* Hospital celebrates Patient Appreciation Day

Hospital celebrates Patient Appreciation Day

Rouge Valley Health System
News Release

Sept. 30, 2009 — Patients and visitors of Rouge Valley Health System (RVHS) are being reminded by staff that quality patient care is the hospital’s daily priority, while being thanked for placing their trust in the hospital.

“We have a variety of little initiatives going on as part of our Patient Appreciation Day on Thursday (Oct. 1, 2009) to remind our patients and their families that we appreciate them placing trust in us,” says Michele Jordan, vice-president and chief transformation officer at RVHS.

Staff will be greeting patients and visitors tomorrow as they enter the two hospital campuses in order to:

Welcome them;
Give them bookmarks as a token of appreciation;
Ask if they require any information or directions;
Provide them with written information on hand hygiene to help keep them healthy this flu season.

“This is Rouge Valley’s first Patient Appreciation Day and we are not aware of other local hospitals that have done this. So it’s a bit of an experiment and we will be gathering feedback from patients, visitors and staff on the impact of the event,” Jordan says.

“Service excellence is our priority everyday. So we are celebrating Patient Appreciation Day as one way to communicate this to our patients and visitors. We are fortunate that many patients take the time to complete our patient satisfaction surveys and send us letters and emails thanking our physicians, nurses, allied health and all staff for the care provided when they need hospital attention,” Jordan adds.

Ralph Sutton was a patient of both Rouge Valley hospital campuses less than a year ago. He was admitted to Rouge Valley Ajax and Pickering’s intensive care unit for several days and then to Rouge Valley Centenary to have a defibrillator installed in November 2008.

Sutton says, “I had a very positive experience at Rouge Valley. I had a good rapport with the doctors and nurses who treated me and always kept me informed. The doctors were very knowledgeable about what they needed to do in order to treat me – and did it.”

Sandra Green-Jones and her family have made the Centenary campus their hospital since 1967, when it was built. “They always treat us so well,” says Green-Jones, whose mother was treated at Centenary this summer.

“It's never easy when one has to bring their mother in by ambulance in an emergency situation. But everyone was so good to my mother and to our family during a very stressful time,” she says. “The nurses and doctors work in challenging situations, but through it all, they were always professional, caring, dedicated and had a sense of humour. We have been attending this hospital since it was first built and we have always received good care. We consider it our family hospital and are very lucky to have it in our neighbourhood.”

Rouge Valley Health System (RVHS) — The best at what we do.

RVHS is an excellent acute care community hospital with many programs, including 24/7/365 emergency, cardiac care and mental health. Rouge Valley consists of several health sites, including two community hospital campuses: Rouge Valley Centenary in east Toronto; and Rouge Valley Ajax and Pickering in west Durham. Together, a team of physicians (224 general practitioners and 325 specialists), 1,000 nurses and many other professionals care for a broad spectrum of health conditions. Working in consultation and partnership with community members, other hospitals, health care organizations, the Central East Local Health Integration Network and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Rouge Valley continues to improve its programs and cater to the needs of the growing communities of east Toronto, Ajax, Pickering and Whitby.