New Hospital Will Reinvent Patient Care

Humber River Hospital needs public's help to achieve $225 Million fundraising goal

By David Ros

In less than a year, North America's first fully digital hospital will open its doors, serving patients from Downsview and beyond.The first patients at the new Humber River Hospital at Keele St., and Wilson Ave., are set to be treated this October 18, 2015.Heather Hurst, the President and CEO of the Humber River Hospital Foundation said the new hospital will offer an unparalleled patient experience and help to “reinvent patient care in Canada.” “The digital perspective is not to have digital for digital's sake, it's really designed around the patient,” Hurst said. “The focus is on patient centred care and what the digital aspect is going to provide is opportunities for care providers to spend time with patients and their families.”Hurst said that the technology will not only increase the efficiency of patient care, but it will also cut down on the amount of paperwork which is in line with the hospital's three guiding principles of being “lean, green and digital.”“Everything that doctors nurses and allied health professionals do will automatically go right up into the patients' healthcare records,” Hurst said. “When a patient is in what we call a smart room they have their own bed side terminal and in this bed side terminal, they will have access to their healthcare records in their own language.”She added that the terminals will also provide patients with access to “educational portals,” where they will learn about the type of care that they will receive and can also set goals and objectives with their healthcare providers.“One of the great things about that is that the doctors and the nurses will be able to engage in conversation with the family about what they actually read and see on their healthcare record,” Hurst said.Hurst said the 1.8 million sq. ft., facility will contain 656 beds, 80 per cent of which, will be located in single patient rooms and it also boasts the second largest green roof in Canada.Increased efficiency was also a major focus of the hospital's design, with a concerted effort being made to make a really large hospital seem small. The hospital will have 9 entranceways and patients will not have to walk any more than 30 feet in order to get to their clinics.Hurst said another aspect of the hospital's patient centred approach is that families can stay with their loved ones 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and that the hospital will provide an area for families to stay over night. If families are unable to visit, patients will also be able to Skype with them from their bed side terminals.Hurst said that the digital technology will also help families of patients who have a language barrier or who are unable to verbally communicate to better understand the care their loved ones will receive.“You'll be able to see who has been in the room each day and what department they're from so you can actually engage in a discussion as to why those people saw your loved one,” Hurst said.While the government has provided a significant amount of money for construction costs, the hospital is reliant on personal and corporate donations to raise the $225 Million required to furnish and equip the hospital. Hurst said that the hospital needs to purchase 550,000 pieces of equipment and has currently raised a total of $65 Million.“Even though the hospital is opening, we still have a lot of money that we need to raise and we really want the community to know that we really need them to help us raise the money for the pieces of equipment,” Hurst said.If you wish to donate to the Humber River Hospital, or find out more information about fundraising events, you can contact the Humber River Hospital Foundation at 416-658-2001, or visit their website at www.hrfoundation.ca.

Be a Tourist in Your Own City, for free!

By Howard Moscoe

The cost of admission for a family of four to the Toronto Zoo is $92.00. Likewise, entry to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will set you back $58.00, and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) $61.00, but you can visit all these facilities for free thanks to an innovative program called MAP (Museum and Arts Pass), operated by the Toronto Public Library System, and financially sponsored by Sun Life Financial.The MAP program was instituted in 2007, inspired by a similar program in Chicago. It was designed to open up Toronto’s wealth of cultural attractions to families of modest means. It allows two adults and up to five children to explore the best of Toronto’s arts and culture attractions, the ones that tourist seek out but locals seldom do; all for free.As library doors open on Saturday morning across the city of Toronto, a line forms at the checkout desk where patrons can sign out passes from a list of Toronto attractions.You are entitled to get a pass for one attraction that will admit your family for free. The pass is signed out on your library card, and can be used for three months. All you require when you show up at say the Ontario Science Centre is the pass, your library card, and a photo ID.The list of attractions include: AGO - Art Gallery of Ontario, Bata Shoe Museum, Colborne Lodge in High Park, Fort York National Historic Site, Gibson House Museum, Mackenzie House, Montgomery’s Inn, Scarborough Museum, Spadina Museum: Historic House and Gardens, Todmorden Mills Heritage Site, Gardiner Ceramics Museum, Museum of Inuit Art, Ontario Science Centre, ROM - Royal Ontario Museum, and the Textile Musem of Canada. The most recent addition to the pass list is the fabulous Aga Khan museum which recently opened near Don Mills and Eglington. It is important to note that not all attractions are available at all libraries.At some library branches the passes are so popular that they are distributed by lottery, and at other libraries they are offered on a first come first serve basis.The trick is to find a branch in a neighbourhood where few people know about them. In some parts of town that’s hard to do, but we are lucky here in Downsview. I visited the Downsview Branch at Keele and Wilson on a Wednesday night, and was informed that the library had received 25 passes on Saturday, yet on Wednesday night there were still 14 available.               I found similar results at most of the Downsview Area Branches. The trick is to get there early because the most popular passes go quickly.Now families who have very little in their entertainment budgets can enjoy Toronto attractions for only the cost of TTC fare.The MAP pass program has been so successful that the library is currently negotiating its expansion to include a range of performance venues.Here is the list of passes available at our local libraries, Enjoy!

BIA Helps Create a Better Neighbourhood

By David Ros

While the Dufferin-Finch Business Improvement Area (BIA) is one of the newest in the city, it has already become a strong advocate for creating better infrastructure and a better environment for local businesses.Formally incorporated in May, 2014, the Dufferin-Finch BIA represents 2,500 businesses which collectively have more than 30,000 employees, making it the 2^nd largest neighbourhood business association in the country.“This is a district that often gets forgotten when the pie is being shared,” said Matias de Dovitiis, the Dufferin-Finch BIA's coordinator. “We don't have the same quality utilities, we don't have the same quality roads and we don't have the same quality infrastructure as other parts of the city.”The City of Toronto defines a BIA as an association of “local community property owners and tenants” working together “to enhance the safety, look and feel of the neighbourhoods, to attract more visitors to shop and dine as well as to draw new businesses to their area.Currently, there are 81 such BIAs in the city of Toronto, and de Dovitiis said that while most residents may know them from the events they organize such as Taste of the Danforth, put on by the Danforth BIA, or Taste of Little Italy, put on by the Little Italy BIA, they play an important role in helping to shape the neighbourhoods they operate in.“Change is coming to the neighbourhood whether there's a delay here or not, the point of having a BIA and the reason why all the different business owners got together is that we want to be able to shape that change to help to create a better neighbourhood,” he said.With the soon to be completed Yonge-University Spadina subway extension, and the new GO train station being built at Sheppard Ave. W., and Chesswood Ave., the neighbourhood will have access to a much improved transportation infrastructure, and de Dovitiis said the Dufferin-Finch BIA is working at the ground level to prepare for this change.“There's just so much potential in the neighbourhood precisely because the neighbourhood and the businesses over the years have been neglected for so long,” he said. “There's a massive opportunity.Two of the services the BIA offers to local business owners are free security services, and free employment services.

The Toronto District School Board’s Cuts and its Effect on our Neighbourhood

By Natasha Burford

 Natasha Burford is a grade 6 teacher, and a PhD student at UofT. She currently runs More than Marks, a learning and enrichment tutorial centre at Keele and Sheppard.In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion around the announced cuts throughout the Toronto District School Board, along with a much-heated debate from parent groups and teacher unions.If you are a parent, with a child in a TDSB school, you may be asking yourself: how will these cuts affect my child?The TDSB is Canada's largest school board governing 451 elementary schools, 110 secondary schools, and 5 adult education schools educating over 289,577 students.The TDSB’s operating budget is approximately $3 billion per year, and is under the jurisdiction of the provincial government. However, due to a bigger provincial deficit and in an attempt to save costs over the next few years, in April 2014, the Province of Ontario announced its funding for the 2014-15 school year, and unfortunately, the TDSB experienced significant cuts to special education (by $7.3 million) and its school operations funding (by $10 million).Hence, in order to reduce TDSB’s $16.5 million projected deficit, suggested cuts include: 260 job cuts, including special education and English as a second language positions. Also included are elementary and secondary teachers, as well as secretaries and vice principals.Special education programs, affecting 40,000 students, partly due to low enrollment are said to be on the chopping block. Lastly, 130 schools across Toronto, of underutilized space will be reviewed or closed due to declining attendance.What does this all mean for parents? If cuts are approved, this could mean larger class sizes for students all across the city. This also means less individual instruction, and more disruptions in regular classes with teachers who are trying to serve the diverse needs of more students.Staff will present a three-year balanced budget plan and capital plan at the June 2014 Board meeting.The main pressure is coming from the provincial government to the TDSB board to cut costs and with several new elected trustees, parents need to ensure trustees keep their promises to stand up for the success of students and their families, by rejecting these cuts to public education.

2015 TTC Budget Promises Better Bus Service

By Tom Rakocevic

 It is commonly said that religion and politics are topics that do not make for friendly conversation. Transit could probably be added to that list.While the debate usually surrounds big transit projects such as subways and LRTs, bus service can be more important for suburban residents.Consider this: even though the new subway line through our community will be open in 2016, most Downsview residents will still need a bus to get to it.Our community was mainly established in the 1960’s and has grown ever since. Has local transit service matched the growth? A comparison of local bus routes in 1975 to 2015 suggests there has certainly been a great improvement to the service in our area.According to 2011 census data, there are around 50,000 people living in Toronto’s Ward 8, a community residing within Downsview. TTC data indicates that there are almost 82,000 bus trips a day that either begin or end in Ward 8.So how do Downsview bus users feel about local service?At Jane and Finch, Meghan Robinson, a weekly 6 am regular on the 36 Finch West bus isn't impressed, "The 6 am bus is packed like sardines and if you miss it, there's no bus until almost 6:30 [am].”Overhearing the conversation, Nam Do joins in saying he is satisfied with service, although noting that “for some routes you have to wait 30 minutes for a bus in cold weather."Not too far away, at Driftwood and Niska, Kim says, “Sometimes, I could walk to Jane and Finch before an afternoon bus comes by.”At Sentinel and Finch, the view seems a little more optimistic.Billy, a York University student who rides the 106 says that TTC service is “good” while Josey Williams, another 36 Finch West passenger says the bus 2 “comes fast.”This year's TTC budget promises improved bus service through the restoration of services that were cut in 2011, expansion of the Express Bus and Blue Night Network, management improvements to reduce bus bunching and more. See https://www.ttc.ca/News/2015/February/020215_Board_Approves_Budget.jsp for details.As well, effective March 1^st, 2015, children 12 years or under will be able to ride the TTC for free. For children who may look a little older than their age, the TTC sends Proof-of-Age Cards to local schools. These cards are also available by calling 416-393-3030.The good news about improved bus service and eliminated fares for children does come with a 10 cent fare increase; which some people are unhappy about.Ms. Robinson also had something to say about that, “What are we going to pay an extra 10 cents for? More lousy service?”I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.--- In a separate text box below:We want to hear from you! Tell us what you think about the TTC service in your neighbourhood by e-mailing us at info@downsviewadvocate.ca

Debate Continues Over Future of Bathurst Manor Plaza.

By David Ros

Plans to build a mixed condominium and townhouse complex at the site of Bathurst Manor plaza near Dufferin Ave., and Finch Ave. W., has been met with opposition from local residents.The proposal seeks to create 44 townhouses and two 350 unit condominium buildings with retail space on the site at the corner of Wilmington Ave., and Overbrook Pl.Councillor James Pasternak (Ward 10 York Centre) said that he is opposed to the proposal as it would drastically alter the neighbourhood, since the surrounding area mostly consists of low-rise single family homes.“The level of intensification would put enormous pressure on existing infrastructure including water and electricity,” he said. “It would also create unspeakable traffic congestion; moreover, the heights and built form are out of character to the neighbourhood.”Residents loudly voiced their opposition to the development at a Sep. 30, 2013 community meeting where Adam Brown, a lawyer representing the plaza's owner, Kilbarry Holding Corp., presented the plan.Residents not only voiced concerns about the increased traffic and intensification, but also that the influx of new residents would add additional strain on the neighbourhood's already crowded schools.At the meeting, Brown assured residents in attendance that any school aged children living in the new development would be bussed to schools in other neighbourhoods, rather than local ones, which are currently full.Despite these assurances, Pasternak said residents have a right to be concerned.“There are added pressures on local schools, especially at the high school level, bussing is not ideal,” Pasternak said. “It creates new pressures on the local road system and extends the school day unnecessarily.“Bussing is also expensive, and the cost will take away resources from other educational supports.”The status of Bathurst Manor plaza has been up in the air ever since Sunnybrook produce store was demolished in 2004.At the Sep. 2013 meeting, Brown stated that neighbourhood plazas, such as Bathurst Manor were going into decline, and that residential developments were a more “viable” use of the land.Pasternak said he believes that “modest residential construction with a strong retail presence,” would provide the best development of the land.“Despite the decline and neglect of this plaza, it is still quite popular and can operate as a community focal point,” Pasternak said. “We need to build communities such that shopping is near and there is a balance between commercial and residential.” We want to hear from you! Tell us what you would like to see at the site of Bathurt Manor plaza by emailing us at info@downsviewadvocate.ca