Win a FREE AED!
In honour of February being Heart Month for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Global Medical Services is donating and AED (Automated External Defibrillator) to help raise awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA).
In Canada, SCA claims up to 45,000 lives each year, which translates to one cardiac arrest every 12 minutes. The only effective treatment for SCA is early defibrillation. Rapid use of an AED with CPR before the arrival of Emergency Medical Services will increase the chances of survival by up to 75 percent.
In 1998, Global Medical Services was founded on the principles that everyone should have access to AEDs. It is our ongoing goal to see as many AEDs placed in public and private settings as possible in an effort to save more lives.
For more information on how to enter, please visit:
Global Medical Services
Surrey Memorial Hospital Redevelopment
Last week we talked about advances in hospital architecture and design in our blog post The Five Star Hospital. The five star hospital is a great concept built around delivering the best possible patient care through non utilitarian means.
Why not create a hospital that not only functions well, but also gives patients and healthcare staff a place to feel comfortable? The new Surrey Memorial Hospital Redevelopment and Critical Care Tower aim to do just that. Creating a warm and welcoming facility is one of the key components of the expansion.
Work is underway on a $512 million expansion and redevelopment project at Surrey Memorial Hospital. The centerpiece of this is an eight-storey Critical Care Tower that significantly continues to grow Surrey’s campus of Care.
The Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) was built in 1959 and served a population of 50,000 at the time. Over the years, SMH has undergone many transformations to meet the ever increasing demand. Currently Surrey has a population of 440,000 and continues to grow at a rapid pace.
With the help of our team at Global Medical Services, the SMH expansion will address capacity and efficiency, well into the future. At Global, we are engaged with this project by providing assistance in the area of clinical and non-clinical physician services. We have led and facilitated meetings and discussions in physician leadership to gather data for projecting the needs of the new Critical Care Tower.
Watch this video to learn about the new Critical Care Tower now under construction at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Key areas of the Surrey Memorial Hospital upgrade:
- Upgraded infrastructure
- Increased capacity of existing units
- Expanded family birthing unit
- Expanded pharmacy
- New lobby
Key areas of the Critical Care Tower expansion:
- 48 private rooms in a neonatal centre of excellence, with adjacent paediatric pharmacy
- 25 Intensive Care beds
- 20 beds for seriously ill patients in the High Acuity Unit, plus six more beds on the same floor
- Two medical floors of 36 beds each
- An expanded laboratory
- A rooftop helipad
- More than 440 new parking stalls
- Additional space for SMH’s clinical academic campus
With the population of Surrey expected to grow by an estimated 9,000 people per year, the SMH expansion is vital to the region. The expansion and re-development of SMH will mean a significant improvement to patient care in Surrey, and will complement the new Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre.
Kamloops This Week Picks Up Our AED Giveaway!
February has been an exciting month here at Global. Our AED giveaway is in full swing and we are thrilled at all the great responses we have received so far. We are very excited at making a difference and being able to give away such an important device as an AED. Heart Month comes, only but once a year, and it is really great to see others taking up this cause and generating awareness.
Here’s the story by Tim Petruk in Kamloops This Week . . .
“Global Medical Services, a leading Canadian distributor of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), is giving away an AED to help raise awareness for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).
The promotion is being held in conjunction with February’s designation as Heart and Stroke Month.
In Canada, SCA claims up to 45,000 lives each year, which translates to one cardiac arrest every 12 minutes.
The only effective treatment for SCA is the early delivery of an electric shock by an AED.
Unlike a heart attack, which is caused by a blockage in an artery and requires surgery, SCA results from an electrical malfunction of the heart.
For every one-minute delay in defibrillation, the survival rate of a sudden cardiac arrest victim decreases by seven to 10 per cent.
The major risk factor for SCA is coronary heart disease.
Other risk factors for SCA include a personal or family history of SCA or inherited disorders that makes one prone to arrhythmias, a personal history of arrhythmias, heart attack, heart failure and drug or alcohol abuse.
“Global Medical Services is excited about awarding an AED to a deserving winner,” said Tom Puddicombe, director of business operations at Global.
“We hope that this contest will generate more awareness about SCA and the value of having AEDs accessible in a cardiac-arrest emergency.”
Businesses, organizations and individuals can enter the contest by visiting the Global website by Feb. 28 at:
www.global-medical.ca/content/giveaway.
Once there, a form can be accessed on which the entrant can share why they would benefit by winning the AED.
The contest winners will be short-listed by Global staff.
Five winners will be posted on Facebook and the public will vote to determine who wins the prize.”
Source:
http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/community/138972739.html
Global’s Team Helps Standardize Burn Care
Among a group of doctors at Vancouver General Hospital, several physicians from our team at Global Medical Services’ present the first known BC Provincial major burns clinical practice guidelines in an attempt to provide more consistent care for burn patients.
View the guidelines:
Vancouver Sun, Mon Feb 20 2012, Page: A4, Section: Westcoast News, By: Mike Hager
A team of doctors from Vancouver General Hospital’s burn unit have created a set of guidelines aimed at standardizing care for serious burn patients throughout the province. “Before our little group got together, there was no unified single message that Vancouver General – as the provincial burn centre – was putting out to other practitioners in the province,” said Dr. Mark Vu, an anesthesiologist who helped shape the new protocol. About 100 severe burns (second and third degree) are treated at the VGH’s provincial burn centre each year, with about 90 per cent of patients coming from outside the Lower Mainland. Many, like those in last month’s Burns Lake mill fire, work in natural resource industries in the north.
The guidelines for standardized care will help those in remote areas of the province who treat patients in the critical first 24 hours as they are being transferred to Vancouver, Vu said. “Because these patients are so complex to manage and because major burns trauma doesn’t happen that often, it’s not something people get that much experience practising,” Vu said. “[The protocol] means that the decisions you’re going to make hope-fully are going to be better.” The new guidelines make it easier for doctors to standardize care, like managing the amount of fluid a victim receives, says Vu’s colleague Dr. Sol Gregory. Gregory said after the landmark 1942 fire at a Boston’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub – almost 500 people died, but the treatment of dozens of burn victims led to advances in care – the medical community realized the importance of rehydrating burn victims.
“Early and aggressive fluid [is important], because once you lose your skin you desiccate,” Gregory said. “Over the past 20 years we’ve realized we actually have gone too far and are giving too much fluid.” Too much fluid can lead to potentially fatal complications like abdominal compartment syndrome, where internal pressure cuts off blood flow to organs like the stomach. The new guidelines, available on a website and in printed form, include items like a chart that helps estimate the extent of a victim’s burns. That will in turn help give a more accurate account of the amount of liquid required. The Clinical Practice Guideline for Major Burn Resuscitation has been adopted by the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health authorities, the B.C. Ambulance Service and the B.C. Trauma Advisory Committee. “When there’s no standard of care . then it’s hard to say, ‘Okay are we doing well? Are we improving?’” Gregory said. “It gives us a way of doing quality control on our treatment and hopefully in the short term it will help people, and that’s ultimately the goal.”
Original story:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Burn+unit+creates+guidelines/6179337/story.html
The Five Star Hospital
Patients need much more than just medication and skilled treatment in order to get well. At least that is what recent studies have shown. Coupled with patient feedback, there is strong argument hospital architecture and design plays an important role in the healing process.
St. Josef Hospital and Pediatric Clinic in Neunkirchen, Germany recently underwent a major overhaul. From the ground up, the hospital has been redesigned to exude comfort and friendliness. Upon entering the foyer of the new facility, patients are welcomed with warm colours and a waiting area containing piano.
The stylish atmosphere doesn’t stop there. The rooms have been given a makeover giving the impression one is home in their living room rather than a hospital. Simple items such as curtains and moveable cupboards give patients a sense of balance and control over their environment. Even equipment manufacturers are applying a little comfort to their designs. They believe it is important for the equipment to not only perform well, but also be pleasant to look at.
“The patients say that they immediately feel as though they’re in a five-star hotel,” reports Dr. Ernst Konrad, Chief Physician of the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine.
It’s not just the patients who are benefiting from the inspiring changes. Doctors and nurses are finding it easier to do their work, and here too the rooms are more comfortable and colorful than those in the previous hospital building. Originating in North America, this trend has been spreading across Europe at a feverish pace. The focus is not only on providing expert medical care but also on creating a feel-good atmosphere.
Are you looking for a decent hospital stay? Well I doubt it… but if you do happen to find yourself in a hospital, you won’t have to look far for comfort. Global Medical Services is currently working with British Columbia’s largest health authority, Fraser Health in developing the new Critical Care Tower at Surrey Memorial Hospital. The $512 million investment is the largest ever in the Province of B.C. in a health care facility.
Similar to St. Josef in Germany, the new Critical Care Tower will focus on delivering a welcoming space to all patients and staff alike.
These artists’ renderings are sure to please the eyes.
Stay tuned, as next week we will be posting a full overview of the new Critical Care Tower, the layout, service offerings and timeline for opening.
When is a name more than name?
TED.
T-E-D.
Three simple letters – one simple name. Or is it?
Well, the answer is, it depends. If TED refers to the once annual live event from Long Beach, California that is rapidly developing a cult-like following, then the answer is an emphatic “no”!
Founded in 1984 as a non-profit geared toward bringing together people form the worlds of Technology, Entertainment, and Design, TED (www.ted.com) is anything but simple. Simply amazing, yes; “simple”, no.
I still remember having been introduced to TED by a fellow employee in 2008, and since that time, I have returned to the website time and time again, listening to, and learning from, fascinating speakers. Inevitably, I leave the site more energized than when I arrived.
Among my favourite talks:
- Discovering quorum sensing bacteria – that is bacteria that communicate with one another through extracellular messengers once they reach a population quorum.
http://tinyurl.com/ndou26
- Watching Jill Bolte Taylor recount her stroke experience, a story made all the more meaningful as Jill is a neuroscientist by profession.
http://tinyurl.com/7thjz9t
- Listening to Diane Nyad explain how she came to grips with reaching a birthday milestone, setting an extreme goal to commemorate it, and then failing thanks to jellyfish
(http://tinyurl.com/7useg6f),
- Finding out that you can text Google with a query using your cell phone and, in turn, be texted a response back almost instantaneously. If you haven’t tried it, may I suggest “Hawaii Weather”, to find out exactly how much nicer the weather in Hawaii is when compared to the place where you currently hang your hat.
- Learning that Uganda’s success in reducing AIDS infections may have had less to do with awareness campaigns and government programs, and more to do with the amount of coffee exports the country realized.
And that’s the beauty of TED. Even within the small sampling of talks listed above, you see topics drawn from science, technology, the human spirit, and real-world issues. With such a cross section of topics, TED promises to offer something to everyone.
Being such a huge TED fan, I am ecstatic that Global will be tapping into the live stream feed from this year’s event. For four days at the end of this month, staff will be invited to tune in and watch TED talks in real time, a first time for all Global employees.
What’s more is that we will also be joining the TED book club, giving us access to even more inspiring thoughts and ideas from authors specifically chosen around this year’s TED theme.
So, what does TED 2012 have in store for us? Only time will tell! Talk titles are veiled in secrecy so as to give presenters the utmost in topic flexibility. We can, however, be sure that the talks will inspire, enlighten, and motivate!
So, at T-14 days, I am eagerly looking forward to tuning in, and being reminded that a name certainly isn’t just a name when applies to TED.
Why You Need Access to an Defibrillator
February is Heart Month. If you are like me you have heard this everywhere, but do you know what Heart Month means and why we celebrate it?
From the Heart and Stroke Foundation:
“Heart Month was inspired by a fundraising initiative called “Heart Sunday.” The concept was adopted in British Columbia in the mid-1950s; in Ontario in 1958, and has since expanded across the country. Today Heart Month is a much broader campaign that mobilizes Canadians to rally together in raising awareness and funds that have an enormous impact on the lives of not just heart and stroke patients, but all Canadians. Through the generosity and compassion of volunteers, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has been able to fund critical life-giving research, education and advocacy programs that help save lives.”In truth, Heart Month is integral in generating awareness for all heart diseases. Did you know Heart disease and stroke take 1 in 3 Canadians before their time and is the #1 killer of women – taking more women’s lives than all forms of cancer combined? It is an uphill battle against heart disease, but at Global Medical Services, we believe this is a fight we can win.
Our mission is:
“Global is dedicated to preparing and empowering everyone to respond to adversity. Our mission is to ensure that people have the training and preparation they need to mitigate any emergency they encounter and the ability to move on afterwards secure in the knowledge that, when decisive action was required, they answered with the very best versions of themselves.”In honour of Heart Month we will continue spreading the knowledge and tools necessary to fight against heart disease. We will be giving away a free Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to one lucky recipient. (For more details and a chance to win)
How does a defibrillator help?
Defibrillators are the only treatment for Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), a leading killer of both men and women worldwide.
Who needs access to a defibrillator?
SCA can affect anyone, at any time, in any age group. Believe it or not, there are is wide variety of situations and locations that are in need of an AED. Do you work in a hotel, airport or casino? Do you go to school? Or do you live in a high-rise building? These are all high-risk areas that should be equipped with an AED.
Reasons to have a defibrillator:
- Hotels are vulnerable to SCA incidents due to the high concentration of guests staying at the hotel every day. The changing demographics of guests as well as their unknown ages and health concerns are all the more reason to implement an AED program into a hotel’s health and safety program. In addition to hotel guests, a large number of people attending conventions, meetings and special events are also on the hotel property at any given time. Having an AED in your hotel gives patrons the peace of mind that where they are staying, safety is a top priority and a marquee issue
- Hotels also employee many staff. Your employees spend more time on site than any guest. Having an AED program in place will assist in protecting your most valuable assets
- Having AEDs in lobbies, meeting rooms, banquet halls and fitness centers can make a difference in a cardiac arrest situation
- A recent study outlined in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that when security guards at casinos were equipped with AEDs, SCA survival rates soared to 74%
- Having an AED in your restaurant gives patrons the peace of mind that where they are eating, relaxing and enjoying their time away from home, safety is a top priority and a marquee issue
- The AHA (The American Heart Association) recommends defibrillation for SCA victims within 3 to 5 minutes of collapse. The Canadian benchmark response time for an ambulance is 8 minutes and 59 seconds
- Nearly 60% of all sudden cardiac arrests are witnessed, so if an AED is nearby, chances the victim will receive timely defibrillation is improved
- It is expected that one in 25 schools can expect a SCA incident each year
- A school AED program will help protect not only the students of the school, but also the adults present on the grounds on a day to day basis. These individuals potentially include teachers, teachers’ aides, custodians, office staff, administrators, reading specialists, parent volunteers, visiting parents and family volunteers
- There is a chance emergency medical services (EMS) cannot respond fast enough to save someone in cardiac arrest, particularly in congested urban areas, high-rise buildings, in remote rural areas, or large facilities
- What are the most likely places to have SCA events occur? Some studies have shown a higher incidence in certain locations, listed below:
- Airports
- Community/senior citizen centers
- Dialysis centers
- Ferries/train terminals
- Golf courses
- Health centers/gyms
- Cardiology, internal and family medicine practices, and urgent care centers
- Jails
- Large industrial sites
- Large shopping malls
- Nursing homes
- Private businesses
- Sports/events complexes
Reasons to not have access to a defibrillator:
Sun Peaks – Emergency Medical Responder Protocol
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Currently, Global Medical Services is working with Sun Peaks Fire Rescue in the development of an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) protocol. Sun Peaks was one of two B.C. fire departments chosen for a pilot project allowing firefighters to use the EMR protocol to attend to emergency calls. Located about 45 minutes from the nearest [...]
Focus on Feedback
We are in the midst of a 360 Degree Feedback Review at Global. It’s our first time going through this process. We’ve added it at the mid-way point in our fiscal year to complement our annual performance reviews, and are excited about the impact it will have.
We decided to implement the 360 because we believe in the value of feedback. Whereas the traditional annual performance review is relatively one-dimensional (manager to employee), the 360 provides opportunities for an employee to get feedback from a cross-section of the company. Sometimes a co-worker who sits next to you sees different things than your manager does. Even people who don’t work closely with you have valuable perspectives about how you do your work and how you come across in the company. From management to line staff, everybody gets a say.
Some of the benefits of a 360 in addition to an annual review are:
- they are accepted by participants because they provide a broader, more balanced and accurate perspective of the employee’s performance
- they provide a richer understanding of the employee’s performance because different people see different things
- they can reenforce organizational values of cooperation, teamwork, honesty, learning, etc.
- they promote open communication that leads to personal growth
- they provide a unique opportunity for staff to evaluate the effectiveness of their managers and others on the leadership team
We all need feedback, because most of us aren’t as aware as we could be, how we are perceived by others. People who are emotionally healthy recognize that feedback is an important part of personal growth, and people who want to grow generally seek feedback regularly. Feedback isn’t always easy to receive – sometimes it points out things that we don’t really want to see but it is only effective if we are willing to take in what others show us about ourselves. And growth only occurs if we use that information to make positive changes in our lives and our work.
Businesses need feedback too. Successful employers regularly seek feedback from their employees to see how they’re doing in providing a great work environment that motivates and inspires. We’re asking our employees all the time how they feel about this or that initiative and give them opportunities to contribute their perspectives on what and how we’re doing.
- Companies need to seek feedback from their customers on a regular basis to ensure they are providing excellent service and staying competitive in the marketplace.
- Professional athletes could not grow and develop in their sport without feedback from coaches.
- Artists could not grow in their art without feedback from other artists, mentors and the people who view their art.
- Children would never grow and develop in their life skills without feedback from their parents and teachers.
…and who hasn’t benefitted from the honest, compassionate feedback of a close friend who has helped us navigate a particular tough time we were going through?
Feedback is an essential part of personal and professional growth. We should seek it, welcome it, evaluate it and use it to move us forward on our life path. We hope our 360 will do just that for our staff.
January Innovation – The ECG of the Future
What is Electrocardiography (ECG), and why is it useful? ECG is the interpretation of the electrical activity of the heart over a period of time. It is used to measure the rate and regularity of heartbeats as well as the size and position of the chambers, the presence of any damage to the heart, and the effects of drugs or devices used to regulate the heart.
It sounds like having an ECG could be quite handy, right? Well yes, it would be, but who would want to spend thousands and have a large brick of a device lying around? Look at the size of that thing below, not me!
How about something you can trust to deliver accurate results and slip into your shirt pocket? Now we are talking.
CardioComm’s new handheld HeartChecktm Pen does just that, it puts the benefits of an ECG in the palm of your hand. You may see hypochondriacs lining up for this device, but its use goes well beyond those who have health obsession on the mind.
The HeartCheck Pen would benefit any person interested in monitoring their health due to heart disease. It could also be used to determine potential heart disease by assessing abnormal heart rhythms and muscle defects. From athletes to seniors, a wide range of consumers could benefit from this device.
“We feel the HeartCheck Pen is a true remote monitoring device because it is compact, easy to use, and takes accurate heart readings in only 30 seconds. The Pen may be used from anywhere, including at home, the office, the gym or in remote areas which are often inaccessible to common ECG machines,” said Etienne Grima, CardioComm Solutions’ CEO.
The device makes sending and storing ECGs easy. Up to 20 ECGs can be stored on the device, and once you hit that mark you can download the ECGs to your computer and print them off, or save some trees and send them electronically to your doc or clinic. The data can also be downloaded to GEMS™ Home, where repeated recordings can be managed in a personal health data record.
“What makes this product unique,” explained Grima, “is that after a consumer sends a selected heart rate recording to the C4 medical call-center over the internet using GEMS™ Home, the actual ECG recording will be reviewed and interpreted by an attending C4 physician. The ECG report will then be made available to the customer, again through GEM Home, where they may retrieve the ECG interpretation and use it in communicating with their own health care providers.”
The HeartCheck Pen definitely has some interesting advantages over its big brother, but is it something you would use? Take our poll below and tell us your thoughts.
For more information on this device, please visit CardioComm
