Bruyère

A letter from our leadership

This year we want to begin by saying thank you. Thank you to our dedicated and compassionate teams at Bruyère, our health care partners in the region, and the businesses and community-based organizations who have supported us during the changing face of the pandemic. The acts of selfless courage, commitment to work together and tremendous generosity have been a beacon for all of us during the pandemic.

In the past year, we witnessed how our teams can rise to the challenge in a time of crisis to best serve our community. Our teams rallied together to open vaccination clinics for those we serve and still, they wanted to do more. So, through partnerships with the AIDS Committee of Ottawa and local settlement agencies, in order to reduce the barriers for high-risk populations to access vaccines, we mobilized to support thousands more in our community.

Our teams have been challenged in ways that they could never have imagined when they started their careers in health care. The burden of wearing PPE, all the added measures and workload, fear and stress, truly tested everyone. Still, our teams rose to the challenge because they place those we serve at the centre of what we do. It is all so humbling.

We also saw how quickly we could innovate together by leveraging technology and partnerships. For example, through our work with the CAN Health Network and CANImmunize, we were the first to pilot the CANImmunize app and Clinic Flow tool to make it easier for staff to book their flu shots and alleviate the paper and administrative burden on our clinic teams. This Bruyère-led innovation is now being deployed throughout the health care system.

As a partner in the regional system, we continue to build capacity and plan for the future of specialized care and supportive housing in our community. In response to bed shortages in the region, Bruyère has opened 200 beds since the start of the pandemic, including a 120-bed transitional care unit at Greystone Village Retirement in November 2020.

While adapting quickly to a new reality, we also started putting proposals forward so that Bruyère will be there to meet the needs of our aging population. This includes plans for replicating the success of our Bruyère Health Village model, offering a full continuum of housing, from independent to supportive living and long-term care, on one site. We have also embarked on a Hospital Redevelopment Project to modernize our hospital sites over the next seven to ten years.

These initiatives will help us offer care in state-of-the-art facilities, enhance research and education at the bedside, and provide housing options centred around livable communities that help older adults age in place. As we look to the future of health care, these programs, services, and housing options are crucial to meet the needs of Canadians. Additionally, incorporating the lessons learned from our COVID-19 response into our work continues to be paramount.

We are honoured to serve this community and thank you for your generous support. We move toward the future with an unwavering commitment to serve you as we build the next generation of care for the people in our region and beyond.