This Holiday Season, You Can Help Bring a CT Suite to St. Joe’s Emergency Department

This holiday season, you can be a Life Saver with a gift to help our Hospital build a new home for a CT suite in our Emergency Department. When a patient arrives in the Emergency Department, every second counts. But oftentimes, before we can recommend a treatment, our care providers need to see what’s happening on the inside. With a CT suite right inside our Emergency Department, we’ll speed up diagnoses and help patients get the care they need sooner.

Look out for our holiday letter, coming to mailboxes soon, where you’ll find an envelope with a peppermint candy on the front that looks very much like the front of a CT Scanner! Inside it is a sweet treat and a chance for you to make a holiday gift to our Hospital. Whether you choose to make a gift or not, we invite you to send back a holiday message for the “Life Savers” working hard at St. Joe’s to care for our community over the holiday season.

New Juravinski Research Institute Projects Aim to Transform the Health System in Hamilton and Beyond

The Juravinski Research Institute (JRI) has funded five new research projects across St. Joe’s, Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University all centred around health system transformation. Health system transformation uses innovative approaches to create a more integrated and efficient healthcare system. The delivery of innovative and transformative care, including remote and virtual services, has become especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Less pain after surgery. Fewer admissions to the emergency department. Greater access to digital medical records. More opportunities for virtual visits and at-home monitoring. Decreased medication errors. These are just some of the projects being explored by researchers in Hamilton thanks to this new funding. To learn more about these promising studies and the researchers behind them, visit our website.

P.S. Speaking of research at St. Joe’s, our Research Institute recently hosted Celebrate Research but if you missed the premiere, don’t worry! You can watch the recording on YouTube.

Knitting Together Technology, Compassionate Care and Holiday Ornaments, Too

Michael is an active guy who loves to read, golf, play hockey and take brisk walks with his wife, Ellen, who enjoys various interests, one of which is knitting. Michael has always been conscientious about his annual physical exams, but three years ago, at age 58, and as a result of routine blood work, his doctor found his prostate-specific antigens (PSAs) were elevated, which prompted a biopsy. He was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer.

To help ensure others with prostate cancer are diagnosed early on, before it spreads or becomes harder to treat, Michael and Ellen have generously gifted $10,000 to St. Joe’s to bring MRI Fusion Biopsy to our Hospital. Wanting to do even more to help St. Joe’s, Ellen is knitting, and selling, holiday ornaments that honour the memory of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The ornaments sell for $30 each and funds raised will support prostate cancer care at our Hospital. Visit our website to read Michael’s story and purchase Ellen’s iconic ornaments!

You’re Invited to Opening Up, an Online Women’s Health Concerns Clinic Event on Dec. 6

Opening Up is a half-day, virtual event hosted by the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. It takes place online over ZOOM on December 6, 2021 from 8:30 a.m. - 12 noon. Join a panel of healthcare professionals and community members with lived experience as we explore the journey of childbirth and mental health during the pandemic. The Women’s Health Concerns Clinic at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton specializes in pregnancy, postpartum, premenstrual and menopause-related mental health challenges, supporting women and their families through the complete circle of life. Registration for this online event is just $10 and all proceeds will go directly to St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation to support the care that is delivered by the expert team at the Women’s Health Concerns Clinic. Learn more by viewing the event poster or register today at www.stjoesfoundation.ca/OpeningUp.

Bell Let’s Talk Grant Helps BIPOC Youth Access Mental Health & Substance Use Care

Our Youth Wellness Centre (YWC) was fortunate to receive a $20,000 grant from the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund. The grant is in support of YouThrive, an innovative mobile program dedicated to delivering mental health and substance use care to Black, Indigenous, and racialized children, youth and families in the Hamilton community. We are grateful to Bell Let’s Talk for its advocacy and support that is enabling the YWC to continue its work to create an inclusive and accessible environment for youth in our community to get the care they need how, and where, they need it. To learn more, visit our website or view this little video we created to thank Bell for more than $60,000 in support of our YWC.

Our Commitment to Your Health and Safety

As our Hospital welcomes back visitors, learners and volunteers and we begin to meet in person with our valued donors, sponsors and friends, we want to reassure you that your health and safety is our top priority. As a healthcare charity that works closely with our colleagues at the Hospital, grateful patients and community members, we are following the Hospital's policy on mandatory vaccinations to protect our staff and visitors. In addition, we have implemented a number of protocols to ensure that our office at 224 James St. S. remains a safe place to work and visit. If you have any questions, please reach out to info@stjoesfoundation.ca. Our office remains open to serve you during the season of giving.