By: Wendy Dyke

The New Humber River Hospital Opened in 2015

Community Living Toronto has always strived to  provide the best possible supports and services to individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families. We seek opportunities to enhance services in ways that will enable people in service to live the best possible life. So when Jia Inacio from Humber River Hospital’s Breast Health Centre reached out to our Regional Executive Director, Joe Persaud, we were pleased to have a new opportunity to connect with local health services and partner with them in promoting their unique services and educational tools that have the potential for making a huge difference in the lives of those we support.

After initial contact, Joe connected with Georgina Stergiotis, Community Support Coordinator in Etobicoke Region and me to discuss what steps we might take to partner with Humber River Hospital. From this discussion, it was decided that the first step would be for Georgina and I to tour the HRH Breast Health Centre to learn about their approach to promoting their services and to provide information to Jia about the population Community Living Toronto supports.

The tour of the Breast Health Centre started at the registration reception area where patients scheduled for screening sign in. Jia was great at taking us through the entire centre, explaining how a lot of thought and planning went into the design when the hospital was being built. The centre includes: consultation rooms for patients to meet with surgeons; change rooms and a waiting area that is secluded from the general public; a centralized work area for administrative support staff and technicians; screening rooms where mammograms, ultra sounds, and biopsies can be performed. The centre also promotes bone health and has a room for bone densitometry to be conducted. This room is strategically located at the end of the Breast Health Centre close to a door for an external hallway. This enables access to patients  coming in just for the bone density test without having to go through the areas where female patients are  having breast screening. This was just one example of the care and thought that went into the centre’s design.  Other elements incorporated for patients’ comfort include television screens displaying soothing scenic pictures to focus on during screening tests, calming music, and soft lighting. Any or all elements can be chosen by the patient.

For patients with mobility issues the centre has two specially designed chairs available that enable the technicians to position the patients so the screening can be accomplished with minimal discomfort. The chairs can be reserved for patients who need them when they call to book a screening.

During the tour, we were able to discuss the needs of the individuals we support and how the hospital could

help support them. The staff were very open to accommodating the needs of individuals in our services in whatever way they can. If an individual needs to have their support staff or a family member with them throughout the screening process, the centre is set up to accommodate this. Jia suggested that any specific needs should be discussed when calling the centre to book appointments. Tours can be set up prior to the actual screening for the individuals if this would help them understand and acclimatize the individual to what to expect. The tours can be arranged for individuals or for groups of individuals.

Group tours are often arranged for organizations as part of their outreach and education program. These tours include a walk through the Breast Health Centre and a presentation in the conference room adjacent to the centre. Georgina and I joined a group tour in late March to learn about how we might be able to facilitate the use of tours or presentation materials to promote screening. The presentation included snacks, lunch and PowerPoint presentations about three types of cancer screenings, information about Osteoporosis and the Humber River Hospital Patient and Family Resource. These sessions are designed so that if an attendee wishes, they can have a mammogram or bone density scan while they are there. For patients 50 years of age or older at average risk no doctor referral is needed; just a health card and doctor information so results can be sent to your family health practitioner. If attendees want to have a bone density screening, they can provide the hospital staff with the contact information for their family practitioner and they will contact them to get a requisition sent to the hospital for the test. Every effort is put forth to make accessing screening as easy as possible. The goal is to ensure that people are getting screened as early detection leads to increasing the probability of a positive outcome.

We will continue to work with the hospital to explore ways that we can promote education for cancer screening, bone health and other unique services offered by Humber River Hospital.

Below are resources for you to find out more about the hospital and its services:

Humber River Patient and Family Resource Centre:  http://www.hrh.ca/healthresourcecentre

Download the full version of this newsletter here: May Connections Newsletter