May 1, 2023 | Mental Health, Leadership, Community and Partnerships
This week we’re recognizing Mental Health Week from May 1-7, 2023. Each year, 1 in 5 Canadians experience a mental illness or mental health issue, but we all have mental health and need to care for our well-being. In this blog, Dr. Andrea Steen will share HDGH’s efforts to continue supporting those experiencing mental health and addictions illnesses in our community.
HDGH is known for its expertise in Mental Health and Addictions, providing a wide range of services for both inpatient and outpatient mental health and addiction diagnoses. People come to HDGH to receive help when they are in crisis, battling addictions, to see a psychiatrist and for support for chronic mental health problems. We have compassionate and well trained frontline nurses, social workers, crisis workers, occupational and recreational therapists and staff with lived experience to help those who are struggling. We work with so many great partners around the city and county, all with a special interest and knowledge in helping those experiencing a mental health and addictions crisis. Our partners include CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association), our local police and EMS, the Windsor Essex Public Health Unit and many local counselling and support agencies.
As most Windsor-Essex County citizens are aware, we are working hard to get a new hospital for the region. But what many people may not know is the equally exciting news ahead for the Mental Health and Addictions space. To bring all the mental health services together into one space, for centralized care, smoother hand overs, quicker access, and a place that makes mental health and addictions a priority. As part of the provincial announcement in October of 2021, HDGH received news of the 68 Mental Health Inpatient Bed expansion to our hospital. This will be a new space, built within existing buildings that is built for the patient needs, comfort and safety. The other exciting part of the plan is devising a new space for Urgent Mental Health and Addictions patients to come when in crisis or need of service. HDGH has been working with community partners like Windsor Regional Hospital, local police and EMS, CMHA and frontline staff to devise the plan for this expansion. The plan is going to be submitted to the government in the next few months to wait on the approvals and next steps.
To have one hospital like HDGH be the hub for mental health and addictions services for Windsor and Essex does several important things for our community. It brings experts together who are truly passionate about caring for persons with mental health and addictions issues. It keeps the care in one place, which will improve communication between the staff and allow a better path of care for those who are struggling with an often confusing and disjointed system to navigate. It is our hope that our specialty hospital will grow with new physicians, nurses, support staff and peer workers, as well as attract medical learners of all kinds who are interested in this very special field of medicine.
This will truly be transformational for Windsor Essex and its residents and HDGH is very excited to be part of this project to bring better mental health and addictions care for all.
Dr. Steen is the Vice President of Mental Health and Addictions, Medical Affairs, Quality, and Research, and Chief of Staff at HDGH. She has over 31 years of clinical experiences and has worn many hats from providing hands-on tertiary inpatient psychiatry and outpatient services, to now overseeing the Mental Health and Addictions department. She has always been driven by her passion to care for patients and educates the community about mental health issues. In addition to her roles at HDGH, Dr. Steen is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario and Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Apr 4, 2023 | Community and Partnerships, Faces of HDGH
As Earth Day approaches one starts thinking more about the environment and what they might be doing to sustain it or how they are contributing to making it better. I, myself, reflect on my own practices of recycling and conserving energy at home through all the new gidgets and gadgets available to home owners to be more energy conscious.
I also think of my little outdoor garden where I grow some of my own chemical-free produce - oh the joy I get when picking fresh veggies from my garden. Growing a garden allows a person to not only feel the pride and joy from picking produce you grow, but it allows a person to really connect with the earth through cultivating the soil, planting the seeds or seedlings and regularly watering the soil and plants. It has been proven that gardening is good for the soul and your mental health, which is why, when we were offered a generous donation of a greenhouse for the Regional Children’s Centre (RCC) from the Rotary Club of Windsor-St. Clair, we jumped at the incredible opportunity.
In 2018 when the greenhouse was built, the next step was finding the perfect person to get the greenhouse up and running. We were directed to a retired teacher from Villanova High school, Andy Paling. Andy agreed to volunteer to come in and help us start up the greenhouse. He knew exactly what it would take to get us up and running. He wasted no time, and before we knew it we had tables, pots, dirt and most importantly seeds and seedlings. Now that the greenhouse was stocked with supplies we talked with Andy about having the children in the Intensive Treatment Services Program help out in the greenhouse. Andy, being a teacher at heart, jumped at the opportunity to have children in the greenhouse and has devoted countless hours of his own time in creating lessons and projects for the children.
Throughout the years that Andy has been volunteering, our clients have been provided with so many opportunities to connect with the earth and to feel the joy from growing their own produce and plants. The children have planted a year-round tomato and strawberry crop, individual herb gardens and created an additional outdoor vegetable garden behind the greenhouse. They grew oak seedlings from acorns and harvested spider plants. Andy also taught the children about hydroponics and had them grow lettuce from a self-made hydroponics system which used a recycled watering system.
Andy even taught them about insects and brought in a live praying mantis nest and ladybug eggs and larva to teach children about controlling pests without pesticides. He also had the children plant a butterfly garden (from plants they grew) and taught them about the importance of pollinating insects in our environment.
Through his resourcefulness, Andy found a local environmental group that agreed to donate White Pine Seedlings to our greenhouse and used them to teach the children about the importance of replenishing the greenspaces in our community. He gifted each of the children a seedling and encouraged them to take them home, plant them, tend to them and watch them grow. Andy is continually looking for ways to enhance our greenhouse and in turn, enhance a child’s experience and joy when they are at the greenhouse.
Projects that Andy has been working on lately with the children is reusing pallets to create planters out to expand our outdoor garden. He will also be working with the children on growing hanging baskets to bring home to that special someone on Mother’s Day. There will also be an art wall created so that the children have a space to display art projects they will be working on.
The greenhouse truly has become a beautiful and welcoming space for the children in the Intensive Treatment Services Program to grow and flourish just like the plants in the greenhouse. Each week they eagerly look forward to their special time with Andy and seeing how their plants are doing. I have heard kids say, “I love when I get to plant flowers”, “I love doing lots of things in Mr. Andy’s class” and “I planted stuff at the greenhouse and I can actually eat it”! It is evident by the smiles on the faces of the children and even the staff leaving the greenhouse that their time in the greenhouse was precious and nourishing for their soul. We are truly blessed to have a person as kind, compassionate and environmentally conscious as Andy and we are thankful to him for bringing our greenhouse to life.
In addition to Earth Day in April, we’re celebrating National Volunteer Appreciation Week April 16-22, 2023. Our volunteers of diverse cultures, ages, abilities and experiences give that extra warmth and love while supporting the personal dignity, safety, security and quality care in our hospital. We celebrate their kindness, generosity and commitment our volunteers offer that weave our lives together. Thank you to Andy, and to all our HDGH volunteers for giving of your time, talent and energy.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer at HDGH, please email us at volunteerservices@hdgh.org or call 519-257-5111 extension 73345. For more information on volunteering and academic placements, please visit our website at www.hdgh.org/volunteers.
Andrea is a Coordinator with the Intensive Treatment Services Program at Regional Children’s Centre. She has worked at RCC for over 22 years as a Child and Youth Worker and now as leadership. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, walking the trails behind her house and spending time with her children and all of her many pets.
Dec 7, 2022 | Community and Partnerships, Faces of HDGH
With December here, the Foundation team is getting ready to wrap up another year of giving and receiving. When I reflect back at all the wonderful people who supported the work we do at HDGH, it is with such gratitude. Donations are not made by faceless institutions, they are made by people. Even when a donation comes to us from a company, there is a person or group of individuals who put a great deal of careful consideration into which cause they wish to support.
Sometimes it is difficult to find a profound way to say thank you and to say it in such a way that the donor really understands our gratitude and the impact their gift has made. At the Foundation we try to convey thankfulness each and every day because we see firsthand that donations truly have the ability to change lives.
This year alone, gifts to HDGH made it possible for us to support the bed replacement project for the third year in a row, leant support to hospital employees with $10,000 in scholarships, purchased tangible items like an ice maker machine and with the support of our community assisted with the Breaking Free Online and various client activities within the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) programs. These are only a few examples of the impact donations make at HDGH.
Much like a good deed that is repaid to others, a donation can also start a ripple effect of kindness. The staff member who receives a scholarship feels valued and uses their learnings to improve the quality of their work; the patient receiving care benefits and the family member visiting sees that their loved one is being well taken care of and can sleep better at night. There is little opportunity for the patient to understand how a donation made their care better and brought their family ease, yet there are many intangible examples of this very thing throughout HDGH.
Most individuals know about the large events that are hosted to raise funds, but the HDGH Foundation has a full menu of ways we work to acquire donations. We hold the Heart Breaker Challenge, Bob Probert Ride, Big Night Gala and Charity Golf Classic. There are also individuals in our community who organize their own events and simply gift us with the money they raise. For example, we have been fortunate to have Rick’s Ride and Bridge to Bridge, two events that support our programs and services for the past two years.
Another way we raise money is through donor letters mailed out to our supporters telling them about a need the hospital has identified with a request to assist the Foundation to meet this need. The most well-known of these letters is the Tree of Lights campaign that was started 36 years ago at Grace Hospital. Since then the launch event has become part of the fabric of how HDGH kicks off the holiday season.
On our campus we have some wonderful gifts provided to us by caring community partners like an outdoor adult exercise space provided by LiUNA!625, a children’s greenhouse gifted to us by Windsor St. Clair Rotary, a healing garden provided by the Tregaskiss family and expanded by Transition to Betterness. We also have a cafeteria gifted to us by In Honour of the Ones We Love and there is still more that could be mentioned. Windsor is truly a caring and giving community.
There is a saying from Gordon B. Hinckley that “Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others”. With each donation to HDGH, our donors are doing this very thing, making a difference in the lives of others. Thank you to all of our donors, sponsors and to the community for all of your contributions this past year. I am lucky to be witness to this spirit of giving every day.
Barb Sebben is the Executive Director of the Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare Foundation and Academic and Volunteer Placements. She has been an employee for over 20 years, starting out as a coordinator in the Public Affairs department. Prior to joining HDGH she helped fundraise for the Children’s Safety Village and worked at Centres for Seniors Windsor (now Life After 50).
Apr 1, 2022 | Mental Health, Leadership, Research and Innovation, Community and Partnerships, Patient Stories, Faces of HDGH, Road to Recovery – Restorative Rehabilitative Care, Palliative Care, Spirituality, Heritage
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Welcome Readers. Our HDGH Team has always loved sharing stories with our community. Our Blog is just one of the many creative ways to do that with you. It has become a popular corner of our website where everyone is welcome to not only learn ABOUT our hospital, but also FROM the talented healthcare experts and professional voices we are proud to call our HDGH People. Our blog will be home to sharing expertise through varying healthcare-related topics from interviews, experience, patient stories, daily topics on how to stay healthy, and more.
You may have also noticed a new name to the HDGH Blog. “Maison Dieu Health” is a nod to our HDGH Heritage, honouring our French-Canadian five founding sisters of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph’s (RHSJ) who with love, perseverance, faith and persistence travelled from Montreal over 135 years ago to establish Windsor’s first hospital – Hôtel-Dieu of St. Joseph.
You can think of Maison Dieu Health as your refuge for wellness-related resources, all accessible “under one roof” through the many voices of our HDGH staff and community.
With that, welcome to Maison Dieu Health.