LOOK BACK: QHC President & CEO Stacey Daub

The president and CEO of Quinte Health Care says their biggest achievement of 2021 is the level of care they’ve been able to provide despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Stacey Daub there isn’t a week that goes by that she doesn’t receive a letter from the community commending the care QHC has provided them.

She points to a recent letter she received from a man who fell on the ice and was admitted to the ICU in Trenton.

“Nobody thought this gentleman was gonna survive and the team worked extremely hard. And this is a grandpa who’s back in his recliner now and is gonna be with his family for Christmas. So, if I think about some of those stories that I think are remarkable in the midst of everything that’s going on, those are the ones I think that keep our entire team moving.”

QHC Chief of Staff Dr. Colin MacPherson notes that there are actually more hospital today than there were in March 2019.

But, he says the demand is much greater now and, even with more people providing care, COVID has stretched them very thin.

Daub says helping to bring an Ontario Health Team to the region was one of the year’s most exciting accomplishments.

In September, provincial Health Minister Christine Elliot announced eight new Ontario Health Teams including one for this region.

“Twenty-plus organizations to successfully be designated as an Ontario Health Team. So it’s the Hastings Prince Edward County Ontario Health Team. We established our first relationship charter. Hire an amazing new strategic lead in Cheryl Chapman and are just set to really grow and flourish.”

Ontario Health Teams include providers and organizations from across health and community sectors, including primary care, hospitals, home and community care, mental health and addictions services, long-term care, and many others.

Quinte Health Care also received accolades during this last year for its quick treatment for stroke patients.

Daub says there’s still room to improve but earlier this QHC was ranked fastest for door-to-needle time of any Telestroke centre in Ontario with a median time of 49 minutes.

“We are really a top performer in door-to-needle time and what that does is it both saves lives and it also makes for better lives, right, in terms of peoples’ abilities to recover and get back to a good life following a stroke.”

Door-to-needle time refers to the speed in which a stroke patient receives clot-busting tPA.

Telestroke centres are hospitals that do not have access to a stroke neurologist onsite.