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A Year in Review 2012 – 2013:
Programs
Courage Lives Here
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Arthritis Program
Visionary Research Program
An innovative research program in biological and clinical arthritis research has been created. The
program envisions a future in which genetic profiles can help determine the likelihood of a person
developing arthritis, and in which we can keep our own joints for the duration of our lives.
Spinal assessment
Led by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Raja Rampersaud, the Ontario pilot, Inter-Professional Spine
Assessment and Education Clinics (ISAEC), builds on best practices to help patients with spine and
lower back pain.
Specially trained Advanced Practice Clinicians provide patients with timely assessment, education
and tailored treatment plans that emphasize self-management strategies or, in more serious cases,
a referral to a surgeon.
Regenerative medicine
New research partnerships have been established with the McEwen Centre and the STARR facility
for regenerative medicine initiatives in cartilage regeneration.
Toronto Western Hospital’s team has been one of the first to grow human cartilage in a laboratory
using stem cells.
Saving patients hospital visits
Dr. Hans Katzberg conducted the first Canadian study on home-based intravenous immunoglobulin
(IVIG) treatment for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), an auto-
immune disorder that causes swelling and inflammation of nerves. The study determined it is safe
and feasible to administer IVIG for maintenance therapy in these patients outside of a hospital
setting without compromising quality of care. The next step is to determine how this program can
work on a larger scale.
Highlights
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Valuable expertise
Millicent Jones, a nurse who has worked with Robinson
for 10 years, recalled a time when she benefitted from
her expertise.
Jones had had a patient whose husband rang the call bell
often. But since Jones had been tending to a patient
who was bleeding after surgery, she could not respond
immediately. The husband was not satisfied with how
quickly Jones answered the call.
That’s when Robinson and another nurse stepped in to
help the patient. Afterwards, Jones went to the patient’s
room apologizing for not having been able to come right
away. With Robinson’s support, she acknowledged the
husband’s frustrations and listened to his concerns.
When he finished, still frowning, she thought of how
scared he must have been for his wife, not knowing if
she would live.
She assured him his wife would always receive proper
care, explaining that even if she herself could not come
right away — that nurses and physicians work as a team
to help with every patient.
The husband nodded his head and smiled for the first
time in days.
“I learned how to be patient and listen from Donna,”
Jones said. “Sometimes it is the simple things that
work best.”
Donna Robinson, left, is a key source of support for staff nurses Carlo Santiago and
Millie Jones.
(Photo: UHN)
