On May 8, Bridgepoint reached a major milestone as it admitted patients to its new 32-bed rehabilitation unit. For the first time since opening the new building in 2013, Bridgepoint is operating as originally envisioned and designed, with patients occupying all 15 units. The journey to this point started six months ago with the announcement of additional funding to open the new unit. This launched a multi-step bed expansion project that would require months of planning and collaboration by key stakeholders and many departments across the organization, culminating in two move days. After the Albert and Temmy Latner Family Palliative Care Unit move to the 10th floor was completed on May 1, the vacated 4 North re-opened just one week later, receiving its first medical rehabilitation patients from other units in the hospital. The new Academic Medical Rehab Unit will provide care for patients with complex health conditions. Individualized rehabilitation will support patients and their caregivers to successfully transition back to the community. Jackie Eli, Senior Director, Rehabilitation and Ambulatory Care said the unit will also be a platform for collaboration between the clinical team, students and researchers to evolve and enhance care. “We included ‘academic’ as part of the vision for the new unit because we designed it, from the beginning, to study, learn, and teach new and innovative models of care,” she says. “Bridgepoint has so much expertise in providing excellent care for patients with complex health conditions. This unit will provide more opportunities for learners training to be healthcare professionals. It will also help us build our capacity for research and education.” Dr. Christine Soong, Division Head, Interdepartmental Division of Hospital Medicine for Sinai Health System said physicians at Bridgepoint are proud to be part of the team. “We are thrilled to be collaborating with the 4 North team on the development of a novel academic model of care. We hope to create, evaluate and spread innovations in inpatient care and improve patient experience and outcomes.” Prior to the opening day, an orientation session brought the new team together on May 1. “The new 4 North team brings a wealth of experience in rehabilitation and ideas for improvement that are vital to the innovative and collaborative environment that we are creating. I am excited to learn from and with the team as we start to test and evaluate new ways of delivering excellent rehabilitative care,” said Kathleen Reid, Patient Care Manager for the unit. Iva Stankovic, a Project Manager who worked on the planning process for the new unit said the orientation was a great opportunity for team members to share ideas. “The team building event was a great, hands on and insightful opportunity to hear from the new colleagues how they envision the new unit to be a place where they can be inspired and excited to work, while collaborating with learners and each other to provide the best patient care possible,” she said. On move day, members of the care team and employees from across the hospital who worked on the bed expansion project celebrated by cutting an official Sinai Health ribbon. The celebration marked the completion of their bed expansion project and the beginning of a new journey for the 4 North team.
