Your Donation Will Help Us Help Even More People
At the Charlotte & Lewis Steinberg Emergency we are ready for anything. But we need more space — it’s just that simple. Our emergency team provides the highest standard of care and we must ensure this continues, even as our patient volumes rise. The ambulatory care area is bursting at its seams as our community both grows and ages. And our Emergency Mental Health Unit isn’t configured for the unprecedented and complex issues afflicting all generations across our community.
We need more space – it’s just that simple. Donate Today.
You can make a world of difference and help us help even more people.
We Need More Space in our Emergency Department to Provide More Efficient, Sensitive and Improved Care Experiences for our Patients and their Families.
The Charlotte & Lewis Steinberg Emergency, which operates 24/7/365, is recognized internationally for its leadership and influence in the areas of clinical excellence and knowledge translation. We have provided compassionate care to this community for over 52 years and in many ways are the front door of North York General Hospital (NYGH).
Despite this, some parts of this department require updates and we need more space to meet the growing demands of our community.
North York General’s skilled Emergency Department (ED) teams are lauded as some of the finest in the country. Our doctors and nurses are sought after by other practitioners around Canada to share knowledge and innovative models of care. NYGH has some of the lowest wait times in the province, and indeed the country, year after year.
We are proud to provide you with the best in emergency medicine right here in your community but we need more space to care for our community as patient volumes rise. We invite you to help us help more people. Join us to create more space for an Emergency Department experience that is designed and built for the expanding and changing needs of our community.
Being Ready for the Diverse Needs of our Community.
North York General opened in 1968, and by 1969 our ED received 35,000 visits. Currently the ED cares for almost 120,000 people a year with emergency needs. And these numbers are growing!
Fifty years ago, an Emergency Department played a very different role in our communities. Today, there are changing societal and cultural realities that demand we continue to evolve our practice and our space. We must be ready for the rising number of older citizens with complex issues, a more diverse and growing population who come from every walk of life, public health crises which are often unpredictable, and an increasing reliance on the Emergency Department to serve as the point of entry for a range of health issues.
These all fuel the need for more space and generous donations from our community.
Philanthropy Will Drive the Next Phase of our Emergency Expansion.
Philanthropy will drive the expansion and reconfiguration of our space allowing our Emergency Department to better serve a growing and aging community and their pan-generational health care needs. Just four years ago, we celebrated a landmark gift from the Steinberg family which provided for the first phase of needed updates to the ED. This included a larger and safer patient entrance and ambulance bay, expanded waiting rooms and a reconfigured triage area, larger sub-acute treatment zones and an additional isolation room.
“Philanthropy shaped the history of our Emergency Department. Now it will define its future. And while the need for more space in the ED is simple, there is nothing simple about emergency medicine. Help us help even more people.”
— Terry Pursell,
President and CEO
North York General Foundation
“If your first experience as a mental health patient is in the hallway surrounded by all kinds of people watching and looking at you, it’s going to make you less apt to continue your care journey. We are often the first place someone suffering like this comes to.”
— Andrea Ennis, RN
Clinical Team Manager, Emergency Services
We Need More Space to Provide the Best Care, No Matter What Health Issues and Patient Volumes the Day Brings.
At the Charlotte & Lewis Steinberg Emergency people experiencing pain, fear and in crisis enter our doors 24/7/365 and we welcome all. Much as we rely on our analytics to help us determine how to prepare, there is a constant flux of needs based on the changing world we live in.
Abdominal pain, chest pain, broken bones, mental health issues and viral infections are some of the broad list of reasons people come to the ED. These are urgent needs where we can’t always predict the volumes on any given day. Regardless of the reason, we treat each person as unique and important.
— Dr. Azra Ali
Emergency Medicine Physician
Emergency nurses play a critical role in our ED, and will continue to do so in the expanded space. The larger and specifically designed footprint will allow our nurses to care for patients in a more therapeutic environment, which will complement the excellent nursing care they have been providing for generations.
— Tamara Bell | Cassandra Kwok | Maedeh Saadatfard | Ani Megerdichian, Registered Nurses
Why We Need More Space.
Our ED saves lives in this community every single day — it’s just that simple.
Along with the 20% increase in individuals seeking support for mental health crises today (versus 2015), the department overall, is experiencing increased volumes.
Presently over 80% of those treated in our ED are discharged, without being admitted as inpatients. With these ambulatory volumes, this area is literally bursting at its seams. The Charlotte & Lewis Steinberg Emergency needs more ambulatory treatment spaces that will facilitate best practices. This will equip us with the ability to provide patients therapeutic and safe care for a wide array of medical emergencies and allow the majority of them to go home to heal, rest or even isolate.
In addition, consider the flux of increasing falls and fractures during the first ice storm of the winter, or the spiking volumes of individuals looking for care during a pandemic, and every year when flu season hits, there is a surge of seniors and others who need help dealing with the pain and discomforts they experience. And of course, we can’t forget the role of our Emergency Department in assessing for COVID-19 and providing the first step in treating those who have the virus.
Our goal is to raise $11 million for the Charlotte & Lewis Steinberg Emergency to expand the ambulatory clinic’s space and develop a new Mental Health Emergency Services Unit.
— Dr. Arun Sayal
Emergency Medicine Physician
We want to build on our past successes. With this new investment, a majority of those who come to us for help in the ED will be impacted. Our thoughtfully designed space will help even more patients and their families — we must be ready for whatever the issue, whatever the illness, whatever the complaint.
An Expanded Ambulatory Care Unit — More Space Equals Better Care. It’s Just That Simple.
Most patients seen will be able to leave the ED for home having received exemplary treatment and on the road to recovery. Our evolved and expanded ED will improve our ability to be responsive to patients and their families. This means more ease for patients and providers. For example, the elderly gentleman with a fractured ankle who visits our expanded ED will be able to get a respiratory therapist to come to him to administer and monitor sedation while another practitioner resets the ankle, all in one room.
We are designing our ‘next iteration’ of ED care by configuring an Ambulatory Care Unit that is more patient-centred and allows our health care experts to practice with more efficiency, which means shorter wait times across the board.
An expanded footprint and patient-centred design will allow us to quickly and efficiently see more people in dedicated spaces meant for their needs. Better space supports our 24/7/365 emergency services with what we need to help more people.
A New Mental Health Emergency Services Unit — Building a Safer and More Compassionate Environment.
From the start of the visit, those with mental health issues will be triaged and consulted in a private and dedicated Mental Health Emergency Services that keeps them safe and retains their dignity. The treatment rooms will be thoughtfully designed with carefully selected furniture and textures, colours and equipment that promote calm. There will also be additional crisis nurses for the Mental Health Emergency Services Unit. These changes will allow us to realize the vision of a Mental Health Emergency Services Unit where patients and ED stay feel safe and protected. Think of a person who enters the ED consumed by a mental health crisis — hearing the screams of a toddler through the thin curtain in front of their bed. In our new mental health area, we will be able to ease the suffering of this individual by providing them with a private room that helps them to feel safe and ideally, de-escalate the situation.
— Dr. Meeta Patel
Emergency Medicine Physician
“We want everyone who comes to feel acknowledged, respected, believed, validated and cared for as if no other patient existed in the department.”
— Marisa Vaglica
RN, BScN, MN, CHE,
Director, Emergency Services
— Dr. Jennifer Tomlin
Emergency Medicine Physician
Philanthropy is Making a World of Difference.
Join us for this next phase to meet the emergency medicine needs of our community. We need more space – it’s just that simple.
You can make a world of difference and help us help even more people.
Every donation counts, please donate today or call the Foundation at 416-756-6944 to learn more.