Ontario Patient Representative Association Meets at Humber River Regional Hospital
By Kearie Daniel, Communications Specialist, Humber River Regional Hospital
On February 9th Humber River Regional Hospital (HRRH) played host to the quarterly meeting of the Ontario Patient Representative Association (OPRA). Patient Representatives from hospitals around the province, some even joining in via video link, converged at the hospital to share best practices, ethical dilemmas and many experiences with each other, in the hopes of enhancing their collegial relationship and improving their responses to professional challenges.
"The event went really well. Hosting the meeting at HRRH was a nice way to showcase our Hospital and some of the great work that we do here," says HRRH Patient Representative Claudette Gooden. Her office, lined with brightly coloured drawings from children and thank you notes from parents and family members, happy with the care their loved ones received at HRRH, has plenty of evidence to support her claim.
Patient Representatives are frontline workers who serve as a link between hospital and patients and their families, allowing users of Ontario hospitals to provide feedback and opinions on care, and also vent their frustrations and concerns.
"OPRA really is about sharing our experiences and learning from each other" says OPRA President and Patient Relations Coordinator at York Central Hospital Brenda Tan. "A lot of us work on our own and it can be a stressful job. We find we really benefits from being able to have group discussions and share ways to resolve some of the issues that we face."
At this meeting guest speakers included Dr. George Awad, Director of Humber's Mental Health Program and HRRH's Clinical Ethicist, Bob Parke, both of whom received an extremely warm reception.
"I've attended many of these meetings and this one was fantastic" says Sandy Dayes, Patient Relations Advisor at Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga. "The speakers were wonderful and the content was really appropriate to what we deal with everyday."
The networking, discussions and sharing sessions the Ontario Patient Representatives were able to participate in at HRRH all serve to help facilitate the delivery of top-quality patient care received in hospitals around the province.
The event was a tremendous success. HRRH would like to thank all of those who participated and contributed in making the event an informative session for Ontario's Patient Representatives.