Ernest Tutu

When medical lab scientist Ernest Tutu talks about his work and his research, he is animated, excited and obviously passionate.

An employee in the TSH lab since 2006, Ernest is completing his Masters degree in biomedical science and has spent the last several months conducting research related to Sickle Cell Disease.

Originally from Ghana, Ernest obtained a Bachelor’s degree in biomedical science and worked in two labs in teaching hospitals in England before coming to Canada. After completing the licensing process in Canada, he joined TSH.

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Dr. Kien Siu, front, and Dr. Maurice Siu.

The father-and-son team of psychiatrists, Drs. Kien and Maurice Siu, bring a unique perspective to The Scarborough Hospital’s Mental Health Services. Together, they represent close to 50 years of knowledge and experience in the psychiatric field.

“It’s an interesting field that covers so much—physical, mental, psychosocial,” explains the elder Dr. Siu, who began his practice in 1973. “And today, more people are aware of mental health issues, and there’s less stigma attached to psychiatric problems.”

Dr. Kien Siu completed his medical degree in Australia before attending Queen’s University psychiatric residency in Kingston. His son Maurice started his practice here at TSH in 2003, and convinced his father—who was living in Alberta at the time—to move to Toronto and to join TSH the next year.

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Hoops owner Eesan Subramanimiam

When Eesan Subramanimiam decided to do something for the hospital and staff who cared for his late father, the Scarborough man knew he would have plenty of support from his father’s friends.

“We were already doing a customer appreciation day where we give our customers free food,” explains Eesan, owner of Hoops Sports Bar and Grill, one of several restaurants he has opened in the Greater Toronto Area over the past 15 years. “So this time I asked our customers to make a donation to the hospital.”

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Visiting the Emergency Department is a stressful experience for patients at the best of times, but for children, the impact can be even more dramatic. 

An innovative approach to ‘fast track’ children and their families from the ED to a pediatric clinic—called Paedlink—has been so successful since its implementation at The Scarborough Hospital’s General campus in 2007 that it was recently expanded to TSH’s Birchmount campus.

PaedLink has also helped reduce ED wait times by 42 per cent, to less than three hours from an average four-and-a-half hours.

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Patient Care Director Nurallah Rahim, right, gives Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews a first-hand look at the operating suites at the General campus.

Walking through the surgical suites at the General campus, Dr. Michael Chapman compares the operating rooms to an old car.

“We’ve changed the tires, we’ve changed the chassis, and we’ve even put in air conditioning. But our four cylinder is having trouble keeping up with the 12 cylinders. If we had a 12-cylinder car, we would continue to lead,” he says.

Recently, the Corporate Chief of Surgery shared his analogy with Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews while taking her on a tour of the ORs. He, and Patient Care Director of Surgery, Nurallah Rahim, pointed out the inefficiencies, the challenges and the hospital’s vision for a modern surgical pavilion that would better serve our community.

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It was the compassionate care of the physicians, nurses and social workers at The Scarborough Hospital that inspired Harvey Walker to make a generous donation to the hospital in memory of his wife Joan.

“My wife and I had talked about making a substantial donation before, but we didn’t know where to make it,” says Mr. Walker. “The nurses in the palliative care unit did a really good job caring for her. They have a very tough job, but they do it very well. So when Joan died, it made sense that I give to The Scarborough Hospital. I thought it was a nice way to honour my wife’s memory and I know it will help the hospital.”

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At our public Town Hall meeting on November 16, 2010, held at the Birchmount campus, we conducted our first-ever "live tweet" of the proceedings. By using Twitter to share the highlights of our speakers’ presentations, we were able to increase access for our community and provide additional opportunities to participate. A transcript of the tweets from the evening are available below.

Follow us on Twitter for regular hospital updates and valuable health and wellness news! 

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The Scarborough Hospital now has two full-time, certified interpreters—one who speaks Tamil and one who speaks Mandarin and Cantonese—to better serve our global community.

“Since I joined the hospital, one of the main challenges I have heard consistently among staff is the difficulty in providing the best care experience to patients when language is a barrier to that care,” says Waheeda Rahman, Director of Diversity, Equity and Stakeholder Outreach. 

“By having two interpreters, the hospital is working towards removing linguistic barriers in serving the Scarborough population.”

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When Nicholas Lindsay suffered a knee injury three years ago, it could have ended his fledgling career as an aspiring soccer player. But thanks to Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Frank Tran and his team at The Scarborough Hospital, Nicholas not only recovered nicely, but he recently signed professionally with the Toronto FC (TFC).

“I see athletes of all ages and levels, and injuries at a young age can have long term consequences if not treated appropriately,” explains Dr. Tran. “I met Nicholas when he was 15 years old. He suffered a meniscus knee injury that required prompt treatment. An arthroscopic surgical repair was carried out at TSH.”

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Tanja Futter always knew she wanted to gain international nursing experience.

So when she received a heart-wrenching email about a girl who had suffered severe sexual abuse in Kenya, she began packing her bags.

Tanja, a registered nurse who had been working as an Emergency Department nurse, committed to volunteering at Ripples International Hope Centre for a minimum of three months; she stayed for two-and-a-half years. The Hope Centre provides shelter, counselling, medical support and legal support for girls up to the age of 17 who have faced or are at risk of sexual abuse, forced child marriage, female genital mutilation, child labour or severe physical abuse.

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After practicing for more than 40 years at The Scarborough Hospital, Ears, Nose and Throat Specialist Dr. David Naiberg is once again giving back to the organization through a sig nificant donation to the Foundation’s Equip to Care fundraising campaign.

“I  started my medical career here when it was known as Scarborough General Hospital,” says Dr. Naiberg, who has supported The Scarborough Hospital Foundation throughout the decades. “I’ve had a wonderful and rewarding career. I feel strongly about being a part of this hospital; a real kinship.”

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Elderly patients who visit the Emergency Department at The Scarborough Hospital can probably expect a visit by Nurse Practitioner Debbie Driver (General campus) or Clinical Nurse Specialist Elaine Laine (Birchmount campus), who specialize in geriatric care.

They represent GEM (Geriatric Emergency Management), an initiative aimed at reducing Emergency wait times and enhancing health outcomes for seniors. The program delivers targeted geriatric assessments and interventions to high-risk seniors aged 75 and older who present to the Emergency.

“As a Nurse Practitioner, I order certain diagnostic tests and write prescriptions, which frees up other nurses and physicians to look after more patients,” Debbie explains. “I have the luxury of spending more time with the patient to conduct a more thorough assessment as to why the patient is in Emerg in the first place.”

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A $3.1 million donation—the largest ever made to The Scarborough Hospital—means better diagnosis and treatment of disease, injury and illness for patients of the Scarborough community.

The anonymous donation supports the purchase of several pieces of urgently needed medical equipment. A portion of the generous gift completes the effort to raise enough money for two CT Scanners—one for each campus—valued at $1.3 million each.

The donation was made by a family whose members have been patients at the hospital over several years.

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Ticket sales raise more than $60,000

One car, over 650,000 winners. While David Peters drives away in a brand new 2011 Toyota Camry, each and every Scarborough resident will benefit from new equipment purchased from proceeds of The Scarborough Hospital Foundation’s Win a Car Charity Raffle.

Thanks to a partnership with local businesses Scarborough Toyota, Toyota on the Park and Lexus on the Park, funds will go towards the purchase of two new CT Scanners for The Scarborough Hospital. In just two months, the hospital’s Volunteer Services sold 3,187 tickets.

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Two of The Scarborough Hospital’s plastic surgeons have done it again—performing microsurgical ‘firsts’ in their volunteer work in the Third World.

Drs. Tim Sproule and Sarah Wong travelled to La Paz, Bolivia in March, where they set up the first microsurgery course using live animal dissections ever attempted in the developing world. La Paz—at an altitude of approximately 4,000 metres—is the highest capital city in the world, and there is speculation that the free flap surgeries they performed may be the first such surgeries in history at such a high altitude. But what is definite is that Drs. Sproule and Wong performed the first microvascular free tissue transfers in Bolivia.

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Nursing came naturally to Chris Mulford at a young age. As a teenager, he helped look after his ill mother back in Scotland, and “learned how to take care of her.”

Fast forward to 2011 at The Scarborough Hospital, and Chris—Registered Nurse and Clinical Resource Leader for Operating Rooms and Endoscopy—still thrives on “looking after people from all walks of life.

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Robert Chau learned at a young age the importance of choosing a career where he could help others. His father was a high ranking member of the Vietnamese diplomatic service, who instilled in his son the selfless benefits of helping his community.

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