JGH News

Transcription

JGH News

P E R S O N A L I Z E D C A N C E R C A R E • S U P E R M A R K E T S E N S E • O R D E R O F C A N A DA
jgh.ca
Jewish General Hospital Volume 46, no. 3 Fa l l 2 0 1 0
Oh, K!
New pavilion boosts quality of care,
privacy and infection prevention
Weekend to End Women’s Cancers:
Countless steps in the right direction
Ride to Conquer Cancer:
Stunning sequel soars
JGH News
1
F irst P erson S in g ular
Occupational therapists optimize
the crucial skills of daily living
I
have been an occupational therapist for 35+ years and although it was not
my original career choice, I am thankful for the events that led me to this
profession. Walk down memory lane with me and I’ll explain.
It was the start of my
second year at McGill University. Unexpectedly, my
morning classes were cancelled, leaving me several
hours free. Enter Esther, a
high school friend, who was
hurrying to her first course
of the year. She barely had
time to chat, stating she had
a full day of classes and did
not want to be late. With so
much time on my hands, I
decided to accompany her.
Off we went to a place called Sheila Maislin
the Strathcona Anatomy
and Dentistry Building. What on earth was
she studying?
The lecture I sat in on was my introduction to anatomy—and I fell in love! When it
ended, I went directly to the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy and transferred into that program. Did I know what I
was getting into? Not at all. Would I choose
this profession again, knowing what I know
now? In a heartbeat, yes!
The occupational therapist’s goal is to help
patients, regardless of their injury or disease,
regain their maximum level of independent
functioning. What does that really mean? To
a healthy person, independence is taken for
granted. Little thought is given to the daily
routine of waking, showering, dressing and
going about the day. However, to someone
who has suffered a stroke, someone with
rheumatoid arthritis, a neurological condition or a spinal cord injury, these simple
tasks can be overwhelmingly difficult, if
not impossible. Getting someone to help
may seem like the obvious solution but a person’s
sense of worth goes hand
in hand with independent
functioning. Occupational
therapists examine not only
the physical effects of an injury or disease, but the psychosocial, community and
environmental factors that
influence function.
During my career, I have
worked with and helped
thousands of patients.
Their faces and stories have
touched my life, much as
my actions have had an impact on theirs.
These are ordinary people faced with extraordinary life challenges that we all hope
never to experience. Years ago, I treated a
38-year-old man whose ruptured cerebral
aneurysm resulted in severe loss of movement on the right side of his body and an inability to speak. His hospital stay was a long
one due to medical complications, but he
ultimately did extremely well and went on to
live a “different than planned” yet very productive life. On discharge, acknowledging
the professionals who had helped in his recovery, he said, “I worked diligently with my
therapists to walk and talk again yet it was
Occupational Therapy, that by teaching me
new ways to do the things I had done independently since I was 5 years old, ultimately
gave me back my self-esteem.”
His words, as clear in my mind today as
they were 30 years ago, sum up the reason I
am proud to do what I do.
JGH NEWS
Fall 2010
Published by:
SIR MORTIMER B. DAVIS JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL
Department of Public Affairs
and Communications
[email protected]
President:
Bernard Stotland
Executive Director:
Dr. Hartley Stern
Director of Public Affairs
& Communications:
Glenn J. Nashen
Editor:
Henry Mietkiewicz
Contributors:
Laure-Elise Singer
Mark Shainblum
Stephanie Malley
Pascal Fischer
Francesca Frati
David Smajovits
Graphic design:
Christine Lalonde
Translation:
Louise Trépanier
Printer:
Les Emballages Colorama
Photography:
JGH Audio-Visual Services
To subscribe, please see page 29
Publications Mail Agreement
#40062499
Return undeliverable mail with Canadian
addresses to:
Jewish General Hospital
3755 Côte Ste-Catherine Road
A-107
Montreal, Quebec H3T 1E2
Tel.: 514-340-8222
jgh.ca
Sheila Maislin
Chief, Department of Occupational Therapy
(Physical Medicine)
2
Fall 2010
75 years of care for all.
A McGill University
Teaching Hospital
Contents
Cover Stories
Oh, K! A new pavilion is on the way
We have takeoff 8
Historical highlights 13
New wing takes flight
The evolution of Pavilion K
Room to manoeuvre 10
Statistical snapshot 14
Winning the space race
Playing by the numbers
Juggling a billion details 12
Seeking essential support 15
Brains behind the building
The crucial role of donors
On the cover: Artist’s conception of Pavilion K. Illustration by jodoin lamarre pratte | gross kaplin coviensky | architectes en consortium.
Features
Dr. Ernesto
Schiffrin
Order of Canada 4
Second to none 22
Two leaders honoured
Ride to Conquer Cancer
Grand openings 5
Giant steps forward 23
New for kids and walk-in patients
Weekend to End Women’s Cancers
Molecular machinations 15
Environmental exploration 24
Personalized cancer treatment
Researching metals’ toxicity
Of Special Interest
Super supermarketing 21
Sound nutritional advice
Quest for quality 26
Medical devices made safer
That’s entertainment! 29
Cool jazz, hot hypnosis
Mini-Med School 31
Insight into health care
Familiar Faces
Foundation report 17
Newsmakers 28
To your health 30
Auxiliary report 32
The big picture 35
Living Will 34
Making your voice heard
Shana Tova 5771
Best wishes for a healthy and happy New Year
JGH News
3
Order of Canada honours
Appointment for JGH Physician-in-Chief
D
r. Ernesto Schiffrin, the JGH Physician-in-Chief whose pioneering
efforts have improved the cardiovascular health of patients across
Canada, has been named a Member of the Order of Canada.
“I am thrilled to
receive this honour
and very grateful
for the recognition.
As a ‘new Canadian’,
I’ve been made so
welcome and been
given so many
opportunities.
If you have a talent
to share and are
committed to
excellence, you can
accomplish great
feats in Quebec
and in Canada.”
4
Fall 2010
In the official announcement on June 30, Dr. Schiffrin was praised by Governor General Michaëlle Jean
for his “contributions to the
study of hypertension, notably through his research on
the mechanisms underlying
high blood pressure, as well
as for his leadership roles in
scientific committees and societies.”
“I am thrilled to receive
this honour and very grateful for the recognition,” says
Dr. Schiffrin, who arrived in
Montreal in 1976 from his native Buenos Aires. “As a ‘new
Canadian’, I’ve been made so
welcome and been given so
many opportunities. If you
have a talent to share and are
committed to excellence, you
can accomplish great feats in
Quebec and in Canada.”
Dr. Schiffrin joined the Jewish General Hospital
in 2006, and within months, founded and launched
the Cardiovascular Prevention Centre in Pavilion
H. Not only does the Centre provide treatment by
a comprehensive team of healthcare professionals, it
has become a leader in advising individuals how to
prevent cardiovascular disease.
As Director of the Centre, Dr. Schiffrin also conducts clinical research to identify the mechanisms of
high blood pressure and to devise and refine treatments. “Since arriving at the JGH, I have received
support and resources that have led to advances
in cardiovascular research and academia,” he says.
“These have had a significant impact on the care of
our patients, which remains our No. 1 objective.”
Dr. Schiffrin holds the Canada Research Chair
in Hypertension and Vascular Research at the JGH
Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research; is Professor and Vice-Chair (Research) in McGill University’s
Department of Medicine; is President of the Quebec Hypertension Society; and is Associate Editor of
Dr. Ernesto Schiffrin
Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association.
He received the 2010 Bjorn Folkow Award of the
European Society of Hypertension earlier this year;
was presented with the Irvine Page-Alva Bradley
Lifetime Achievement Award from the High Blood
Pressure Research Council of the American Heart
Association in 2007; and was elected Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada in 2006.
In addition, Dr. Schiffrin has served as President of
the InterAmerican Society of Hypertension (20052007), Chair of the High Blood Pressure Research
Council of the American Heart Association (20022004), and President of the Canadian Hypertension
Society (1991-92). He lectures extensively on hypertension at national and international conferences;
has written more than 450 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters; and is editor of
two books on molecular and clinical aspects of vascular disease and hypertension.
Grand openings
Leading philanthropist
promoted to Officer
A
lvin Cramer Segal, named a Member of the
Order of Canada in 2002, has been promoted to
Officer. Thus, he has now been honoured by two
consecutive Governors General—originally by Adrienne Clarkson and most
recently by Michaëlle
Jean, who praised Mr.
Segal for his “continued
contributions to various
organizations, notably in
the arts and healthcare
sector, as well as education and social services.”
Mr. Segal provided
funding that was instrumental in creating the
JGH Segal Cancer Centre, an internationally reAlvin Cramer Segal
nowned facility that provides a comprehensive array of cancer-related services
to patients from across Montreal and throughout Quebec. In addition, the Segal McGill Chair in Molecular
Oncology promotes ongoing research in the field, with a
view to developing customized cancer treatments.
The Alvin Segal Family Foundation offers ongoing
support for a wide variety of healthcare, educational and
cultural institutions. Its beneficiaries include the Ichilov
Hospital in Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel, the McGill University Jewish Studies Teacher
Training Program, the Jewish Public Library, Federation
CJA, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Contemporary Arts Museum.
Mr. Segal is President of the Canadian Friends of the
Shalom Hartman Institute and Chairman of the Board
of the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal. He
was the 2006 recipient of the Arts/Business Personality,
an award by The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal and the Montreal Council for the Arts.
Mr. Segal was appointed a Member of the Order of
Canada for his contribution to Canada’s apparel industry. An entrepreneur, spokesperson and leader in the
field, he is Chairman and CEO of Peerless Clothing, the
largest supplier of men’s fine tailored clothing in North
America. He is also President of the Men’s Clothing
Manufacturers Association, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Apparel Manufacturers Institute
of Quebec and of the Canadian Apparel Federation.
The Board of Directors and administration of the
Jewish General Hospital extend their warmest congratulations to Mr. Segal for his generosity and friendship as a
benefactor and builder of the JGH.
A new building for a new year
Children receive treatment in bright,
airy, welcoming surroundings
M
ore than 40 years after it was founded, the JGH Child Psychiatry program finally has a home it can call its own—a
bright, airy, welcoming building that has just been opened
to coincide with the beginning of the new school year.
Enjoying the gym in the
new Centre for Child
Development and Mental
Health are (from left)
childcare coordinator
Esther Watts, teacher Ellie
Diner, Dr. Jaswant Guzder
and Rosemary Short.
For the first time, children with
emotional, psychological and behavioural problems will be treated
and supervised in surroundings
that were specifically built to improve the quality of their care.
No longer will they be greeted by
decades-old—and sometimes intimidating—facilities that, for the
most part, were never designed or
intended to be used by youngsters.
Instead, the Ruth and Saul Kaplan Pavilion, on Côte Ste-Catherine just west of Légaré, provides
the children in the Centre for Child
Development and Mental Health
with a full-sized gym, large-windowed rooms bathed in natural
light, toilets and sinks scaled to the
kids’ height, and play areas where
their behaviour can be discreetly
monitored by staff and researchers.
The children who benefit from
the new facilities are mainly of
school age (kindergarten through
Grade 6), but range from 3 to 12
years old, with out-patients up to
the age of 15. In the course of treatment, they keep up with regular
school work during their four days
per week at the hospital, with the
fifth day spent at their own schools.
Construction of the Ruth and
Saul Kaplan Pavilion was made possible by a major donation from Stephen and Terry Kaplan, with generous support from the estate of the
late Saul Kaplan; Chancellor Arnold
Steinberg and Dr. Blema Steinberg;
Adam Steinberg; and Beryl and the
late Ralph Goldman.
A less obvious but equally significant aspect of the new building
is the consolidation of all activities
under one roof. Until last spring,
the Child Psychiatry program operated in four locations: a floor in
Pavilion A, two spaces in the JGH
Institute for Community and Family Psychiatry, and rented rooms in
the Coronation Public School.
Continued … please turn the page.
JGH News
5
The new Ruth and Saul Kaplan Pavilion, home of the Centre for Child Development and Mental Health.
The children will be helped greatly by the ability of all members of staff to truly work in unison, says Dr. Jaswant Guzder,
the Centre’s Director. “For the first time, we can really use our
staff effectively in a therapeutic milieu,” she says. “Our job is
to build competence among these children and now we have a
much, much better chance of doing that.”
Rosemary Short, Head Nurse of Child Psychiatry, says that
especially in treating children, “we’re cognizant of the stigma
that may exist. That’s why, even though the services are excellent, the facilities need to give people the sense that they’ve
come to the right place. That’s exactly what we have here—a
building that builds kids’ self-esteem in an atmosphere that’s
pleasant and full of light.”
Even the parents benefit from these surroundings, notes Dr.
Michael Bond, JGH Chief of Psychiatry, because the bright
environment reassures them that their children are being well
cared for, and this promotes calmness and confidence among
all members of the family. “This new building represents true
continuity of care in our Child Psychiatry program, as well as
our hopes for the future,” he says.
6
Fall 2010
New centre still seeking support
For well over four decades, community support has sustained the JGH
Child Psychiatry program. Without it, many children with emotional or
behavioural problems—and their families—would have had nowhere
else to turn. Nor would they have benefited from the compassionate and
comprehensive care they needed to lead healthy and productive lives.
Even as the Centre for Child Development and Mental Health is launched,
private support is still urgently needed to complete the funding of its
construction; to design and install a surface for the exterior playground;
and to purchase child-friendly equipment and furniture. This is a unique
opportunity to make a lifelong difference in children’s lives. Your support
will help enhance their treatment and outcomes today and for years to
come.
Donations can be made at www.jghfoundation.org
or by calling the JGH Foundation at 514-340-8251.
No appointment? No problem!
The doctor will see you now in the new walk-in centre
S
eeing a doctor without an appointment at the Jewish General Hospital is now as easy as walking in off the
street and making the request. Not even a prior telephone call is needed for service at the Herzl CRIU Walk-In
Centre, a new type of clinic that was launched on June 22.
For patients, the Walk-In Centre provides
a way of gaining faster and easier access to
health care for medical problems that require prompt attention, but may not be
serious enough for a trip to the Emergency
Department. Patients are seen 365 days a
year on the fifth floor of 5858 Côte-desNeiges, Monday through Friday from 8:30
a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and on weekends from
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
For the Jewish General Hospital, this is
the latest effort to build partnerships with
other agencies and institutions to improve
the quality of Quebec’s healthcare system.
The clinic is the product of close cooperation between the JGH Herzl Family Practice
Centre and the CSSS de la Montagne, with
support from the Montreal Regional Health
and Social Services Agency and McGill University.
“Together, we are building a new model
of care,” Dr. Hartley Stern, JGH Executive
Director, noted at the opening of the clinic.
“This new Centre is the realization of our
dream to work collaboratively to improve
the quality of care for patients across the
province, while promoting their safety, security and dignity.”
Marc Sougavinsky, Executive Director of
the CSSS de la Montagne, said he sees the
CRIU—Clinique réseau intégrée universitaire, or Integrated University Network
Clinic—as the “ultimate model” to reduce
waiting times, diminish congestion in the
ER and create a smooth flow throughout
the healthcare system. “We’re piloting a
strong, new base in frontline care, with the
objective of developing similar facilities in
Montreal in the future,” he said.
Also noteworthy is the “U” in “CRIU”,
which represents the clinic’s mandate for
teaching multidisciplinary health care in a
university hospital setting, with extensive
clinical links to primary care in the surrounding communities. The JGH and the
CSSS Sud-Ouest Verdun have been designated as the two initial sites to develop this
concept.
Dr. Michael Malus, JGH Chief of Fam-
Touring the new Herzl CRIU
Walk-In Centre on its opening
day were (from right) Dr. Hartley
Stern, Dr. Michael Malus, Marc
Sougavinsky, Isabelle Caron
and Christiane Barbeau of the
Montreal Regional Health
and Social Services Agency.
ily Medicine, said patients with regular
appointments at the Herzl Family Practice
Centre will be seen as usual on the second
floor of Pavilion H. However, if Herzl patients experience acute medical problems,
they can go straight to the Walk-In Centre.
In addition, if an individual suddenly
needs medical care between regular visits to
a specialist, the Walk-In Centre can provide
prompt help before a crisis develops and
hospitalization is required.
Dr. Malus said the new centre is not
meant to replace the Emergency Department for critical cases. “We see ourselves as
a support system to ease congestion in the
Emergency Room and look after patients
with suitable walk-in problems. There is
also a team to provide care for patients with
chronic illnesses, who would otherwise likely require hospital admission if their needs
were left unmet.” This multidisciplinary
team includes doctors, nurses, two nurse
practitioners, a nutritionist, psychologist,
social worker and clinician pharmacist.
At the opening, Isabelle Caron, Nursing Director of Medicine, Psychiatry and
Geriatrics, said that patients with one or
more chronic illnesses “will have security in
knowing that we will get a full team around
you to give you the best quality of life possible.”
Warmest thanks
to JGH donors
The generosity of private donors was
instrumental in carrying out the extensive renovations that created a home
for the Herzl CRIU Walk-in Centre—a
testament to the importance of private
funding in advancing patient care for
all. The JGH Foundation thanks all of
the donors who are enabling the hospital to achieve excellence in addressing the healthcare needs of patients
from across Montreal and throughout
Quebec.
JGH News
7
New wing prepares to take flight
Pavilion K will take
quality of care
to new heights
S
hovels are scheduled to hit the dirt this fall, as the
Jewish General Hospital embarks on the most ambitious expansion project in its history. Pavilion K, a
new northwest wing, will provide prompt, effective care
of superior quality in secure, spacious surroundings to an
ever-increasing number of patients from across Montreal
and Quebec.
Dr. Hartley Stern (left) and Dr. Yves Bolduc at a June 18 press
conference at the JGH to announce the government’s approval
for the first phase of Pavilion K.
Already confirmed for the first phase healing in a setting conducive to privacy.
answering a single question, ‘How can we
of construction is a new Emergency De“As impressive as this project is, it’s more do better for our patients?’”
partment, to be funded by the Ministry of than a new pavilion,” says Dr. Hartley Stern,
At a news conference in the hospital on
Health and Social Services and scheduled JGH Executive Director. “It’s a way of bring- June 18, Dr. Yves Bolduc, Minister of Health
for launch in spring 2012. Also on the ho- ing major improvements to the healthcare and Social Services, announced that the
rizon, but still awaiting governgovernment will foot the $93.9
ment approval, are three addimillion cost of the project’s first
tional phases of construction, to
phase, while an additional $25.9
be completed by about 2015.
million for underground parkThe focus of this $300 miling will come from the JGH
lion pavilion will be on treating
Foundation.
critical-care patients—those re“Our government is proud
quiring emergency care, intensive
to support the hospital with the
care, coronary care or neonatal
launch of this major project,”
intensive care—in facilities that
Dr. Bolduc said. “It addresses
minimize the spread of infectwo key priorities—developing
tion, bolster efficiency and can
healthcare services and supaccommodate the latest and most
porting the economy—through
sophisticated medical technology.
a robust investment program
At the same time, Pavilion K
that, in this case, will create the
will stress the humanization of
equivalent of 950 jobs.”
care, with a design that emphasiz- Artist’s conception of the new atrium and commercial space connectA key participant in the news
ing the existing hospital to Pavilion K. Visible at the top are walkways
es the privacy, dignity and safety between Pavilion K and the older buildings. (Illustrations by jodoin lamarre conference was Lawrence Bergof patients, as well as the comfort pratte | gross kaplin coviensky | architectes en consortium.)
man, President of the Governand well-being of families. This
ment Caucus and Member of the
will be achieved, to a large degree, by equip- system of this province and it will serve National Assembly for D’Arcy-McGee, who
ping Pavilion K only with private (one-bed) Quebecers extremely well for generations to praised the JGH for playing “a major role in
and semi-private (two-bed) rooms that are come. We are pleased to be working in part- the Montreal community. The Government
nership with the Quebec government to of Quebec is proud to support the developroomy and calming.
Patients’ rooms in the existing hospital build on our legacy of providing the high- ment of the hospital’s mission, notably by
will also be extensively renovated along the est quality of compassionate care to our pa- funding this extremely important Critical
lines of those in Pavilion K, with all three- tients and their families in our community Care Pavilion Project.”
or four-bed rooms converted into private or and throughout the province.”
JGH President Bernard Stotland calls
semi-private rooms. Thus, within five years,
patients throughout the JGH will be treated the go-ahead for the first phase of Pavilion
only in private or semi-private rooms—a K “a milestone of enormous significance,”
crucial means of limiting and preventing adding that during the planning process,
the spread of infection, while promoting “every decision that we made was based on
8
Fall 2010
Artist’s conception of Pavilion K at night,
as seen from Légaré St. The new Emergency Department is on the ground floor
of the shorter building at left. This
building’s upper floors will contain the
Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit,
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and operating rooms. The higher central building
will be largely devoted to patients’
rooms. At the lower right is Légaré,
reconfigured for two-way traffic. At the
upper right are the existing Cummings
Pavilion E, Segal Cancer Centre and Lady
Davis Institute for Medical Research.
Highlights of Pavilion K
Size and location
Surgery
At present, only a small number of enPavilion K’s 18 operating rooms (five
With a total area of about 600,000 square
feet (55,000 square metres), Pavilion K will closed stretcher areas are equipped with more than at present) will have at least douface Légaré St. and occupy the land that is negative pressure—a type of ventilation ble the area of current ORs, making them
that sucks air into the room to prevent the
better able to handle the newnow a parking lot north of Cumest oversized high-tech equipmings Pavilion E and west of Pament. Wherever possible, these
vilion H. When complete, the pamajor pieces of machinery will
vilion will consist of three main
be ceiling-mounted to improve
structures: a five-storey building
safety by reducing clutter on the
known as the “podium” (confloor. (Once Pavilion K’s operattaining the critical-care departing rooms are opened, the existments), a seven-storey tower atop
ing ORs will be converted into
the podium (containing about
patients’ rooms.)
150 patient care beds) and an
All of the new operating
atrium (commercial space and a
rooms will be wired and serfood court connecting Pavilions
viced to enable them to handle
K and E). In addition, connecting
any type of surgery. This will
walkways will closely integrate
result in greater flexibility and
the activities of the new wing
efficiency, leading to further rewith the existing hospital. Conductions in waiting times.
struction is scheduled to begin
To maximize cleanliness and
this fall on the Emergency De- Artist’s conception of a waiting room in Pavilion K’s new Emergency
Department. Behind the rear windows are isolation areas for patients who
minimize the possibility of inpartment, which will occupy the have passed through triage, but are suspected of being infectious.
fection, sterilized surgical equipground floor of the podium.
spread of infectious airborne particles. In ment will be placed on sealed carts that go
Emergency Department
Pavilion K, half of the 53 stretcher areas will straight from the Central Sterilization DeWhen a patient’s life is in danger, the have negative pressure systems, while the partment to the ORs via a special, immacuamount of “elbow room” in the Emergen- rest will include infrastructure for the later late elevator.
cy Department’s stretcher areas is crucial: installation of negative pressure.
healthcare personnel need space to work
To ease the stress on relatives who are Neonatal care
For the first time, private rooms—10 of
without being cramped, even when using awaiting news about a loved one, an elecbulky high-tech equipment. That’s why tronic bulletin board will be mounted in them—will be incorporated into Neonatal
each of Pavilion K’s stretcher areas will be Emergency waiting areas. For reasons of Intensive Care. The remaining incubators
2½ times larger than those in the current confidentiality, patients will be identified will be arranged in semi-open groupings of
Emergency Department. The new ER will by on-screen codenames. Individuals who six, in line with recent research indicating
also have its own dedicated medical sup- know the codename for a particular patient that the parents of high-risk infants appreport services, including a CT scanner and will be able to consult the bulletin board for ciate the opportunity to come into contact
two digital radiography rooms.
the latest updates.
JGH News
9
Room to manoeuvre
Space spells safety a
I
n moments of medical emergency, time may be
of the essence—but space can be just as crucial
a life-saver.
Cutaway illustration of Pavilion K, as seen from Légaré St. The passerelles (walkways) and new atrium will permit easy access from the existing hospital to corresponding floors in Pavilion K. The new Emergency
Department, approved for construction this fall, will be at ground level,
the lowest of the orange bars. Parking will be underground.
with one another.
Since the JGH is recognized as a high-risk pregnancy centre
that serves all of Quebec, the number of high-risk pregancy beds
will double from six to 12, while the number of operating rooms
for Caesarean sections will double from one to two.
In addition, the birthing rooms, to be increased from 11 to 15,
will be designed to seem more like comfortable hotel rooms than
hospital rooms. Eight private rooms will also be built where family members of the new mothers can spend the night.
Intensive care
The current 22 beds, now inconveniently split into two units,
will be consolidated into a single Intensive Care Unit and increased in number to 36. Each room will have double the present
area to give staff (and their equipment) the necessary clearance
to work swiftly and efficiently to help a patient in times of crisis.
All of the ICU rooms will be private and, in order to promote
healing for patients while reducing stress among relatives, they
will be designed with large windows opening onto scenic vistas.
Coronary care and cardiology
Pavilion K will feature a comprehensive cardiovascular centre whose 18-bed Coronary Care Unit will include an expanded
12-bed unit for patients requiring intensive coronary care, combined with a six-bed Cardiac Surgery Unit. The cardiovascular
centre will also contain a 36-bed Cardiology in-patient unit.
To enhance safety, efficiency and communication among
healthcare staff, these units will be within easy reach of the
Radiology Department and related cardiology services in Pavilions D and E.
Crisis conversion
Thanks to Pavilion K, the Jewish General Hospital will be able
to handle many more patients and more easily serve Montreal
in times of crisis—for example, after a large-scale flu outbreak,
a natural catastrophe or a major accident. Within 24 hours, the
JGH can add 250 beds by temporarily converting its private
(one-bed) rooms into semi-private (two-bed) rooms. (However,
no three- or four-bed rooms will be created; those will be gone
forever.)
10
Fall 2010
Space is freedom: it gives members of a crisis team the vital
“elbow room” they need to work on a single patient at the same
time. Space is speed: it allows sophisticated but sometimes bulky
digital equipment to be wheeled into position without delay. Space
is even defence: it permits walls to be built between patients’ rooms
to protect the weakest and most vulnerable from infection.
That’s why space—a key contributor to cleanliness, safety, efficiency and the high quality of care—is intrinsic to Pavilion K. And
when the first phase of construction is completed in 2012, the pavilion’s ground-floor centrepiece will be a brand new Emergency
Department that sprawls across 82,000 square feet—more than
double the present area.
Similar improvements are planned for Pavilion K’s later phases.
Not only will the operating rooms be more spacious, they’ll have
higher ceilings from which to hang video monitors and other
equipment for robot-assisted and minimally invasive surgery. This
will prevent mishaps under foot by reducing the amount of clutter
on the floors.
Elsewhere, generous storage space for essential supplies will be
within easier reach of staff in Intensive and Coronary Care. And
the profusion of private rooms—including those in the new Family Birthing Centre and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit—will enable
visitors to move about and relax in unprecedented comfort.
According to the chiefs of the medical departments that will occupy Pavilion K, space may once have been a luxury, but now it
is nothing short of a necessity. They agree that as medical science
evolves, as medical technology becomes more complex, and as a
patient’s recovery is increasingly tied to privacy and the presence of
family, generous space can almost be considered a type of medical
instrument.
Then, by implication, doesn’t this mean that some of the crowded facilities in the older part of the hospital are considerably less
than ideal? Yes, say the chiefs, but they explain that these areas were
perfectly adequate for the needs of their day, sometimes even exceeding the standards of the eras in which they were built.
And, in fact, many of the locales in the existing pavilions are far
from outdated. For example, it’s been only a year since the thoroughly modernized and expanded Division of Radiation Oncology
was reopened. And the Segal Cancer Centre is as bright and roomy
as the day it was launched in 2006. In addition, many areas in the
older pavilions—for example, the Divisions of Cardiology and Geriatrics—recently underwent extensive renovation.
The chiefs also note with pride that the JGH compensates for its
physical limitations through the exceptional efforts of its staff and
volunteers. Thus, the Emergency Department, despite its cramped
current quarters, is repeatedly cited by the government for having
the shortest waiting times of all university teaching hospitals in
Montreal. And the Intensive Care Unit, though hampered by being
and comfort in Pavilion K
split into two treatment areas, excelled during the H1N1 outbreak
earlier this year; even though the ICU’s flu-related burden was
Artist’s conception of
among the heaviest of any Montreal hospital, there was a 100-perthe triage and regiscent recovery rate among the JGH’s critically ill patients.
tration area for the
Dr. Marc Afilalo, Chief of the Emergency Department, recalls
Emergency Departthat when his newly renovated Emergency Room was launched in
ment in Pavilion K.
1997, its ultra-modern design and its innovative workflow system
(Illustrations by jodoin
lamarre pratte | gross
became the model that other Quebec institutions copied. But, says
kaplin coviensky | archiDr. Afilalo, the ER was built to handle a 130 visits per day; today
tectes en consortium.)
it is struggling with an average daily burden of 200 visits. Space is
“eaten up” not only by the higher volume of patients, but by the
extra personnel who are normally present in a modern ER—doctors and nurses, as well as allied healthcare professionals, students, In the Emergency Department, nurses Emilie Scheldeman and Jonathan Harroch attend to the needs
researchers and volunteers.
Many of patients are also sicker than was the case in the ’90s, of a patient whose heart is being monitored.
Dr. Afilalo adds, with greater numbers of elderly patients seeking
Artist’s conception of a
patient’s private room in
help for chronic diseases or multiple ailments. And since the treatthe Intensive Care Unit
ment of cancer is now one of the Jewish General Hospital’s main
of Pavilion K. It features
missions, approximately one of every four ER visitors is a cancer
ample space for high-tech
patient with a problem related to infection, the side-effects of cheequipment and for staff
motherapy, or complications
who need to work on all
caused by the disease’s progressides of the patient. Of
key importance for the
sion.
patient’s morale is natural
Nor did anyone in the midlight from a large window,
1990s foresee that a decade latthrough which can be
er, the ER would lack the space
seen an actual panorama
for sufficient isolation areas
north of the JGH.
to cope with a growing prolifA major advantage of Pavilion K, adds Ms.
eration of infections, such as C.
Thaw, will be the extra space for family memdifficile, VRE, MRSA, the H1N1
bers who may now experience discomfort while
flu and even a resurgence of tuvisiting patients or sleeping over in the hospital.
berculosis.
“At the moment, our physical layout doesn’t lend
In the Intensive Care Unit,
itself very well to those activities. What each of
the hospital responded to the
these families needs—and what they’ll eventualrising volume of patients by In a narrow isolation area of the Intensive Care Unit, a
central venous catheter is inserted into a patient (fully
ly get—is a big enough room that can be ‘closed
adding beds in 2003. Unfortu- hidden by the blue covering) by (from right) Dr. Jed Lipes,
down’ to make them feel really sheltered and
nately, the only way to do so was Dr. Karl Cernovitch and nurse Olga Shunikova.
protected in a private environment.”
by building a second ICU down
Like Intensive Care, the Department of Surgery is finding that its
the hall from the first one. The lack of seamless integration between
these 12-bed and 10-bed units “sometimes leads to inefficiency,” latest generation of equipment has grown in size and complexity,
says Dr. Paul Warshawsky, the Interim Chief, “especially when cir- says Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, JGH Surgeon-in-Chief. Today’s operating rooms need to be larger to accommodate everything from the
cumstances require a patient to be moved from one to the other.”
“A second ICU made sense at the time,” adds Jackie Raboy Thaw, tools of orthopedic surgery to the newest neuronavigators, which
Nurse Co-ordinator in the ICU, “but it also means we need double help neurosurgeons determine the exact point on the skull where
the storage. You shouldn’t have to take more than a certain number an incision is to be made. Even surgical tables are getting bigger to
handle the demands of modern surgery.
of footsteps to get what you need, especially in moments of crisis.”
At the moment, Dr. Rosenberg says, the JGH’s operating rooms
To reduce infection in the ICU, barriers are now placed between
certain patients, Dr. Warshawsky says, but the cramped conditions are located in one of the oldest sections of the hospital, which is
sometimes make it difficult for multiple members of staff to work why temperature and humidity levels are not always comfortable.
on one patient at the same time. “That area needs to be sterile,” he However, conditions will be much improved in Pavilion K, whose
says, “and we have to be extremely careful not to contaminate it ORs will also be properly wired for the most up-to-date digital
when space is so limited.”
JGH News
11
Vision
In a snug but efficient operating room, Dr.
Jean-François Morin (second from left), Chief
of Cardiac Surgery, performs an operation with
members of his team, (from left) nurse Corine
Capdevielle, general surgeon Dr. Gail Breton and
perfusionist Alain Robert.
surgical tools, including video monitors
(used in minimally invasive procedures)
that can be suspended from the ceiling.
Taken as a whole, the improvements in
Pavilion K will greatly cut the spread of infection, especially with the creation of so
many new private rooms, says Pearl Orenstein, Coordinator of Infection Prevention
and Control. However, the extra space in
Pavilion K has many other advantages.
For instance, she says, when beds are not
crowded together and the floor is less cluttered, dust and dirt do not gather so readily, making furniture much easier to clean
and disinfect. Thus, with cleanliness comes
greater safety for the patient.
More area in Pavilion K also means more
wall space for dispensers of soap and waterless hand-hygiene products, as well as for
handily positioned receptacles for disposing of used needles. In addition, Ms. Orenstein says, larger corridors can accommodate more sinks, enabling healthcare staff
to conveniently avoid washing their hands
in sinks used by infectious patients. As well,
those bigger corridors give staff easier access to the gloves, gowns and masks that
they put on before entering the room of an
infectious patient.
“Any way you look at it,” she says, “having that extra space will be a major leap
forward for patients and staff alike. When
it comes to preventing and fighting infection, you can never take too many precautions, whether you’re talking about patients’ rooms, the Emergency Department,
the ICU or any area where cleanliness is so
closely tied to the quality of care.”
12
Fall 2010
F
Guiding Pavilion K
in for a smooth landing
or Philippe Castiel, the challenge of overseeing an exceptionally complicated project like Pavilion K demands more than
technical ability: In a figurative sense, it requires the panoramic
vision, multi-level thinking and improvisational skills of an air traffic
controller.
Behind and below the members of the Pavilion K Development Team is the rear of Pavilion H, whose
parking lot will be the site of Pavilion K. Front row, from left: Joanne Côté, Georges Bendavid,
Emilie Boileau, Laura Azoulay, Fanny Obadia, Yaël Harroche and Robert Krief. Rear, from left: Renée
Mahfoda-Azoulay, Pascal Dayan, Philippe Castiel, Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, Albert Lévy and Marjan
Yazdanpanah. Not shown: Dr. Stephen Rosenthal and Kotiel Berdugo.
Over the next four to five years, the JGH
team headed by Mr. Castiel will have four
enormous “aircraft” on its screen at the
same time. These are the four major elements of the Pavilion K project—all at different points in their “flights” (i.e., their
development), all zooming toward the
JGH on intersecting and overlapping trajectories, and all expecting to land without
a hitch, one after the other.
Mr. Castiel, Director of Planning and
Real Estate Development, says this complexity exists because in-depth preparation must take place simultaneously for all
four of the project’s parts: the Emergency
Department and parking garage; the critical care facilities; the patients’ rooms and
commercial space; and the extensive renovation of patients’ rooms in the existing
hospital.
He explains that this is the most realistic
way to cope with the multitude of variables
in the project’s four parts, while recognizing that each of these parts (and their numerous sub-projects) can directly affect
the others in many ways. As a result, at the
planning stage, it is not feasible to finalize one major element before moving on
to the next. Rather, all aspects of Pavilion
K project must be considered at the same
time and must be handled in parallel.
This scenario has made the journey
tougher, but ultimately, Mr. Castiel believes, it will be much more rewarding.
First and foremost, keeping the four major
parts active at the same time will enable the
JGH to fast-track Pavilion K and complete
it much sooner than would otherwise have
been the case. This means patients will
more quickly reap the benefits of improved
quality of care, greater safety, more privacy,
better infection control, and facilities that
are easier to keep clean.
In addition, the savings in time translates
into savings in money, because construction can proceed swiftly enough to limit
the effects of inflation. “The worst thing
for this project is a stop-and-go approach
that lets it drag,” Mr. Castiel says. “What you
need is momentum that keeps everyone—
government, donors, healthcare staff and
planners—enthusiastic and committed to
following through to the very end. Never
underestimate the importance of momentum.”
The groundwork for Pavilion K was laid
in the mid-2000s by a small planning team
consisting of Mr. Castiel, then-Executive
Director Henri Elbaz and JGH architect Yaël
Harroche. It has since expanded consider-
ably to include input from a large number
of individuals and groups, including Executive Director Dr. Hartley Stern, a committee of JGH healthcare professionals, a construction committee and staff in Technical
Services.
Based on their input, Mr. Castiel and
his colleagues made a dozen presentations
between spring 2008 and fall 2009 to “sell”
Pavilion K to the relevant ministries and
agencies in the governments of Quebec and
Montreal.
The success of the project thus far is the
result of a team effort, as well as hard work,
insight and guidance from many people in
the JGH, Mr. Castiel says. However, he singles out three individuals for special note:
Dr. Stern, Senior Architect Fanny Obadia
(masterminding the programming of space
for phases 2 and 3), and Technical Services
Director Kotiel Berdugo (for overall strategy and smooth negotiations with the city).
Also deserving of special mention in the
planning process, Mr. Castiel says, are Dr.
Lawrence Rosenberg, JGH Surgeon-inChief, and Joanne Côté, Nursing Coordinator in Cardiology, who supplied crucial information about the clinical needs of staff;
the JGH Construction Committee, chaired
by Stephen Kaplan; and the Board members
and other volunteer advisers who contributed their insight and expert opinions.
“We’re moving at lightning speed, and
planning is the key,” he says. “Without it,
there’s no way we could have expected to
start digging in the fall, after getting government approval as recently as June. It won’t
be easy, but we’ll be keeping everything in
proper alignment.”
The pivotal purchase that made Pavilion K possible
O
n a cold February day in
made its first presentation to the
2005, the boardroom of
government about the project that
the Jewish General Hospiwould become Pavilion K, and those
tal was the scene of a momentous
meetings continued regularly until
event that, within mere minutes, set
the fall of 2009.
the JGH firmly on a course into the
At the 2005 signing ceremony,
next quarter-century and beyond.
Immediate Past President Jonathan
There, amid low-key laughter, firm
Wener, during whose term the JGH
handshakes and a toast to the fuhad begun serious negotiations to
ture, ownership of six precious acres
buy the land, called the purchase
of land—just north of the hospital,
“one of the most important transacbetween Côte-des-Neiges and Létions the JGH has undertaken since
garé—passed to the JGH from Les
the hospital’s founders bought the
Soeurs de Sainte-Croix, an educa- The land on which Pavilion K will be built—and on which Pavilion land that the hospital now sits on.”
tional order of nuns that had occu- H now stands—was purchased from Les Soeurs de Sainte-Croix at
“This was a very big step for us,”
a 2005 signing ceremony attended by (from left) Past President
pied the property for 77 years.
said
Sister Thérèse Lefrançois, TreaJonathan Wener, Vice-President James Alexander, Sister Annette
Without this land, the hospital’s Legault, Executive Director Henri Elbaz, Sister Thérèse Lefrançois surer of Les Soeurs de Ste-Croix.
options for expansion—and for and President Stanley K. Plotnick.
“We’ve owned the property since
medical services of higher quality in
1928 and now we’re losing that asbright, welcoming surroundings—would Les Soeurs de Ste-Croix. Over the years, pect of our history, but for a good cause.”
have been severely limited. Pavilion K, representatives of the JGH had repeatedly “We refused offers to build condominiums
which will occupy most of the property, expressed an interest in buying the land. because we wanted to serve the communiwould have remained a dream. Pavilion Finally, in 2002, the hospital was informed ty,” added Sister Annette Legault, Regional
H, housed since 2005 in the largest of the that the time was right; afterwards, a spe- Director of the Order.
nuns’ renovated buildings, would not now cial letter authorizing the transaction was
A satisfied Executive Director Henri Elbe home to the Cardiovascular Prevention issued by the Vatican.
baz said that with this purchase, “the obCentre, the Herzl Family Practice Centre,
As far back as 2000, the hospital’s master stacles that stand in the way of improved
the Women’s Care Centre or other urgently plan acknowledged that expansion would patient care can be resolved,” while Presineeded services.
be a necessity within a decade, but only with dent Stanley K. Plotnick noted that the JGH
The signing ceremony marked the cul- the purchase of the neighbouring property was “blessed to have neighbours who care
mination of a warm relationship that had in 2005 did meaningful growth became a so deeply about people and their welfare.”
existed for decades between the JGH and real possibility. The following year, the JGH
JGH News
13
Statistical snapshots
Spreading out
Building blocks to higher quality
• Clinical area of the JGH in 2010: 1 million square feet
• Area including Pavilion K: 1.8 million square feet
• Increase in area: 80 per cent
Serving patients better
• Total operating rooms in 2010: 13
• Total operating rooms in Pavilion K: 18
• Area of Emergency Department in 2010: 30,000 square feet
• Area of Emergency Department in Pavilion K: 82,000 square feet
• Private areas with negative pressure (to control infection)
for Emergency stretchers in 2010: 3
• Private areas with negative pressure for Emergency stretchers
in Pavilion K: Approximately 27
• Intensive Care beds in 2010: 22
• Intensive Care beds in Pavilion K: 36
• High-level Intensive Care beds (an intermediate step between
full Intensive Care and regular care) in 2010: 0
• High-level Intensive Care beds in Pavilion K: 20
The numbers behind the need
Pavilion K holds enormous promise, since it will make quicker
access to high-quality health care possible for the growing
number of patients served by the JGH.
• Beds for Cardiology’s intensive care patients in 2010: 8
• Beds in separate Cardiac Surgery unit in 2010: 6
• Beds in Pavilion K’s consolidated Coronary Care Unit: 18
(12 for Cardiology’s intensive care patients, 6 in Cardiac Surgery)
• Incubators in Neonatal Intensive Care in 2010: 28
• Incubators in Neonatal Intensive Care in Pavilion K: 40
• Birthing rooms in 2010: 11
• Birthing rooms in Pavilion K: 15
• High-risk pregnancy beds in 2010: 6
• High-risk pregnancy beds in Pavilion K: 12
The bedder way
• Beds the JGH is licensed to use: 637
• Beds in actual use at the JGH in 2010: 550 (due to space limitations)
• Beds in use throughout the JGH, with Pavilion K: 637
• Number of 3-bed and 4-bed rooms throughout the JGH, with Pavilion K: 0
(a result of construction and renovation)
• Private beds throughout the JGH in 2010: 90
• Private beds throughout the JGH, with Pavilion K: 450
• Total beds in Pavilion K: Nearly 250
Future shock
Expected change between 2006 and 2015 in the JGH patient population…
• Between the ages of 65 and 74: Up 22 per cent, higher than in similar
Montreal hospitals
• Between the ages of 20 and 44: Up 6 per cent, compared to decreases
in similar Montreal hospitals
• Under the age of 20 (mainly newborns and infants): Up 13 per cent,
compared to decreases in similar Montreal hospitals
It’s an emergency!
• Annual volume of patients that the JGH Emergency Department
was built to handle in the mid-1990s: 38,000
• Expected volume of Emergency patients in 2010: 70,000
• Emergency patients seen per day in 1995-1996: 124
• Emergency patients seen per day in 2010: Approximately 220
• Compared to any Quebec hospital of similar size, the JGH sees
nearly twice as many Emergency stretcher patients 75 years
and older in each four-week period.
• Increase in all Emergency stretcher patients between 1993 and
2008: More than 50 per cent (from 20,000 to 32,000 per year)
• Increase in elderly Emergency stretcher patients (at least
75 years old) between 1993 and 2008: 100 per cent
(from 5,000 to 10,000 per year)
14
Fall 2010
Coping with cancer care
With the opening of the Segal Cancer Centre in 2006, demand
for the JGH’s cancer-related services has skyrocketed. In the four
years between 2003-04 and 2007-08, the Oncology Department
experienced the following increases:
• Ambulatory visits: Up 81 per cent
• Oncology treatments: Up 36 per cent
• Medical oncology admissions: Up 26 per cent
• Surgical oncology admissions: Up 16 per cent
Patient profiles
• Total elderly Montrealers (at least 75 years old): 143,000
• Elderly Montrealers in the immediate area served by the JGH: 42,000
(nearly 30 per cent of the city’s total)
• In each four-week period, the JGH sees nearly twice as many elderly
patients as any other Montreal-area hospital.
• Proportion of low-income residents in the immediate area served by
the JGH: 27 per cent, higher than anywhere in Montreal
• Proportion of immigrants in the immediate area served by the JGH:
49 per cent of all residents, higher than anywhere in Quebec
This time it’s personal!
Community support
is absolutely critical
for critical-care pavilion
Private support has played—and will continue to play—a critical role in Pavilion K.
The land on which the pavilion is built was
purchased from Les Sœurs de Sainte-Croix,
thanks to generous donations from the
community. Private funding will also prove
essential in future stages of the project.
Indeed, tens of millions of dollars in
community support must be secured to
equip each department, unit and operating room with the latest and most sophisticated medical technology. Funding
will also be required to furnish the 128
new private and semi-private rooms with
state-of-the-art beds, equipment and furniture for the maximum comfort and safety of patients. Many other needs must also
be met, including purchasing chairs and
furniture for waiting areas.
The generosity of private donors will
be the key to ensuring that this critical
care pavilion reaches its full potential and
yields maximum benefits to patients from
across Montreal and throughout Quebec.
Donations can be made at
www.jghfoundation.org or by
calling the JGH Foundation at
514-340-8251.
Artist’s conception of a food court that will be
built between the existing hospital building
and Pavilion K. (Illustration by jodoin lamarre
pratte | gross kaplin coviensky | architectes en
consortium.)
Customized treatment strikes cancer
at the molecular level
I
f our struggle against cancer is war, then personalized medicine is
our smart bomb—custom-made to pinpoint and obliterate a specific
target (a tumour) without damaging the entire countryside (the rest
of the patient’s body).
And now, as medical research inten“We’re even starting to move away
sifies, and as digital technology leaps from classifying the disease by its locaforward, the JGH Segal Cancer Centre tion in the body—for instance, breast
is turning personalized medicine into a cancer or lung cancer or colon cancer,”
front-line weapon.
he adds. “It’s becoming more important
The key to this next-generation can- to find a particular genetic signature that
cer-fighting arsenal is genetics, explains determines what will happen to cancers
Dr. Gerald Batist, Director of the Segal anywhere in the body.”
Cancer Centre. Instead
Case in point: A womof blasting the tumour “Not only does personalan in her late 70s had
with an all-purpose ized care allow a great
been diagnosed with lung
“explosive” such as checancer at another Monmany patients to avoid
motherapy, doctors first
treal hospital and was
conduct a “genetic inter- taking drugs that won’t
told she had only a few
rogation” of the enemy help them, it also has
months to live. In desat the molecular level the potential to save the
peration, she turned to
to identify its unique Canadian public healthcare the Jewish General Hoscharacteristics. Then system enormous sums—
pital and was referred to
they search for tell-tale
Dr. Victor Cohen, an onperhaps hundreds of
signs—known as biocologist who specializes
markers—that reveal the millions of dollars—since
in lung cancer. After untumour’s deepest vul- ineffective drugs will no
dergoing genetic testing,
nerabilities. Armed with longer be prescribed.”
the woman was found
this information, docto have a certain genetic
tors can prescribe a specific drug that is mutation that made her an excellent canknown to be effective against a tumour didate for a particular cancer-fighting
with a particular bio-marker.
drug in pill form.
Gone is the guesswork of conven“This happened more than six years
tional medicine, whose basic approach ago,” Dr. Cohen recalls, “and today she’s
is, “We’ll treat you with something that still alive. At that time, she had already
worked on someone else, so there’s a begun her chemotherapy treatments
chance it may also work on you. And elsewhere and they were not going well.
if it doesn’t work, we’ll try a different If she had continued, the original progtreatment that worked on some other nosis would have been correct: She
people.”
would have died in six to 12 months. But
By contrast, customized medicine is at the Jewish General Hospital, we were
based on exploiting a tumour’s genetic able to take her treatment in an entirely
weaknesses by attacking it with the drug new direction.”
that is likeliest work. At the same time,
Dr. Cohen also notes that in pursuing
patients avoid toxic exposure to—and this promising line of therapy as early as
the debilitating side-effects of—drugs 2004, the JGH became one of the first
that have been shown to have no effect hospitals in Canada—if not the first—to
against this particular type of tumour. use molecular analysis to help guide diAs an added bonus, says Dr. Batist, pa- agnosis and treatment.
tients are often given a simple pill inThat’s why the Jewish General Hospital
stead of having to undergo lengthy and has been playing a prominent role as one
distressing chemotherapy or radiation of the academic organizers of the WIN
treatments.
JGH News
15
Customized treatment
Continued from page 15
Consortium—Worldwide Innoscope that will allow us to make
vative Networking in Personala greater contribution to perized Cancer Medicine—along
sonalized cancer care—and to
with global experts from leadhealth care in general—in Queing institutions in such cities as
bec and across Canada.”
Houston, Stockholm, Jerusalem,
To do so, Dr. Stern sees the
Munich and Mumbai. This past
JGH working closely with govJuly, Dr. Batist was a featured
ernment and forming partnerspeaker at WIN’s second symships with private industry,
posium in Paris; Dr. Alan Spatz,
particularly pharmaceutical
JGH Chief of Pathology, was
companies, to develop an eversimilarly featured in 2009.
increasing roster of drugs that
And now, a reality check:
will be targeted toward specific
Don’t expect across-the-board
types of tumours. The objecmiracles just yet. True, personaltive, he says, is to make the
ized medicine holds enormous
Molecular Pathology Institute a
promise and has been successful
reality within two years and to
in treating certain lung cancer
integrate it into existing clinical
patients. However, researchand laboratory space in the Seers are only just beginning to Dr. George Chong, Co-Director of the Molecular Pathology Unit, checks
gal Cancer Centre.
identify the bio-markers that samples of blood and tissue from which DNA will be extracted for further
Not only does personalized
determine which drugs have the analysis.
care allow a great many patients
best chance against a wide array of tumours with particular genetic to avoid taking drugs that won’t help them, it also has the potential
traits.
to save the Canadian public healthcare system enormous sums—
“Naturally, if we already have a drug that we know will help even perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars—since ineffective drugs
a very small number of people, it is a miracle for them,” says Dr. will no longer be prescribed, Dr. Stern says.
Mark Basik, a JGH surgical oncologist who splits his time between
“Cancer is just the start,” he adds. “I believe that within three
the operating room and the research lab. “This is why I’m so opti- years, we’ll begin applying similar treatments to cardiovascular dismistic about the future. But we still have a long way to go in figur- ease, diabetes and other illnesses. For now, our focus is on cancer
ing out how to bring that same level of personalization to patients because the impact of treating it is so profound, but our perspective
with other types of tumours.”
will be widening. The days of one-size-fits-all treatment are coming
For Dr. Basik, effective research means banking and testing large to an end.”
numbers of blood and tumour samples in an effort to find the specific drugs that will work on tumours with certain characteristics.
Personal support for personalized medicine
Because of his dual role as a surgeon and researcher, Dr. Basik is
also able to examine tumours during surgery to determine their
The JGH Foundation has launched a major fundraising campaign to
response to medication that was administered before the operation.
build and outfit the Molecular Pathology Institute to offer cutting-edge
Gaining a proper understanding of a tumour’s genetic traits
personalized medicine to cancer patients from across Montreal and
means that careful analysis must be conducted on a molecular level
throughout Quebec. This vital project must be funded exclusively through
with sophisticated digital equipment, and not simply by looking
private donations.
at tissue samples through a microscope. As a result, personalized
The Institute will play a vital role in:
medicine is causing major changes in the practice of pathology, says
•increasing knowledge about the risk factors of cancer growth, thereby
Dr. Alan Spatz.
enabling the disease to be treated more successfully or even prevented
Although the Jewish General Hospital currently has a fully func• providing quicker, more accurate and detailed diagnoses through
tioning molecular diagnostics laboratory, the goal is to create a Mo molecular testing, as well as faster evaluation and treatment
lecular Pathology Institute to help speed the process of providing
• implementing extensive molecular screening programs, while
life-saving treatments to cancer patients. The JGH is ideal for such
identifying new therapeutic targets and new predictive bio-markers
an institute, Dr. Spatz says, because its Pathology Department is
to save thousands of lives
already a recognized leader at the provincial and national levels.
• developing novel targeted molecular therapies to extend the lives
In addition, the hospital has strong leadership and tight cohesion
of those with advanced cancer (75 per cent of whom, on average,
among the pathologists, surgeons, researchers, nurses and other
now receive no benefit from standard drug treatments)
healthcare professionals who play a role in cancer care.
•promoting shorter turn-around times for clinical tests through
“There’s no question that molecular diagnostics is the way of the
workflow management and integrated IT
future, and the future is rapidly changing into the present,” says
Donations can be made at www.jghfoundation.org
JGH Executive Director Dr. Hartley Stern, who is also a colorectal surgeon. “Our current lab is too small and it’s largely run on
or by calling the JGH Foundation at 514-340-8251.
research grants. We need to stabilize it, expand it and give it the
16
Fall 2010
Stepping
UP
REPORT
A new generation of
young professionals rallies
behind the JGH
Avi Krispine &
Giancarlo Salvo,
Co-Chairs,
JGH Foundation’s
Next Generation
Committee
In this issue…
Governors’ Circle…
Mezuzah tribute…
Community action…
Bringing cutting-edge
research and treatment
to the fore
Celebrating an enduring
legacy of generosity and
commitment
Fun and rewarding
events that are
making a real
difference
September 2010 Jewish General Hospital Foundation JGH News 17
jghfoundation.org
Meet the
Next
Generation
Meet
the
Next
Generation
Multicultural, dynamic, enthusiastic, determined, and always on the lookout
for solutions: Co-Chairs Avi Krispine and Giancarlo Salvo, along with the 21
other young professionals and entrepreneurs of the JGH Foundation Next
Generation Committee, are in the vanguard of a new generation of philanthropists and are poised to make a significant contribution to the health and
well-being of our community.
Avi Krispine
Giancarlo Salvo
For more information about
the JGH Foundation Next
Generation committee, please visit
http://nextgen.jghfoundation.org
or contact Tali Chemtob at
514-340-8222, ext. 2028.
The Next Generation Committee, coordinated by Samara Granofsky, is composed of
members aged 25 to 40 who come from a variety of professions, cultural origins and religious backgrounds. They have taken it upon
themselves to use their extensive collaborative
and networking skills to promote and support
the Jewish General Hospital. Their main goals
are to educate and engage their peers in the
development and quality of the JGH’s services,
and to organize fundraising activities targeting areas of the hospital that are meaningful
to their demographic group.
The committee was launched in September 2009. As its first initiative, it held a benefit event, POP Open Your Mind, on May 29,
attracting over 600 young professionals and
raising more than $165,000 to support the
Louise Granofsky Psychosocial Oncology Program at the JGH Segal Cancer Centre. This
program, unique in Quebec, brings together
psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists,
nurses, physicians and researchers with years
of specialized experience. Together, they form
an integrated team to help patients and their
families overcome the psychological burden
of cancer at all stages of the illness. The program has proven highly effective in alleviating the distress of cancer patients and their
families and improving their quality of life;
it is funded almost entirely by private donations.
In the coming months, the committee
will be looking at ways of bringing attention to the JGH Department of Information Technology and will be fundraising in
its support. “Our generation, more than
any other, recognizes the importance of
new technologies as a tool to improve the
delivery and coordination of patient care,”
says Giancarlo. “We truly believe that IT services will play an increasingly crucial role in
the provision of health care in the future.”
With their incomparable drive and energy,
Next Generation committee members are
bringing a breath of fresh air to the Foundation and continuing, in their own unique way,
the JGH’s tradition of generosity, dedication
and commitment in providing outstanding
medical care, research and teaching for the
benefit of the people of Quebec. In turn, the
JGH Foundation is committed to providing
them with freedom of action, opportunities
and support to achieve their ambitious goals
and leave their mark on the hospital and all of
the communities it serves.
“We’re proud of the amount raised through
the event,” states Giancarlo, “but what’s important for us is that it contributed to increasing the level of awareness and commitment
towards the JGH among our peers across all
cultures.” POP was hugely successful in that
respect, based on the number of people who
wanted to get involved after the event, as well
as the extensive coverage it received from the
media, particularly the French media.
Fall 2010
18
September
2010 75 years of care for all.
Jewish General Ho
Upcoming events for members
th
75
Anniversary
75 Anniversary
Mezuzah Tribute
Mezuzah
Tribute
th
Governors' Circle
This fall, members of the Governors’ Circle will be invited
to the following exclusive, special events:
Fall Lecture
Molecular Pathology Institute:
Personalized cancer treatment
By Dr. Alan Spatz, MD
Chief of the JGH Department of Pathology
Wednesday, October 6, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Block Amphitheatre, Pavilion B-106,
Jewish General Hospital
Refreshments will be served at 8:30 p.m.
The lecture will be given in English, with a question period in French and English
Open to all JGH Foundation Governors’ Circle members
Space is limited: first come, first served. Please RSVP without delay
to Tiffany England at 514-340-8222, ext. 5467.
Breakfast with the Director
of the JGH Lady Davis Institute
for Medical Research
Featuring Dr. Roderick McInnes,
O.C., MD, PhD, FRCPC, FCCMG, FRSC
Wednesday, October 6, 7:30 – 8:30 a.m.
Open to Silver, Gold and Platinum members of the
JGH Foundation Governors’ Circle
Space is limited: first come, first served. Please RSVP without delay
to Tiffany England at 514-340-8222, ext. 5467.
“It’s not often that you have the opportunity to find out
about the latest medical and technical advances from the
very doctors and researchers whose vision and work are
shaping the future of healthcare. The lectures are positively
fascinating and provide a tantalizing glimpse of what’s
coming down the road, from advances in robotic surgery
to personalized medicine.”
— The Honourable E. Leo Kolber
Become a member!
Today, more than 5,600 members of the JGH Foundation
Governors’ Circle are providing exemplary support and
playing an important part in the advancement of clinical
research and/or patient care at the JGH and the promise it
holds for all patients and their loved ones.
You, too, can make a difference by joining us today! For
more information about membership or upcoming events
involving the Governors’ Circle, please contact Larry Sidel at
514-340-8222, ext. 1922, or at [email protected].
ospital Foundation
In 1929, the hospital’s founders, overcoming seemingly insurmountable financial odds, went door to door and, in only two
weeks, raised $1.5 million to build the JGH. As part of the hospital’s 75th anniversary, the JGH Foundation once again turned to
its supporters to repeat that first inspiring feat by raising another $1.5 million through the 75th Anniversary Mezuzah Tribute.
Funds were used to help renovate the JGH’s new main entrance
on Côte Sainte-Catherine Road.
On August 26, 2010, a spectacular reception and dedication
ceremony was held to mark the success of this special one-time
appeal. The reception culminated in the blessing of a specially
commissioned mezuzah from Israel, which is now affixed to the
doorpost of the new main entrance. A plaque was also unveiled
in the lobby, bearing the name of every family and individual
who contributed to the Mezuzah Tribute.
As we look forward to at least 75 more years of having the
JGH provide the best care for all, that evening serves as a powerful reminder that the hospital would never be where it is today
without the legacy of generosity and commitment that is the
hallmark of its longstanding supporters and benefactors.
The mezuzah
The mezuzah (Hebrew for “doorpost”) is
a piece of parchment on which is handwritten in Hebrew the biblical passage
known as the Shema. Opening with the
words, “Hear, O Israel,” the Shema is
God’s command to Jews to keep His words
constantly in their minds and hearts. The
parchment is rolled, wrapped in plastic,
inserted into a plastic or metal case, and
affixed to the right side of the doorpost,
around shoulder height, in each room of
the home or other locale. The mezuzah
is not a good-luck charm. Rather, it is a
constant reminder of God’s presence and
commandment to make His values an
everyday part of life.
Coming soon!
Special JGH Foundation Report
In October, look to your mailbox for a special JGH Foundation
Report. Minimally invasive spinal surgery, personalized medicine, predictive and preventative medicine—these new, leading-edge disciplines, technologies and programs are changing
the face of health care. From emerging trends to exciting new
initiatives, our special report will give you unique insights into
opportunities that will shape the future of health care at the
JGH and across Quebec. Also featured will be inspiring stories
about our donors and how their efforts and commitment are
helping the JGH remain at the forefront of scientific discovery
and clinical excellence. Don’t miss it!
JGH News 19
jghfoundation.org
Community
Community action action
Throughout the year, the JGH Foundation hosts or benefits from a wide variety of events that call upon all of us to
take action in support of initiatives that empower the Jewish General Hospital. This enables the hospital to save lives,
improve patients’ quality of life and provide the most vulnerable members of our community with the care they need.
Past events
Upcoming events
Vivo Jazz Evening
April 29 – Intercontinental Hotel
Supported the acquisition of a respirator for
the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Organized
by Angelo Rizzolo, Brandon and Kristen Di
Perno, Grade 10 students of Westmount’s
Selwyn House School and Montreal’s Sacred
Heart School.
Raised: $40,000.
www.vivofund.com
Biking towards the 49th
May 4-31
Eytan Bensoussan, 27, successfully completed
a 28-day, 2,500-kilometre bike trip up the east
coast of the United States from Savannah,
Georgia, to Albany, New York. He raised funds
to help acquire a special high-frequency
ventilator for the JGH Intensive Care Unit,
and to support the Heart and Stroke
Foundation of Canada.
Raised $9,206.
www.bikingtowardsthe49th.org
La Classique de golf l’étoile
de l’espoir
23rd Annual Omnium Casa Napoli
Golf Tournament
June 2 – Lachute Golf Club
Organized by the Napolitano family.
Benefited the JGH Division of Cardiac Surgery
and a research project at Sacré-Coeur Hospital.
Raised over $35,000.
J’Veux Event
June 6 – Pure, Impure and Mood by Pure
hair salons. Benefited cancer research
at the Segal Cancer Centre.
Special thanks to David D’Amour.
18 Annual JGH Silver Star
Mercedes-Benz Golf Classic
– In memory of Mel Ellen
McGill (JGH) 16th Annual Head and
Neck Cancer Fundraising Event
honouring Dr. Martin J. Black
Events
May 29 – Espace Réunion
Co-Chairs: Avi Krispine and Giancarlo Salvo.
Benefited the Louise Granofsky Psychosocial
Oncology Program at the Segal Cancer Centre.
http://nextgen.jghfoundation.org/
Special thanks to platinum sponsors American
Iron & Metal and Ernst & Young.
th
May 10 – Le Mirage Golf Club
Chair: Lynda Bouvier. Benefited breast
and gynecologic cancer research and care at the Segal Cancer Centre.
Events
POP!
May 12 – Centre Mont-Royal
Co-Chairs: Drs. Saul Frenkiel, Richard Payne
and Michael Hier. Benefited the Martin J. Black
Endowment Fund for Fellowship Training in
Head and Neck Oncology.
www.mcgill.ca/ent/headandneckfund/
2010fundraiser/
Enigma: A Tribute to Ian Samberg
May 13 – Corona Theatre
Co-Chairs: Ashley Dana, Candice Simpson and
Melanie Weinstein. Supported high-quality, innovative upgrades to facilities in 7 NorthWest.
www.visionofhope-ian.com
10th Anniversary Denim & Diamonds
May 15 – Windsor Ballroom
Co-Chairs: Christal Agostino, Deborah Bridgman
and Teresa Izzo. Benefited programs for young
adults with cancer at Hope & Cope and the
JGH Hope & Cope Wellness Centre.
www.denimdiamonds.ca
Special thanks to top sponsors Steve Madden,
Parasuco, 7 For All Mankind, TD Bank,
Reitmans, Tempo, Samcon and Virgin Radio.
June 14 – Hillsdale Golf & Country Club
Co-Chairs: Miles Leutner, Ed Pascal and
Stephen Redding. Benefited the Centre for
Child Development and Mental Health.
Special thanks to longstanding event host
Sam Eltes of Silver Star Mercedes-Benz;
major sponsors Charles Larente and Hamish
Angus of ScotiaMcLeod; CIBC, KPMG,
Bell Canada, RBC and Ned Goodman.
8th Annual Cecil’s Ride
July 3 – Stowe, Vermont
Chair: Gloria April. Benefited the Colorectal
Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Program.
2nd Ride to Conquer Cancer
July 10-11
Co-Chairs: Howard Dermer, Rory Olson and
Bernard Poulin. Benefited cancer research
and care at the Segal Cancer Centre and
partner hospitals the Centre hospitalier regional
de Trois-Rivières (CHRTR), the Centre hospitalier
universitaire de Québec (CHUQ) and the Centre
de santé et de services sociaux (CSSS) de
Gatineau. Raised over $6.7 million.
www.conquercancer.ca
13th Annual JGH Tennis Classic
July 29 – Jarry Park / BICE Ristorante
Co-Chairs: Pat Ifrah-Stein, George Itzkovitz and
David Souaid. Sponsorship chair: Richard Stein.
Benefited the Centre for Child Development and
Mental Health. Raised over $200,000.
September 20
9th Annual HSBC Bank Canada
Golf Tournament
Laval-sur-le-Lac Golf Course
Chair: Miguel Barrieras
Benefiting the Segal Cancer Centre
and its Adolescent and Young Adult
Oncology Program.
Info: Muriel Amar – 514-340-8222, ext. 4121
November 6
2nd Annual Festa Familiare
Di Colli A Volturno
Buffet Sorrento
Benefiting the Dimitrios Banousis
Pulmonary Hypertension Fund.
Info: Mary Etzitian – 514-340-8222,
ext. 3986
November 7
6th Annual Gloria’s Girls presents
It’s a Girl Thing
Bâton rouge Restaurant,
on de la Montagne Street
Benefiting the Gloria Shapiro
Ovarian Cancer Endowment Fund.
Info: Adrianna Di Pardo – 514-340-8222,
ext. 2549
November 18
2nd Doctors Gala
Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue
Co-Chairs: Sarah and Allen Rubin,
Heather and Joseph Paperman
Benefiting the Department of Medicine.
Info: Annette Goldman – 514-340-8222,
ext. 4602
It is immensely gratifying to know
that together, we can accomplish
great things to help people throughout Montreal and Quebec for many
years to come. To support any of
the events and/or initiatives outlined above, please contact the
JGH Foundation at 514-340-8251.
Donations can also be made at
www.jghfoundation.org. If you are
interested in organizing a fundraising event, please contact Mary Etzitian, Associate Coordinator, Events,
at 514-340-8222, ext. 3986.
Thank you for making a difference!
Jewish General Hospital Foundation, 3755, ch. de la Côte Ste-Catherine, A-107, Montreal (Quebec) H3T 1E2
Tel.: 514-345-8251 · Fax: 514-340-8220 · [email protected]
Fall 2010
20
September
2010 75 years of care for all.
Jewish General Hospital Foundation jghfoundation.org
Super advice in the supermarket
Field trips help JGH patients make healthier food choices
Somehow it just doesn’t seem possible…
Standing at a supermarket display, Carol Beker is shaking her head
and peering intently at a pouch of instant soup mix. It’s good, hearty
soup—her husband’s favourite. What could be wrong with soup? Yet,
there’s the proof in little black numbers on the back of the packet.
“Issie!” she calls to her husband who’s
a little farther down the aisle. “Come see
this!” A moment later, he’s glancing curiously over her shoulder. “Your cup of soup,
Issie—720 milligrams of sodium! Do you
believe this? For one pouch—one serving!
It’s so much!” Turning to JGH nutritionist
Patricia Urrico who is standing nearby, Mrs.
Beker adds, “I never used to read labels, but
now…”
Which is exactly why, for the past three
years, Ms. Urrico has been taking the unconventional step of inviting her JGH patients on occasional “field trips” to the IGA
supermarket at the Van Horne Shopping
Centre for a first-hand look at the pleasures
and pitfalls of shopping for healthy food.
Discussions in her office at the JGH Cardiovascular Prevention Centre do serve
their purpose, Ms. Urrico says. That’s where
she determines her patients’ nutritional
needs, explains the basics of healthy eating
and recommends dietary changes to help
patients lose weight, lower their blood pressure and reduce their risk of cardiovascular
disease. To bring these talks to life, Ms. Urrico uses plastic models of fruit and vegetables, as well as empty wrappers and boxes
from foods to be enjoyed or avoided.
However, she says, there’s nothing quite
like the informal yet practical experience
of prowling the aisles of a supermarket.
That’s where real-life examples are present
in abundance and it’s easy to compare the
claims—sometimes truthful, sometimes
vague or misleading—on numerous packages of various brands.
Depending on demand, Ms. Urrico
schedules two or three supermarket tours a
year, each running about 60 to 90 minutes.
Groups range in size from three to five participants who are already being seen at the
Cardiovascular Prevention Centre through
a doctor’s referral.
On this particular May morning, the
Bekers and one other patient—who has
asked not to be identified—are learning the importance of inspecting labels to
determine the foods’ levels
of sodium, fat, calories and
carbohydrates. Until now, it
had never occurred to Mrs.
Beker that a small, harmlesslooking pouch of instant soup
mix could contain more than
one-third of the salt that her
In a supermarket produce aisle, JGH nutritionist Patricia Urrico
husband should normally meets with Carol and Issie Beker to discuss the dietary imporconsume in an entire day.
tance of eating dark leafy greens.
Unfortunately, cutting back
on salt won’t be easy, Mrs. Beker admits. “I
love to put it on French fries. First I put on
Private donations with heart
salt, then vinegar, then more salt.”
Mr. Beker comes to a similar realization
The Cardiovascular Prevention Centre, where
over by the ice-cream cooler, after Ms. Urnutritionist Patricia Urrico is based, treats and
rico suggests opting for a brand of frozen
counsels individuals at cardiovascular risk beyogurt that has no artificial sweeteners and
cause of high blood pressure, high cholesterol,
is relatively low in calories. “If you eat it in
diabetes or other problems, often related to obemoderation, you’re okay,” he says. Then,
sity or smoking.
with a sigh, he adds, “It’s when you pig out
Patients are treated by a comprehensive team
that you can get in trouble.”
of specialists who offer advice on preventing carIn the course of the tour, the participants
diovascular disease and coping with an existing
pick up useful tips about vegetables (the
condition. Medical therapies are strongly comdarker green or the more deeply orangeplemented with lifestyle modification, weight
coloured the better), bottled salad dressing
and metabolic control, smoking cessation and
(a brand with reduced fat may be high in
exercise. What makes the Centre unique is its
sodium), canned salmon (salt-laden water
integrated approach to diagnosis, treatment and
should be drained), cereal (corn flakes seem
healthy, but lack fibre) and crackers (even if
research, enabling patients to consult several
the box has a “Sensible Solution!” tag, the
specialists and other healthcare professionals in
crackers can be very salty).
one visit.
As the session comes to a close, Mr. Beker
The Centre, launched in 2007 through the
has resigned himself to making changes.
generosity of private donors, has one cardiolo“You know the frozen pizza that I like?” he
gist, two internists, two endocrinologists, two
asks his wife. “It’s got 570 milligrams of sonurses and a nutritionist. However, additional
dium in one slice. It’s gonna have to leave
private funding could provide the Centre with
our house.” Meanwhile, Mrs. Beker says she
much-needed additional staff, such as a nurse
isn’t about to abandon all treats, but she
practitioner, psychologist, kinesiologist or clinical
now feels better equipped to make more
pharmacist. This would mean even better care
balanced choices and continue her successand an improved quality of life for the more than
ful, recent efforts to lose weight.
3,500 patients treated there last year (up from
“Just remember,” Ms. Urrico tells them,
about 1,000 in 2007).
“the key is to control your environment.
What you keep in your home will determine
Donations can be made at
what you eat—and that means making inwww.jghfoundation.org or by calling
formed decisions in the supermarket.”
the JGH Foundation at 514-340-8251.
JGH News
21
Ride to Conquer Cancer
A jubilant journey of blood, sweat and gears
S
The Ride to Conquer Cancer sometimes had its ups and downs on hilly
Quebec roads that tested the cyclists’ physical stamina.
Photos: Ari Segal/PBL Photography
urpassing its 2009 launch, the Ride to Conquer Cancer made
a triumphant return on July 10 and 11, as 1,836 dedicated
cyclists from across the province raised an amazing $6.7 million and completed a tough but rewarding two‑day, 270-kilometre
journey from Montreal to Quebec City. This brings the grand total
for the Ride’s two years to more than $12.4 million.
Organized by the Jewish General Hospital Foundation, this was
an event for all Quebecers, reflecting widespread support for and by
the JGH in extending care to patients across Montreal and Quebec.
Proceeds support cancer research, treatment and prevention at the
JGH Segal Cancer Centre, as well as the University of Quebec Hospital Centre, the Trois-Rivières Regional Hospital Centre and the
Gatineau Health and Social Services Centre.
“It was a magical experience,” said Jonathan Goodman, who
raised more than $73,500 and helped make Team Paladin the top
team, with over $440,200 raised. “Nothing compares to joining
more than a thousand other cyclists, all riding with a single goal: to
cross the finish line and put an end to cancer.”
Mr. Goodman, CEO of Paladin Labs of Montreal, said his commitment to the event stems from his successful treatment—by Dr.
Arthur Rosenberg and the Oncology staff at the Jewish General
Hospital—for Hodgkin’s lymphoma 20 years ago at the age of 22.
“My life was saved because the people who came before me raised
funds for cancer research. Now it’s my obligation to do the same
for others.”
Six years since receiving a bicycle as a wedding present from his
father-in-law, Mr. Goodman has become a cycling enthusiast who
thoroughly enjoyed his second ride to Quebec City. “The great
thing is that it isn’t a race; it’s about doing your best. Last year was
the first time I ever signed up for anything like this, and now it’s a
part of me. I’ve thrown myself and the full weight of my company
behind it.”
Riding conditions were good, despite the leftover humidity from
the summer’s first heat wave. Participants left Montreal’s Olympic
Stadium in high spirits on Saturday morning and rode to the overnight camp in Trois‑Rivières, which featured hot meals and entertainment. On Sunday, in fine cycling weather, they continued to
Quebec City for a jubilant reception that lasted several hours.
Among them was Dr. Jamie Rappaport, JGH Chief of Otology
and Neurotology, whose memories of his late father, Lionel (who
died of a type of blood cancer in 2008), gave him the willpower to
press ahead despite an aching right knee that flared up on the route.
“I reached the finish line to the cheers of thousands of strangers and
with thoughts of those I care for the most,” said Dr. Rappaport, who
quadrupled his original goal by raising nearly $15,000.
At the finish line in Quebec City, exuberant riders congratulate one another
and bask in the applause of family, friends and supporters.
For information about the 2011 Ride to Conquer Cancer
or to register for the event, visit www.conquercancer.ca
or call 1-866-996-8356.
www.conquercancer.ca 1-866-996-8356
22
Fall 2010
Weekend to End
Women’s Cancers
Millions of steps in the right direction
Photo: Ryan Blau/PBL Photography
B
ack for its sixth rousing year as one of
Quebec’s leading fundraising events,
the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers took countless steps in the right direction on Aug. 28 and 29, as 2,250 tired but
determined participants filled the streets
of Montreal to raise an amazing $5.1 million. Combined with the Weekends of 2005
through 2009, this brings the grand total to
more than $41 million. Funds provide support for the JGH Segal Cancer Centre in research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment
of all types of cancer that target women.
As always, the event drew walkers from
all parts of Quebec and Montreal, including Sylvie Gregoire, who found the journey
“overflowing with compassion and empathy.” Ms. Gregoire, who has participated in
every Weekend, said her dedication stems
from gratitude for the care she received
from the JGH and Hope & Cope. She also
walked in memory of a friend who died
of breast cancer last fall, as well as a friend
in Paris who is battling the disease. Ms.
Gregoire expressed gratitude for the support of her husband, François, and hoped
more men would get involved, “because
husbands, brothers and fathers are affected
when women suffer from cancer.”
Again this year, walkers on the 60‑kilometre route were cheered on by well‑wishers with signs, balloons and drinks. Of special note was the JGH’s brightly decorated
cheering station, where participants cooled
off, refilled water bottles and enjoyed a
snack.
By late Saturday afternoon, in sunny,
breezy weather, the walkers arrived at
Queen of Angels Academy in Dorval for
supper, entertainment and a camp-out in
tents. On Sunday morning, they headed
back to Jarry Park under hot, sunny skies
for a closing ceremony brimming with tears
of joy, relief and hope.
With the Segal Cancer Centre as their backdrop, a quartet of energetic walkers pauses for some highstepping fun during the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers.
However, this Weekend was not the end of the journey, as many walkers promptly signed
up for 2011 edition. For information or to register, visit www.endcancer.ca or call 514-393WALK (9255).
BlackBerry sales will benefit JGH
I
n its ongoing battle against breast cancer, the Jewish General Hospital has
found a new ally in TELUS, a leading
Canadian telecommunications company,
which will donate $25 to the JGH for
each sale of certain models of pink BlackBerrys in the greater Montreal region until Oct. 31.
The TELUS initiative, announced at
the JGH on May 13, is part of the company’s Go Pink campaign, with proceeds
benefiting the Segal Cancer Centre. Funds
will be used to purchase digital mammog-
raphy equipment, considered the gold
standard in the early and accurate detection of breast cancer for women and men.
“Through this program, TELUS is helping our hospital to improve its screening
technology and deliver better results to
the people of Montreal and other regions
of the province,” says Dr. André Lisbona,
Director of the JGH Breast Centre.
For more information about the TELUS
Go Pink campaign, please visit
www.telus.com/pink.
www.endcancer.ca 514-393-WALK (9255)
JGH News
23
F o cu s o n r e s e a rch
Some patches safer than pills
for hormone replacement
S
Dr. Samy Suissa
HRT is regularly prescribed to women suffering the effects of menopause.
While recent studies have shown an
increased risk of stroke associated with
oral HRT, none had examined this risk
with different doses or methods of administering HRT.
Dr. Suissa, post-doctoral fellow Dr.
Christel Renoux and their international colleagues found that low-dose
HRT patches present 26 per cent less
risk than oral forms of HRT, though
the risk with patches rises with higher
doses. “Oral forms of the estrogen pass
through the liver, where they can induce inflammation or clotting associ-
kin patches containing low doses of estrogen are safer than
pills for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) because the
patches carry less risk of stroke, says a study led by Dr. Samy
Suissa, head of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology at the JGH Lady
Davis Institute for Medical Research. Results of the study were published earlier this year in the highly regarded British Medical Journal.
ated with cardiovascular events,” said
Dr. Suissa, a Professor of epidemiology
and biostatistics at McGill University.
“With the patch, you bypass the liver.”
The findings were based on the
medical histories of more than 870,000
women in the British General Practice
Research Database, which holds the
anonymized medical records of millions of patients registered with family
doctors across the United Kingdom.
They demonstrate that compared to
not using a patch at all, using a lowdose estrogen patch did not increase
the risk of stroke; however, the risk
did rise with high-dose patches. Com-
pared to not using a patch, using oral
HRT raised the stroke rate by about
25 to 30 per cent, regardless of the estrogen dose or when combined with
progestogen—a finding confirmed in
previous studies.
Dr. Suissa urges clinicians to seriously consider these results when deciding which form to prescribe. “These
data are compelling, particularly with
regard to the dosing. Clinicians should
consider the low-dose patch as a safer
alternative, particularly for patients at
higher risk of stroke.”
Researcher shows her mettle against toxic metals
I
f asked whether you are more afraid of lightning or tungsten,
the answer would be a no-brainer, right? Lightning can cause explosive destruction, while tungsten is best known for its use in
lightbulb filaments.
However, the odds of being killed
by a lightning bolt are so low as to be
virtually zero. But tungsten, like arsenic and other toxic metals, are used
by industry and are all around us. According to Dr. Koren Mann of the JGH
Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, tungsten is also turning out to
be far more poisonous than previously
realized.
“My research focuses on determining how tungsten and arsenic work as
toxins,” explains Dr. Mann, recently
awarded the Hollis Brownstein
24
Fall 2010
Research Grant for New Investigators
by the U.S.-based Leukemia Research
Foundation. “I’m trying to better
understand the negative health effects
of too much exposure to these metals,
all the way down to the molecular
characterization of how they work.
Our other goal is to figure out at what
dose the toxic effects occur, so that
we can define a dose where they don’t
occur.”
Dr. Mann, Assistant Professor of
Oncology at McGill University and
a Project Director at the Lady Davis
Dr. Koren Mann
Everything old is new again
JGH launches online archive
Institute, received her Ph.D. in pathology and immunology from Boston
University in 1999. At that time, she
studied how the developing immune
system is affected by exposure to certain chemical pollutants created by
burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.
She moved to Montreal to complete
her post-doctoral training at McGill,
researching the use of arsenic as a potential chemotherapy agent in cancer
treatment. Since then, however, her
focus has changed to studying the potent role of arsenic and tungsten in the
onset of chronic disease.
“Far lower doses of arsenic than
people expect—levels that you might
find in common well water—have
a significant effect on causing atherosclerosis in mice,” Dr. Mann says.
“Oddly, at the lower doses, the effect
is more profound than at the higher
doses.”
Tungsten, once believed to be relatively non-toxic, had some nasty surprises, as well. “It has the ability to alter B-cell development, which has the
potential to lead to leukemia. This was
totally unexpected. It was something
we discovered, based on a group of
pediatric leukemia clusters. Most of
the affected children developed preB lymphocytic leukemia, the most
common pediatric form. Previously,
the belief was that tungsten was inert,
but we’ve discovered that developing
B-cells are quite sensitive to it in high
doses.”
C
urious about the roots of the JGH? Interested in leafing through an album
of some of the hospital’s rarest photos? Then the place for you is the online
treasure trove at jgh.ca/en/archives.
Researchers, amateur historians and inquisitive visitors will find plenty of fascinating documents, photographs and other
artifacts relating to the hospital’s general
and medical history, as well as the history
of Montreal’s Jewish community. The website is updated regularly as new collections
are catalogued, so be sure to bookmark it
among your online Favorites.
The site, designed by JGH Digital Archives Consultant Linda Lei and Archivist
Shiri Alon, was launched this past July and
includes many of the items that have been
featured during the 2009-2010 commemorations of the hospital’s 75th anniversary.
Many archival photographs and artifacts of JGH
history, such as this photo of the gala opening
ceremony of the Jewish General Hospital in 1934,
can be viewed on the new Archives website.
Included in the Archives website:
Belle’s View
At the JGH, every doctor, nurse
and healthcare professional has
a fascinating story to tell—and
Belle Ziniuk is an avid listener.
As an author and volunteer, Belle
loves meeting and writing about
the people who make the hospital
great. Be sure to check out her blog
at jgh.ca/belle.
• an interactive photo album
• a virtual visit to the hospital’s historical photo display, which toured the city last year
• a reproduction of Our Tribute Everlasting, a 136-page history of the JGH, published
in 1984
• a link to the JGH 75th Anniversary Tribute Video
• links to year-by-year highlights of JGH milestones
• a searchable database of nearly 4,000 records, with the option to search specific
collections (e.g., the Photographic collection, the Brick & Pledge collection)
• RSS updates of upcoming JGH Archives events
• Information on ordering photo reprints for personal research or publication
The website was created as an extension of ongoing efforts to digitize the JGH Archives to
ensure that documents relating to the hospital’s founding and development are preserved.
JGH News
25
ION · SAFETY
ACT
·
SF
· PATIENT SA
NT
TI
ME
ANAGEME
KM
NT
RIS
JGH
QUALITY
PROGRAM
ITY IMPRO
UAL
VE
·Q
JGH joins Canada-wide effort
to make medical devices safer
I
n an effort to better safeguard patients and enhance the quality of their care, the Jewish General Hospital has become
the first healthcare institution in Quebec—and one of only 10 hospitals and regional health authorities in the country—to work with Health Canada on monitoring and correcting problems involving medical devices. (A medical device
is anything except medication—from simple feeding tubes and syringes to complex equipment such as infusion pumps and
monitors.)
Whenever a malfunction or other difficulty occurs, the details
are sent to Health Canada and are added to an ever-expanding
database. This helps Health Canada and the participating hospitals
determine whether one institution’s problem is an isolated incident
or part of a trend.
If a device is malfunctioning in more than one location, Health
Canada can issue a warning to all participants and can bring its
authority to bear on the manufacturer to repair the existing units
and improve the device’s design. “As a member of a network, we’re
in a stronger position to tell the manufacturer that we’re not the
only one with a problem,” says Aurèle Larrivé, an engineer in
the JGH Biomedical Engineering Department. “That gives the
company a real incentive to move.”
A typical incident at the JGH last February involved a heartrate
monitor. Not only did the device sometimes report the heart beating at double its actual rate, there was a mismatch between the audio of the heartrate and the printout. After being advised of this
problem, Health Canada found similar malfunctions with that particular model elsewhere in the country. As a result, Ms. Larrivé says,
all three of the JGH’s monitors were withdrawn from service and
were replaced by a more reliable device from another company.
The Canada-wide effort has been so successful that it has been
extended beyond its pilot-project phase, which had a one-year term
that ended in mid-April. Health Canada is also hoping to increase
the number of healthcare institutions participating in the project.
Lianne Dzygala, Risk Management Advisor in the JGH Quality
Program, says the hospital has always been conscientious about
checking the proper operation of its medical devices. However, until recently, the program devoted much of its attention to issues
involving patients—for instance, preventing falls and checking
identification.
Under the new initiative, she says, cooperation has been tightened among the Quality Program, the Nursing Department and
Biomedical Engineering. In addition, medical devices at the JGH
are now being kept under a much more watchful eye by healthcare
staff, particularly nurses in the Intensive Care Unit, where a wide
range of devices is regularly used.
Ms. Dzygala notes that the number of staff reports about incidents involving medical devices has risen during the past year.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re having more problems,” she
says. “It means staff are now more meticulous about documenting
those problems. That puts us in a much better position to follow
up and be sure our patients are benefiting from the safest and most
accurate medical devices.”
26
Fall 2010
Martine Gagnon (right), a Nursing Education Consultant in the Intensive Care Unit, meets with (from right) Louis Veronneau, a technician in
Biomedical Engineering, Lianne Dzygala and Aurèle Larrivé to discuss
the operation of a medical device that slowly performs dialysis over an
extended period.
Soigner avec une touche de compassion
Care with a compassionate touch
Au service de tous depuis 75 ans.
Viral video sings
the praises of the JGH
Overview of patient safety
in new pamphlet
L
ooking for a handy overview of what the JGH
is doing to ensure your
safety and the quality of your
care? You’ll find it in the Quality Program’s new Patient
An Informed
Safety pamphlet, provided to
Pat
ient is a
all patients who are admitted
Saf
e
Patient
to the hospital.
Markirit Armutlu, Coordinator of the Quality Program, says the pamphlet—to
be officially lauched Nov. 1
during Patient Safety Week—
contains brief but informative descriptions about such
subjects as medication safety,
hand hygiene, informed consent and registering a complaint.
Ms. Armutlu notes these
and additional topics are
covered in detail in the hospital’s Patient Services DiPatient Safety Information
rectory. However, she adds,
patients who have just been
admitted don’t always have
the time or may be too overwhelmed by the admission process to read carefully through the
Directory. The new pamphlet fills the gap with its succinct summary of the relevant material.
“Our goal is to provide—but not overload—patients with vital
information to enable them to take an active role in their own care,”
Ms. Armutlu says. “As the title of the pamphlet says, ‘An informed
patient is a safe patient.’”
ION · SAFET
Y·
ACT
ISF
PATIENT S
NT ·
AT
ME
NA
K MA GEMEN
RIS
T
JGH
QUALITY
PROGRAM
In a scene from the JGH music video, a staff chorus sings jubilantly in the
Francine & Charles Larente Nurses’ Lecture Hall.
Look out—it’s catching!
But don’t worry, it’ll put a smile on your face.
What’s spreading virally is positive word-of-mouth about the
hospital’s new online music video, the “JGH NaNa Musical”. Take a
look at www.youtube.com/nanamusical—and then pass the word
along.
The “JGH NaNa Musical” is a catchy, infectious, 2½-minute
production, starring hospital staff, administrators and volunteers
actually singing—and not lip-syncing—about the qualities that
make the Jewish General Hospital so outstanding. Original music
and lyrics were specially commissioned to capture the unique flavour, upbeat spirit and family sentiment of the JGH.
The video is one of the last major commemorative projects
linked to the hospital’s 75th anniversary, which began in mid-2009
and concludes this year. However, with any luck, the video’s popularity will spread virally and keep the celebratory feeling going for
a while longer.
The “JGH NaNa Musical” was made possible by generous support from HSBC.
TY IMPRO
UALI
VE
·Q
Got something that needs looking into? Drop into the Herzl CRIU Walk-in Centre!
5858 Côte-des-Neiges, 5th floor (corner de la Peltrie)
514-340-8311
Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
tment
n
i
o
p
p
No a
needed
Under the direction of the Herzl Family Practice Centre, a University Network Clinic
Centre de santé et de services sociaux
de la Montagne
Centre affilié universitaire
JGH News
27
NEWSMAKERS
C ongratulations!
profession at clinical, academic, administrative and scientific levels.” Ms. Rouleau is
also a part-time researcher at the JGH Lady
Davis Institute for Medical Research.
Dr. Jeffrey Minuk (right) is joined by Dr. Calvin
Melmed, former JGH Chief of Neurology.
Dr. Jeffrey Minuk, Chief of the Department
of Neurosciences and JGH Neurologist-inChief, has received the McGill University
Faculty Honour Award for Educational Excellence. The award, bestowed at a ceremony
in June, was followed by a presentation on
“Strategies to Promote Learning” by Dr. Minuk, who is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill.
Dr. Cleve Ziegler,
a 16-year veteran of
the JGH Department
of Obstetrics & Gynecology, has been
appointed the hospital’s Director of Gynecology. In addition,
Dr. Ziegler, who is an
Assistant Professor in
Dr. Cleve Ziegler
McGill University’s
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology,
recently received the 2010 National Teaching Award from the Association of Professors of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Suzanne Rouleau, Clinical Coordinator in
Occupational Therapy at the JGH Institute
of Community and Family Psychiatry, has
received an Award of Excellence from the
Quebec Order of Occupational Therapists.
The award was presented in recognition of
her “exceptional contribution of more than
thirty years to the evolution and integration of occupational therapy in the domain
of mental health and her dedication to the
28
Fall 2010
Sheila Kussner, O.C.,
O.Q., founder and
Chairman of Hope
& Cope, has been
chosen to receive an
honourary Doctorate from the University of Montreal on
Nov. 4. This honour
is bestowed by the Sheila Kussner
Faculty of Nursing to
acknowledge Mrs. Kussner’s achievements
in health care and for bridging the Englishand French-speaking communities through
the JGH Hope & Cope Wellness Centre.
R e : R esearch
Dr. Carmen Loiselle,
a Senior Nurse Scientist at the JGH Lady
Davis Institute for
Medical Research and
at the JGH Centre for
Nursing Research, has
been honoured with
the Award of Education Excellence by the Dr. Carmen Loiselle
Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology. Dr. Loiselle
received the award in Quebec City at the
association’s annual meeting in spring.
Dr. Murray Baron,
Chief of the Division
of Rheumatology and
one of Canada’s leading clinical investigators in the field of
rheumatic diseases,
has successfully obtained funds to establish the infrastructure
Dr. Murray Baron
for the McGill Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases
Project.
Dr. Wilson Miller (centre) with Peg Mastriani,
Deputy Director of the U.S. Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and Dr. Tyler Jacks, Immediate
Past President of the American Association for
Cancer Research.
Dr. Wilson Miller, Director of the JGH
Clinical Research Unit and Associate Director for Clinical Research at the JGH Lady
Davis Institute for Medical Research, has received a research grant of $199,650 from the
American Association for Cancer Research
and the U.S. Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The grant, presented in Washington, D.C., in April, will support “innovative
cancer research projects to accelerate the
discovery, development, and application of
new agents to treat breast cancer and/or for
pre-clinical research with direct therapeutic
intent.”
Two researchers at
the JGH Lady Davis
Institute for Medical
Research have been
promoted to full Professor at McGill University. Dr. Chantal
Autexier heads a laboratory that is internationally recognized
Dr. Chantal Autexier
for investigating the
molecular basis of developing anticancer
therapies that target telomerase or telomere
integrity. Dr. Konstantinos Pantopoulos,
a leader in the field of iron metabolism,
focuses on mechanisms that control mammalian iron homeostasis at the cellular and
systemic levels.
That’s entertainment!
In the spotli g ht
JGH Jazz hits the high notes
Political dignitaries regularly visit the JGH to gain insights from senior administrators, lay leaders and staff
on improving the healthcare system. In May, Pierre
Arcand, Minister of International Relations and Minister Responsible for La Francophonie, met with Executive
Director Dr. Hartley Stern and President Bernard Stotland. Afterwards, he toured the Emergency Department,
the operating rooms and the Segal Cancer Centre. In
the ER, Mr. Arcand (second from right) and Lawrence
Bergman (second from left), Member of the National
Assembly for D’Arcy-McGee and President of the Government Caucus, met with Dr. Marc Afilalo, Chief of the
Emergency Department, and Isabelle Caron, Nursing
Director of Medicine, Psychiatry and Geriatrics.
For two uplifting weeks this past summer, the 11th annual JGH Jazz Festival brought
the healing power of music to patients, visitors and staff through daily concerts
in the Côte-des-Neiges picnic area and in the main lobby. Playing soprano sax,
festival organizer and JGH Music Therapist Bryan Highbloom (third from left)
accompanies Wendajam musicians (from left) Pierre Poissant and Nicolas Levac
on keyboard, Gilbert Trahan on drums, Mario Beaupre on percussion, Pierre Lajoie
on bass and Marc Gold on guitar.
Playing mind games
Keep up to date with JGH News!
The world of the Jewish General Hospital
is yours to discover in JGH News.
By donating $36 or more to the
JGH Foundation, you’ll receive
JGH News by mail. Just phone
514‑340‑8251 or visit
www.jghfoundation.org.
This applies to all Foundation
donations, except memorial
funds.
You will also receive a tax receipt
from the JGH Foundation for the
full amount of your donation.
For changes to your subscription,
please phone 514‑340‑8251.
Your inside view of
“Care for all”!
Laughs and gasps were in abundance in the Block Amphitheatre on July 7, as the
Incredible Boris returned to the JGH for a comedic performance showcasing hypnosis. Among his highly suggestible subjects were (from left) nurse Catherine Forbes,
Sarah Grant (a Master’s student in neuroscience) and Brittany McAllister (who
works in the Applied Cognition Laboratory). At one point, Ms. Grant was persuaded
to remove her shoes and sell them to Boris in exchange for what she held in her
hands: a crumpled napkin, which she had been led to believe was a wad of paper
money.
JGH News
29
T o y ou r h e a lt h !
Don’t trash
old drugs
Back-to-school days
and sneezin’ season
W
e’ve all done it: Finished with our old
medications, we simply flush them
down the toilet, never to be seen or
thought of again. But before you send your expired drugs the way of your dear, departed pet
goldfish, there are a few things that Eva Cohen,
JGH Chief of Pharmacy, would like you to know.
When prescription drugs are flushed or poured
down a drain, they don’t necessarily disappear.
Instead, some of the chemical components can
seep into our water supply or soil. Though the
concentration of chemicals is extremely low, it
can build up over time and potentially cause
health problems.
To alleviate the risk to the environment and ourselves, Ms. Cohen recommends bringing old or
expired medications to local pharmacies, including the one at the JGH, which can ensure that
medications are disposed of in the least harmful and most environmentally friendly way. At
the JGH, even the bottles and boxes are recycled
whenever possible.
Ms. Cohen further advises that prescription drugs
should be taken until completely used up, unless
a physician specifies otherwise. It’s also a good
idea to check your medicine cabinet once a year
to be certain that old medication is not still lying around. If you aren’t sure whether an old item
is still good, don’t use it; first consult your local
pharmacist.
T
hough it’s sad to bid farewell to summer, autumn can be a wonderful
time, with long walks in the crisp air and coloured leaves crunching
under foot. This is also back-to-school season, when we pack kids’
lunches, deal with colds and flu, cope with allergies to weed pollen and
the mold in fallen leaves, get by on less sunlight, and find new ways to
keep active.
To get the most out of autumn, the JGH Patient and Family Resource
Centre has compiled a list of reliable websites. You can start at the home
pages listed below and then navigate to the appropriate subject pages.
However, your best bet is go straight to jgh.ca/pfrcautumn where you’ll
find direct links to those web pages and to much more autumn-themed
material.
•For a solid overview of back-to-school health, consult Health Canada at
www.hc-sc.gc.ca.
•At kidshealth.org/kid/, KidsHealth advises what to do about children
who dislike school, while Health Canada (www.hc-sc.gc.ca) promotes
school-lunch allergy awareness.
• To tell the difference between a cold and the flu, check with Family Doc-
tor at familydoctor.org. You’ll also get a clear explanation of viral gastroenteritis in children from the Montreal Children’s Hospital at www.
thechildren.com/en/health.
• At www.cmha.ca, the Canadian Mental Health Association has suggestions about warding off the gloominess of seasonal affective disorder.
• Since keeping fit remains important as the weather changes, Eat Right
Ontario helps you make the most of fall at www.eatrightontario.ca/en.
For more information on good health, or to make an appointment with
a librarian for help in finding reliable, up-to-date information even on
hard-to-research subjects, visit the Patient and Family Resource Centre at:
For more information about this and other issues
related to medication, check with your local pharmacy or visit Health Canada at www.hc-sc.gc.ca.
30
Fall 2010
jgh.ca/PFRC
JGH Mini-Med School
Getting the inside story
on health care’s research links
E
ver get the feeling that even though new medical discoveries are trumpeted in the media, they never seem to have a
direct effect on patients? The fact is, cutting-edge research is
constantly moving from lab-bench to bedside at the Jewish General
Hospital. And at the spring semester of the JGH Mini-Med School,
150 eager students learned how.
Returning for its eighth year, Mini-Med was geared, as always, to a general audience and featured leading experts at the JGH Lady Davis Institute
for Medical Research. At the series’ conclusion, members of the audience received diplomas and the honourary title of “mock‑tor”. “I found the focus on
research refreshing,” said four-time Mini-Med “graduate” Molly Wolanski. “I
felt I was getting more than the typical advice you get from your doctor, or
read about in the newspaper.”
The JGH is one of Quebec’s, if not Canada’s, most research-intensive hospitals, says Glenn J. Nashen, JGH Director of Public Affairs and Communications, and Program Director of the JGH Mini-Med School. “Our students
learned how to interpret published studies on research, and how developments in the lab may have an impact on their health.”
Dr. Amir Raz offered insights into the therapeutic benefits of
hypnosis.
Some highlights:
• Dr. Amir Raz, a cognitive scientist, explained that hypnosis, though still
unregulated, is slowly shedding its show-biz ties and is gaining credibility
in therapy. For instance, studies show that hypnosis can boost the immune
system, or dull the sensation of pain; at the JGH, it often helps certain
patients cope with pre-surgical stress. Dr. Raz explained that factors such
as intelligence, religion and extroversion do not influence how easily a person can be hypnotized. However, the 15 per cent of people who are highly
hypnotizable do share an ability to imagine events more vividly than they
perceive the ordinary experiences of the everyday world.
• In trying to understand the genetics of cancer, researcher Dr. Bruce Gottlieb
said he hopes to determine whether some principles of Darwinian evolution apply to cancer. He noted that in general situations, genetic mutations
are not simply acquired by an organism; rather, the mutation already exists
and the organism selects it in coping with a changing environment. Dr.
Gottlieb’s hypothesis is that the micro-environment of human tissues may
provide the conditions that contribute to the selection of a cancer-related
mutation.
• According to environmental toxicologist Dr. Koren Mann, all substanc-
es—even water—are potentially toxic. Whether a substance acts as a poison in the body or a remedy is determine by its dose, she explained. For
instance, tungsten, one of the metals that Dr. Mann studies, may cause
pediatric leukemia at certain doses, but in other doses, it is used in fighting diabetes. According to Dr. Mann, the World Health Organization has
estimated that 13 million worldwide deaths per year could be prevented
through safer water supplies and cleaner air.
Seven‑time Mini‑Med veteran Cecile Klein celebrated her 103rd
birthday at the conclusion of this year’s series.
Thank you to our sponsors
The Jewish General Hospital gratefully acknowledges the
generous support of its sponsors for the JGH Mini-Med School.
JGH News
31
AUXILIARY NEWS
Minds and hearts in support of the JGH
W
ith the approach of the Jewish New
Year, as well as the beginning of our
second year as Co-Presidents, we can appreciate the many successful fundraising initiatives of the past year. Now it’s time to look
ahead and sustain our daily projects, while
filling the fall season with activity.
The Menus for the Mind Series will keep
us entertained and stimulated with its movies, lectures and book reviews, while our
Fall Fair and Raffle promise great bargains,
with proceeds partly benefiting the Division
of Neurosurgery. We have also secured the
talented and renowned Frannie Sheridan to
showcase her one-woman show in support
of the new Centre for Child Development
and Mental Health, for which we hope to
raise $100,000.
A continued source of pride is our businesses, including the Mildred Lande Gift
Boutique which offers gift items and collectibles. Flore, our newly outsourced florist,
is sure to bring an attractive look to our
lobby area. The success of our L’Atrium-àla-carte, which sells light refreshments in
many clinics and waiting rooms throughout the hospital, is appreciated by the public
and JGH staff .
With so many exciting events coming up,
there is something for everyone. We invite
you to get involved; volunteering is incredibly fulfilling. Together we are the minds
and hearts that support the JGH.
Phyllis Karper and Linny Blauer
Cheque for children
Lively ladies on the links
Dr. Jaswant Guzder (third from right), Director of the Centre for Child
Development and Mental Health, receives funding from The Auxiliary
to support the Centre’s activities in its new home in the Ruth and Saul
Kaplan Pavilion.
Auxiliary volunteers were on hand at the Hillsdale Country Club to lend
their smiles and support to the 18th Annual JGH Silver Star MercedesBenz Golf Classic, benefiting the Centre for Child Development and
Mental Health. The Volunteer Coordinators were Ellen Amdursky and
Bonnie Rothstein.
New from Philips Lifeline
Celebrating the
birth of your own Precious Treasure?
Why not mark the new arrival by purchasing a commemorative teddy
bear plaque, with proceeds benefiting the JGH. For more information,
please phone The Auxiliary at 514-340-8216.
32
Fall 2010
A new AutoAlert pendant is now available from Philips Lifeline.
According to Chair Fran Yagod, this is the first and only pendant/
help button that automatically calls for help within 30 seconds if
it senses that the subscriber has fallen and cannot push the help
button. To subscribe, phone 514-344-2172.
y
su
rv
e
er
ad
Re
True confessions
What do you think
of JGH News?
As part of The Auxiliary’s Menus for the Mind
series, Frannie Sheridan stars in a witty and
provocative one-woman show, Confessions
of a Jewish Shiksa, about discovering the
Holocaust survivors in her Catholic family.
Proceeds of the performance on Sept. 21
will support the new Centre for Child Development and Mental Health. Information
is available at 514-340-8216.
On the horizon
Would you like to see more articles
on a particular subject?
Don’t miss
these exciting events
More photos?
Oct. 19
Menus for the Mind series
Breakfast and review of Jhumpa Lahiri’s
Unaccustomed Earth by reviewer/analyst
Larry Weller. 9:30 a.m., Samuel S. Cohen
Auditorium, Pavilion A
Chairs: Reisa Lerner and Beatrice Lewis
Oct. 31 and Nov. 1
Fall Fair
Samuel S. Cohen Auditorium, Pavilion A
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
All-new merchandise, collectibles and
bargains galore. Chairs: Allan Bramson,
Sandra Gutherz and Rhona Heisler
Nov. 8
Blood Donor Clinic
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Chairs: Rhona Daitchman, Ingrid Pokrass
and Anne Shuster
Dec. 9
Holiday Boutique Sale
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Chairs: Elisa Frank and Sheryl Frank
More personality profiles?
An opportunity to receive an electronic
version of the magazine?
As a valued reader, your opinion matters to us. That’s why we’re
inviting you to tell us how you feel about the content, design
and other features of JGH News. By participating, you can also
be eligible to win a DVD containing a full series of JGH Mini-Med
School lectures.
To take this online survey until November 15, just go to
jgh.ca
and click on the link on the home page. You do not have to provide
your name or address, unless you want to win a JGH Mini-Med
School DVD. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
Thank you for helping to make JGH News
even more interesting and informative.
JGH News
33
The Living Will
“Where there’s
a will …
there’s a way.”
A document that speaks
when your voice is silent
Let your voice
be heard.
By Michael Dworkind, M.D.
Director, Living Will Project, Clinical Ethics Committee
T
o understand the importance of a Living Will, try not to think of it as
a legal document. Instead, imagine it as nothing less than a version of
your very own voice, issuing instructions and providing guidance about
your medical care when your actual voice can no longer be heard.
It’s no mystery why some people cringe
at the thought of preparing a Living Will.
This document comes into play when a person, in the final days or weeks before death,
becomes incapable of making his or her
wishes known about treatment and care. It’s
a possibility no one likes to think about, but
in this case, ignorance is far from bliss—and
the burden falls on the family to decide on
optimal life-sustaining treatments.
Research has found that when patients
cannot speak for themselves, their relatives’
decisions do not consistently reflect the
values and preferences of their loved ones.
Similarly, physicians sometimes issue “do
not resuscitate” orders without being aware
of the wishes of patient who are incompetent or cannot speak up for themselves. The
Living Will, also known as an Advanced
Directive, solves this dilemma because it is
prepared in advance, when an individual
has adequate time to consider and discuss
the best course of action respecting end-oflife care.
To ensure that this process functions
smoothly, it should also involve a discussion with relatives, friends and/or doctors
whom the patient trusts to act as substitute
decision-makers, also known as mandataries. They help to decide whether the “silent”
patient, had he or she been able to speak,
would have opted to prolong life under any
circumstances or to have life-sustaining interventions withheld to allow death to take
its course. Armed with a Living Will, mandataries have the medical and legal means
to advocate for their loved ones in an appropriate and caring fashion.
Unfortunately, the Living Will is usually
completed in a notary’s or lawyer’s office
during estate planning, which means that
it is rarely reviewed by the physician who
ultimately makes decisions regarding endof-life care. Therefore, these matters are best
discussed not only with relatives, but with a
34
Fall 2010
physician you know and trust, so that your
values and preferences are respected. Where
there’s a will, there’s a way.
It is important to note that the Mandatary section of the Living Will is legally
binding in Quebec and does not require a
lawyer or notary to be completed. Signing it
in front of two witnesses is all that’s necessary. Afterward, don’t hide the Living Will
somewhere like a safety deposit box, where
it can’t be referred to. It should be updated
every few years and distributed widely, with
copies in your family physician’s chart and
in your hospital charts. With our mandate
alert sheet, the Living Will can be digitized
and added to computer records at the JGH.
In this way, you can be more confident that
your wishes will be respected and followed.
Preparing your
Living Will can
help your family
through a
difficult time.
Advan ce
Dir ective
The Living Will
It may a
between
family a
sustainin
receive.
Completi
Directive
family an
them to r
given you
Ho
Speak to y
with a phy
trust. This
of the living
The person
decisions o
may gain a
your choice
An informational guide
prepared by the Clinical
Ethics Committee
For your convenience, the JGH Living
Will can be downloaded from the hospital’s
website at jgh.ca/livingwill.
Looking for medical information?
Wondering which medical websites to trust?
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