 9054727000 visit our site at wwwmshonca vitality markham stouffville hospital foundation m growth is not optional the need for expansion it is obvious to anyone living or working in markham or stouffville that the increase of new people and businesses isnonstopwhat does that mean for markham stouffville hospital msh and our ability to serve the community what does it mean to you if you need to use the hospital when the planning for msh started the population of markhamstouffville was under 47000 people when the government approved the hospitals construction the population had grown to about 90000 last year the number of people in the area had soared to almost 250000 and in the next 10 years more than 70000 people will move into the community but what does that mean in practical terms the hospital was built to do 1800 births a year last year we delivered 2722 babies our diagnostic imaging area xrays ct scans ultrasound was designed to provide 30700 exams last year we did 108233 exams our plans on opening were to do 1759 daysurgery procedures a year last year we topped 8000 we can and have worked smarter and used the most uptodate techniques but we cant provide care if there is no place to put the person the staff or the equipment from a bed use perspective hospitals are expected to have about 85 of their beds in use at anytime this is considered full and efficient at that rate we can handle some emergency admissions msh routinely has above 95 of its beds occupied that means that the hospital has virtually no flexibility to deal with emergencies as a result we have to keep patients in the emergency department while they wait for a bed discharge patients early and in some cases even turn away expectant mothers because we have no beds for them to deliver in when a hospital first opens there is a certain amount of excess space for growth all beds arent opened at once the emergency department has some areas that are not fully used asthe community grows more services beds staff etc are added as needed for the past twelve years msh has done just that it has opened new beds and programs however because of how fast the population has grown the excess space that was expected to last many more years has been filled up much faster than predicted for you this means you can and will receive great care once you are in the hospital but getting in is increasingly difficult waiting times are longer elective surgery may take months to be carried out access to our physicians will become more difficult and we cannot bring on new doctors because there is no space in the hospital for them to hold their clinics or operating rooms for them to do surgery a w we have a plan to grow the hospital for over three years we have been working with the provincial government to get the go ahead to expand however we have not yet received the ok the board of the hospital is continuing to press for approvals over the next few weeks we will be telling you about our exciting and innovative plans and seeking your support to get on with our muchneeded redevelopmentexpansion for more information visit our website at wwwmshonca eb a mm p05msh week kick off date october28 2002 fashions for life fashion show october 30r2002 body soul joint fundraising dinner and show november 21 2002 exercise code green hospital evacuation on october 1 2002 the hospital will conduct a mock code green stat hospital evacuation exercise the scope of the exercise will involve all areas of the hospital with a maximum of 3 simulated patients per area being evacuated without impacting patient care the objectives of the mock exercise are as follows test the flow of communication and coordination between key internal positions of responsibility with external emergency response agencies build staff awareness of evacuation routes and procedures determine the approximate amount of time it would take to evacuate the entire hospital identify gaps and areas of improvement for the plan and its communication structure york region fire police and ems personnel will also be participating in the exercise markham stouffville hospital is one of very few hospitals within ontario who has taken the opportunity and time to test its evacuation plan to this extent by testing our code green plan which is just one part of our overall emergency disaster plan we can be reassured in knowing that we have a plan in place that will help save the lives of our patients and staff if we ever needed to rely on it m msh wins markhm fioard o annual business award markham stouffville hospital has been awarded the 2002 award for high standards and working conditions in the markham board of trade annual business excellence awards the markham board of trade annual business awards program is to recognize markham businesses that have made a contribution to the economic and social well being of the town of markham all markham businesses are eligible and the hospital was nominated in early spring the award acknowledges excellence in working conditions andhigh standards in employee relations congratulations to the staff physicians and volunteers of markham stouffville hospital importtn effective wednesday september 4 2002 the parent link line provided by the maternal child system at markham stouffville hospital will convert to the telehealth ontario program at 1866797000 the telehealth ontario program is a provincially run 24hour telephone advice service including features such as quick response time calls answered within 4 rings state of the art online documentation system and multilingual and hearingimpaired services we are confident that this change will be an enhancernent to our current support and appreciate your understanding during this transition 1 1 w 1 vi i f ik r m r 1 i tt k- 1 1 nt f i