Reinvesting $2 million in our hospital - Thanks to staff and doctors’ teamwork

By Rik Ganderton, President and CEO

Rouge Valley knows how to close a calendar year on a high note.

In fact, I’d say this is a trend – thanks to not only hard work, but also smart work by our staff, physicians and volunteers.

In the three years since we introduced our Deficit Elimination Plan and then Lean, we have gone from the hospital that “couldn’t” improve, to the hospital that “could” and does improve for its patients – everyday.

Following-up on a blog by my colleague – John Aldis, vice-president of corporate services and chief financial officer – Rouge Valley Health System finds itself in the enviable position of generating modest surpluses. As John said, “Efficiency is contagious.”

As a result, we have some very real reinvestments to make in our existing hospital services and facilities at both campuses.

So the Christmas, Hanukkah and happy holiday gift that our staff and physician team at Rouge Valley have delivered to our patients and community comes in two big packages. This is on top of the $650,000 in recently approved additional capital investments that John talked about.

Gift number one –
$1 million for 2010-11 Approved One-Time Expenditures

Our strong year-to-date financial performance has generated $1 million, which we have decided to invest in 24 important one-time items this fiscal year, including:
• Education and training for staff in critical care, emergency department, diagnostic imaging, labs, paediatrics/neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), labour and delivery, and biomedical engineering;
• Various minor repairs, renovations, and upgrades to hospital facilities;
• Stereotactic (surgical) biopsy supplies;
• Emergency department patient navigator role, for four months;
• And more.

Gift number two –
$1.09 million for 2011-12 Approved Budget Reinvestments

There is also $1.09 million in service reinvestments budgeted for the 2011-12 fiscal year that will go toward additional staff resources in key areas:
• Five medical short stay beds at Rouge Valley Centenary;
• Intensive care unit staffing;
• Pharmacy staffing to support medication reconciliation;
• New manager of quality, who will support implementation of requirements of the Excellent Care for All Act;
• Information technology project management; and
• Patient services representative staffing.

As the year 2010 comes to a close, I want to thank all staff, physicians and volunteers for putting our hospital in such good shape for the New Year and into 2012.

Restoring comfort and health, one bed at a time

By Rik Ganderton,
RVHS President and CEO


A bed is synonymous with comfort. When you’re sick it can be crucially important to restoring your health.

For whatever reason you find yourself as a patient in the hospital, you will probably be using a bed. The Rouge Valley Centenary Buy a Bed campaign is our challenge to restore comfort and health, one bed at a time as we replace older beds in the hospital.

Replacement beds have been identified as a high-priority need for many departments in the hospital. Beds cost about $5,000 each. Medical beds play a vital role in patient recovery, and in wound and injury prevention. The specialized mattress and frame in a medical bed is built for a lot of use. Special features include patient position monitors and in-bed scales to reduce both patient and caregiver injuries. These elements make them much more expensive than household beds.

The goal of the campaign is to purchase 100 beds during the next two years. This is an achievable goal and we are already well on our way with 45 beds purchased.

I am excited about this campaign, since it is something that everyone is able to easily identify with. The response of the community has been tremendous and we are so thankful for this support. I am also very proud of staff members at Rouge Valley Centenary, who have demonstrated their incredible support of the campaign.

We currently have 67 staff members who have enrolled in payroll deduction and those who have made outright donations. I personally support this campaign, of course.

There are many ways to support the campaign as an individual, or as a group, including sports teams and as colleagues at work. You can help restore comfort and health, one bed at a time. To find out more on this campaign, please visit the RVHS Foundation's Buy-A-Bed web page.

Almost 5,500 Ontario doctors using eHealth records: minister - thestar.com http://ping.fm/iGxAy

Effective budgeting and management by all means more money for patient needs

$650,000 more now available for equipment!

By John Aldis,
Vice-President,
Corporate Services
and Chief Financial Officer

Efficiency is contagious.

Our directors and managers, and their teams, have kept the Capital Equipment Planning Committee updated as to the status of medical and related equipment needs and purchases from our approved capital list. Regular monitoring and management of our capital list of approved equipment needs allows us to maximize investment of our limited resources for our patients and communities.

Aligning personal business commitments, the strategic plan, our Lean philosophy and a concentrated focus on efficiency from all departments – including finance, of course – is paying off for the patients of our hospital. This focus has spread at all levels of our management structure and among our staff teams.

Now, let me skip to the good news: The Capital Equipment Planning Committee (CEPC) recently reallocated approximately $650,000 of “freed up” capital funds to additional items our hospital needs for patients.

Fiscal responsibility, one of our four strategic dimensions – is not simply a function of our finance department. Indeed, the better we all are at fiscal responsibility, the better positioned we are to improve in our three other strategic dimensions: service excellence; access to care; and team engagement.

There are many reasons for this recent positive development, but it all stems from the fact that our professionals at Rouge Valley Health System are becoming more efficient and better stewards of tax dollars for patient care.

The $650,000 is available because:
• Approved capital expenditures from 2008/09 and 2009/10 were completed under budget;
• A number of items were deemed to be no longer necessary;
• Through closer collaboration between the RVHS Foundation and CEPC, some items on our capital list have been funded through the foundation’s efforts to direct donor giving to specific items

- So who is CEPC and what are the results? -

The group is comprised of managers, directors and vice-presidents representing our program and service areas at both hospital campuses.

The CEPC has been a very productive and cohesive team, reallocating funds mid-year using a criteria based framework. In fact, there was unanimous agreement by the team on where to reallocate the funds to address key needs, such as buying new:
• Dedicated equipment, such as vital signs monitors, in isolation rooms;
• Portable vital sign monitor in the children’s program;
• A defibrillator in the surgical program;
• Medication carts;
• Two ventilators;
• A chemistry analyzer;
• And more.

I’d like to thank the members of our Capital Equipment Planning Committee, our finance team and all our hospital staff for their engagement in this and other corporate initiatives.

Optimizing our limited resources throughout our hospital supports better patient care everyday. This efficiency bug is one contagion we want to continue spreading.