Friday 6 September: 40th Anniversary Celebration for the W.P. Scott Geriatric Day Hospital

As we age, how do we keep ourselves active, interested, engaged and connected, and what can we as a society do to help those who need support and guidance in any one of these areas?  The W.P. Scott Geriatric Day Hospital at Sunnybrook is one such important cog in the community, and on Friday it was celebrating 40 years of service to the community. 

The hospital aims to “enhance independence and quality of life for seniors living in the community”  and offers a comprehensive support team  of geriatricians, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers, speech-language pathologists and volunteers. 

And to some snippets from the event itself:

Betty Matheson a patient care manager at Sunnybrook Health Sciences who opened the event emphasized the importance of the link between hospital and community and the role the hospital’s programs played in helping seniors remain in their homes.  Seniors are valuable members of our community.

Likewise Barry McLellan, CEO Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, who has worked at Sunnybrook for 30 years, also stressed the importance of the community.  Indeed, he pointed out the Day Hospital’s growing commitment to the community and their families reiterated the core vision of the unit, which is to keep people in the community and out of the hospital.

A gentleman who may well have been in his 80s and who had graduated from the Day Hospital Program praised Sunnybrook Geriatric Day Hospital, the staff and the doctors for the wonderful care they provided. He also showed us a USB stick he wears around his neck: this stick held all his important medical information and history giving medical practitioners instant access to relevant and important information.

Once the presentations were finished we were taken to a lovely reception with hospital staff, patients, doctors and community agencies.  The reception was held in a lovely secluded spot, a secret garden within the hospital walls, that I never knew existed.  The weather was also wonderful and so was the assortment of sandwiches, vegetables & dip, cheese and crackers and pastries. 

So, it was an honour to attend this event with Martha Miller, Mosaic’s client services liaison, and to have the chance to pay our respects to the work that is being done here today and to the vision and hard work of those who have gone before.  In a way this is precisely what Sunnybrook is doing for our seniors, that is, paying our respects for their part in building the world we live in today.  This is a duty we all share.

The clinic opened in 1973 thanks to the efforts of Dr. Rory Fisher (who was present at the event) and other members of the hospital.