Over the last 13 years, Laycock (who retired last month from his position as Sunnybrook’s director of biomedical engineering) has created a means to reduce, recycle and reuse in an extraordinary way.
NO MACHINE LEFT BEHIND
Keith Laycock sits comfortably in his office filled with artifacts he's collected from various corners of the world. He has an international reputation – and has even had children named after him – as a result of his goodwill and generosity.
Over the last 13 years, Laycock (who retired last month from his position as Sunnybrook's director of biomedical engineering) has created a means to reduce, recycle and reuse in an extraordinary way. Medical equipment such as fetal monitors, computers, X-ray machines, ventilators, defibrillators or furniture such as beds, operating tables, dressers and even wheelchairs are all refurbished and rebuilt, then shipped to hospitals in need around the world.
"Every day I get an e-mail – it could be at 2 a.m. from a contact in a faraway country, telling me how our equipment has impacted a family or helped someone walk again," says Laycock. "I believe that it's important to give back. It's a relatively small donation for a really big outcome."
Along with ensuring that all of the electronic medical equipment is working and operating effectively in the hospital, Laycock and his staff volunteer their spare time to test, restore, rebuild and adapt items for use in faraway developing countries.
A few years ago, bedside monitors, suction pumps and other equipment were sent to help rebuild the Guyana Burn Care Unit, the only burn unit in the Caribbean. A team of Sunnybrook nurses from the burn unit flew down to train the local nurses, and local doctors were invited back to observe and train at Sunnybrook. Final result: a 40 per cent increase in burn-injury survival rates in Guyana.
To date, approximately 36 developing countries have benefited, and the list continues to grow. The one condition, according to Laycock, is that the items must work self-sufficiently for at least two years. "Even though the items are used, they are completely safe. If we wouldn't use it, we won't ship it," says Laycock.
Originally trained as an emergency medical technician (ambulance), Laycock saw his share of upset and trauma working long and varied shifts in Banff National Park. Newly married, he decided to go back to school and pursue electrical engineering. When he completed further training in Boston to become a biomedical instructor, he knew that he'd found his real calling.
"Looking back, it was during my first job, when I worked for a large computer tech company, that I saw skids of equipment being destroyed and simply wasted. That was the beginning of my concern and frustration. I realized then that so much more could be done with old equipment. I can't stand to see anything wasted."
Laycock is not one to take all the credit. Teamwork is huge for him. Originally it was just Laycock's department involved and then word soon spread to staff throughout the hospital. It wasn't long before other medical staff such as doctors and nurses (some of whom have relatives or loved ones in far-off places needing help) became involved.
"Every year it's the anticipation of where we're going to go and how we can help that is exciting," he says. "It just doesn't end; it's my social life."– Sally Fur
LOVING THROUGH JOY AND HEARTBREAK
As a nursing student, Wendy Moulsdale's clinical rotation in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) turned out to be a life-altering experience. "As soon as I got there, I thought, 'This is for me.' I knew I wanted to spend my career in the NICU," says Moulsdale.
Twenty-seven years later, she now works as a nurse practitioner in Sunnybrook's NICU. She is passionate about helping families through their NICU journey, which can best be described as an emotional roller coaster.
A difficult reality in the NICU is that not every story has the outcome parents and staff were hoping for. "Bereavement is one part of a family's NICU experience that is so hard. We try to make it the best it can be, and make it a beautiful moment," she says. A member of the unit's bereavement committee,
Moulsdale and her colleagues work to help families through their losses, from parents who've lost a premature child to women who have experienced a miscarriage.
While there are moments of heartbreak in the unit, Moulsdale says the NICU is a joy-filled place. "We get to know the families well because they are often here for months, so we love it when they come back to visit," she says. "Since we meet them during such an intensely stressful period of their lives, seeing them in their natural state as a family is a gift."
Staying closely involved in the care of the babies and their families is important to Moulsdale, and becoming a nurse practitioner was the best way to do this. "Being that person of consistency in a baby's care, and being able to connect with the family to see how they're doing is so important," she says.
The ability to mentor new nurse practitioners is something Moulsdale also enjoys. Early in her career she looked up to others in the unit who had gone back to school to become nurse practitioners. "They were my role models, and I ended up following in their footsteps," she says. "It's rewarding to take the next generation under your wing and watch their knowledge grow." – Sybil Edmonds
AN INSTRUMENT OF HELP
Amy Canter has been a social worker for nearly four decades. Her attraction to the work proves the strength of family ties. "My father was a psychologist so I wanted to somehow get into the helping field. Life just unfolded, and I had an opportunity to go into social work."
The last 15 years of Canter's career have been dedicated to the dialysis unit at Sunnybrook. "Kidney disease exerts a huge burden on people, and their treatments are demanding," she says. "Our patients are complex medically and that can make their lives challenging. I can help by coming up with creative solutions to make life less complicated and, hopefully, more enjoyable."
Social workers offer assistance to both patients and families by connecting them to community resources like transportation, finances and home care. They also help elevate a patient's quality of life as they adjust to a life on dialysis. Social workers like Canter are, quite literally, a lifeline.
Part of that role is keeping patients connected. She has spearheaded a regular patient newsletter, and the Patient Council, which keeps patients informed and is part of the decision-making process. She works with the Kidney Foundation and organizes the annual Dialysis Patient Memorial Service. She's also helping prepare patients for the eventual move out of the existing dialysis unit to its new location.
Canter says the challenges of her work are balanced by the moments of gratitude. Pulling a folder from her filing cabinet, she opens it to share the cards and letters of thanks she's received over the years. She fondly shares one particular letter that especially touched her.
"This patient was a Holocaust survivor, and after he passed away, the family planted a tree in Israel in my name. They were so grateful because they weren't able to assist with the little things that helped him live, and that's what I did," she says.
"Being able to use myself professionally as an instrument of help is a wonderful thing. I think that's what motivates all social workers." – Monica Matys
A SLEUTH ON THE TRAIL OF BUGS
"It's always detective work. Every situation is different," says Dr. Mary Vearncombe, who was introduced to the field of microbiology as a medical student. She was immediately intrigued by the patterns of behaviour of organisms: How they cause disease and in what populations.
"Infectious diseases are always emerging. On the prevention side, you have to constantly apply that knowledge – to be vigilant and responsive. On the control of infections, you have to review every step and track every activity that went on to solve the puzzle."
Dr. Vearncombe's teacher, an accomplished microbiologist, was a strong role model. That mentorship led her to do her specialty training, in Medical Microbiology at the University of Toronto. Together with courses in infection control from renowned institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she embarked on a career in infection prevention and control, and is the program's medical director at Sunnybrook.
"Infection prevention and control is a separate body of knowledge that needs specific and continuous training," she says. "It's really fascinating because it takes you into every aspect of a hospital's functioning, and it applies to the way we design hospitals and how we care for patients, the efficiencies of water systems, heating and ventilation, how we move patients and how we use hospital products."
"When I started in the early eighties, infection prevention was a relatively new field that few physicians specialized in," says Dr. Vearncombe. "But two major events, HIV in the eighties and SARS in 2003, completely changed the way we think about infection prevention. We gained new respect for the risk of contact with blood and body fluids through HIV and, later, for the risk of contact with droplets from coughing and sneezing related to SARS."
Both infections had a tragic impact on the world. The only benefit, says Dr. Vearncombe, is that we learned from our mistakes, never to repeat them, and raised the bar in infection protection for those receiving care and those giving it.
Dr. Vearncombe has a special interest and commitment to the occupational health aspects of infection prevention. "You can't have a well-functioning program unless it protects both patients and health-care workers," she emphasizes.
She came to Sunnybrook from Women's College Hospital and welcomed the opportunities and
challenges of practising, especially in the care of perinatal, critical care, burn, dialysis and oncology patients. She is proud of her multidisciplinary team of infection prevention and control co-ordinators for their collaboration with each of the clinical programs they support.
Within the community of hospitals, Dr. Vearncombe is keen to share infection best practices and guidelines. As founding member and chair of the Communicable Disease Surveillance Protocol Committee, she has provided leadership in developing communicable disease surveillance protocols that guide infection control and occupational health practices in Ontario hospitals. She is also chair of the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee for Infection Prevention and Control and is a member of the Public Health Agency of Canada Expert Working Group on Infection Control Guidelines. – Natalie Chung-Sayers
HELP FOR LIFE
When asked what she does as a health-care worker, Myrna Moore chuckles and in her soft, sincere voice says she helps plan weddings, anniversaries and vacations.
For more than 20 years, Moore has been helping people live when they are faced with the terminal diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
ALS is a progressive and fatal neurological disease in which the neurons that operate the muscles waste away, causing paralysis. Eventually patients lose the ability to use their hands or to walk. They may be unable to speak or swallow their food, until, ultimately, they lose the ability to breathe. (See page 40 for additional information about ALS.) The cause is unknown in most cases, and there is no cure. But to Moore, working with patients of ALS is not about dying. It's about living.
"There's something about these people that pulls you in … they want to live," she says. "We want to do whatever we can to help them do that."
As the clinical care co-ordinator for Sunnybrook's ALS clinic, the largest multidisciplinary clinic for the disease in Canada, Moore sees patients before their formal diagnosis and routinely throughout their journey.
"If you were suddenly forced to face the reality that you are one day going to die, wouldn't you want to live life to the fullest?" she asks. "I encourage them to keep working, to be as independent as possible, to travel and do what they want to do," she says.
Moore explains that ALS is a very costly disease – emotionally, physically and financially. She works with a team of specialists to address patient needs, from providing assistive devices to liaising with community services. This includes helping them with long-term disability, housing, tax breaks and even finding the resources to help a patient provide a romantic dinner at home with his or her spouse for their anniversary.
Currently the clinic follows more than 450 patients with ALS, and the numbers are growing, says Moore. According to ALS Canada, approximately 2,500 to 3,000 Canadians over the age of 18 currently live with the disease.
"If it meant there was a cure for this disease, I wouldn't mind being out of a job," admits Moore about the career that, she says, has taught her to live each day to the fullest.
– Katherine Nazimek
PROBNG ELECTRICAL INJURY
It was a summer day and a young man was tasked with collecting branches that were being cut from the trees above. As he was working, a live power line fell – landing on top of him. Thousands of volts of electricity radiated throughout the young man's body and while it didn't take his life that day, it cost him most of his limbs and left devastating psychological scars.
What can we do to prevent this from happening again? And, if injuries like these do occur, how can we understand what these patients are going through so that we can provide the best, most-effective care possible?
These are the questions that continue to drive Dr. Manuel Gomez, researcher and director of the St. John's Rehab Research Program, years after that young man crossed his path.
"Despite existing preventive measures, personal protective equipment, safety procedures and legislation, something is still missing," says Dr. Gomez. "Through our research we are learning more about how electrical injuries are affecting these survivors, not only to improve their care, but also to show the impact and importance of having necessary measures in place to prevent these injuries from occurring in the first place."
This past year Dr. Gomez received the Chief Public Safety Officer's Special Recognition Award for his contributions to electrical safety and to the care of survivors of electrical injuries. The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) presents this award annually to recognize and celebrate the leadership and achievement in the promotion of electrical safety in Ontario.
The award-winning research conducted by Dr. Gomez and his team has helped spark change around the world by revealing that not all electrical injuries leave visible marks like burns or amputations. In fact, electrical injury survivors may look perfectly healthy.
"People who survive electrical injuries can experience long-term neurological dysfunctions, like muscle fatigue, weakness or loss of sensation. They may have difficulty doing simple things like walking or using everyday tools," explains Dr. Gomez. "The worst part is that these patients may live undiagnosed and misunderstood, only adding to the suffering."
Findings have emphasized the need for education and also preventive strategies that could decrease the risk of electrical injuries. Other research at St. John's Rehab has helped develop prevention programs to reduce electrical burn injuries caused by the use of multimeters, for example.
Dr. Gomez and his team are now looking to identify what personality traits may be common among people with these injuries, just as young extroverts are proven to be more prone to motor vehicle collisions. He hopes the answers will help education and prevention initiatives.
"I strongly believe that the best treatment, the best investment, is prevention. We can prevent the disability, the pain and the suffering not only for the patients, but also for their families," says Dr. Gomez. – Katherine Nazimek
This content was produced by The Globe and Mail's advertising department, in consultation with Sunnybrook. The Globe's editorial department was not involved in its creation.