As I reflect on this past year, a defining moment was the day I met Jo; a 99-year old firecracker, dancer, and all around entertainer. Living quite independently in the wing of a retirement home, SE Health is lucky enough to provide services to Jo and many of her neighbours.
View MoreSometimes in life we are lucky enough to meet people who have the inherent ability to shine a light on an important topic. After I had chatted with Jo for a few moments, she leaned over and grabbed my hand and said, “Honey – Life is for the living – so enjoy!” The power of that phrase and the way she delivered it left a smile on my face for days.
Jo is a living, breathing example of aging well – full to the brim with spirit and quick to use humour to charm everyone around her. We should all be so lucky as to either be a ‘Jo’ or at least, to know one. At SE Health, an exciting part of our refreshed brand challenges each of us to be more like ‘Jo’.
I hope you enjoy and are moved by some of the stories we’ve included in this year’s impact report. It covers a wide expanse of our history, including our 110 anniversary, our evolving digital offerings and the 20,000 care exchanges we are privileged to conduct each day; we have a lot to celebrate.
In the past fiscal year alone, we’ve impacted the lives of 6.4 million people. Well beyond health care, we’ve been invited into homes and we’ve focused on spreading hope and happiness. This mission is one we have taken into our hearts, and we know that having the orientation of spreading these good feelings, has the effect of reflecting them back to us, other clients and our own families, at an incalculable rate.
In her younger days, Jo trained tirelessly to perfect classic dances, but she was always eager to learn new jumps and twirls. Jo’s unique story reminds me that with flexibility, instruction and keeping the beat with the changing times, you’re always ready to take a new spin around life’s dance floor. This is particularly true when you are lucky enough to have the right dance partners – from staff, to clients, to hospitals, our board, and global health systems – well-chosen partners can help us be better, learn more and keep each other standing up during challenging and transitional times.
A common quote that has gained favour in recent years is to “dance like no one’s watching”. I think we can flip that expression and learn from Jo to “dance like everyone’s watching” – because we should be proud to show the world how beautiful and graceful aging can be, particularly if we are lucky enough to take a lesson (or two) from Jo.
Our health care services help clients and their families at home, in hospitals, long-term care facilities, health centres, clinics and other community spaces.
Since 2015 we’ve invested $5 million to strengthen community services and care for people and families and the networks that support them.
Our interdisciplinary team includes nurses, personal support workers, rehabilitation therapists, educators, researchers, health leaders and business professionals.
Through our smart family caregiver brand, Elizz, we are reaching caregivers across the globe, helping them to feel more confident, resilient and engaged.
Every day we hear stories about the ‘little things’ our staff do for their clients and communities. We celebrate this spirit of caring by providing employees with Hope and Happiness Dollars to pay forward through creative acts of kindness. A great example is the 2017 Bear Paw campaign, organized by our Leaders of Impact in the Ottawa Region.
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Over the past year, RBC conducted a major study of the Canadian workforce. SE Health was honoured to participate in this research and share our perspective at a special thought leadership event on the coming skills revolution.
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In spring 2018, SE Health CEO Shirlee Sharkey visited her hometown of Windsor, Ontario, to spend time in the community with visiting nurses. Here, she shares some key takeaways from the day and what makes her proud.
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No one should have to die alone. That why we created Toronto’s only hospice for people who are homeless, providing quality end-of-life care in a comfortable and inclusive setting. Launched in 2018, Journey Home Hospice is a partnership involving the SE Foundation, Inner City Health Associates and Hospice Toronto.
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In fall 2017, we launched an enterprise-wide leadership development program that is expanding our capacity for innovation, growth and impact. From action learning projects to design sprints and mentorship dialogues, our first cohort of 65 next-gen leaders embraced it all with passion.
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"You can't give care to somebody unless you can give care to yourself first." Ajiitha, a second-generation caregiver, shares lessons learned from her family's own caregiving journey.
Watch VideoYou’ve got this, but we’re here to help! Discover Elizz, the smart family caregiving brand powered by SE Health. This year, our experts produced more than 280 original articles and free resources to educate, inform and inspire family caregivers.
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Approximately 75 per cent of family caregivers are balancing work and caregiving. The elephant in the room is 46 per cent of employees are not comfortable speaking to their manager about caregiving as they feel it will negatively impact their career. In response, Elizz has developed an online program to support caregivers in the workplace and create caregiver friendly workplaces.
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It takes a special company to survive 110 years! At SE Health, we’ve lived through and led all kinds of change – and we’re still curious and intentional about the trends that are shaping our world. This year we established SE Futures to lead us into a new era of health innovation and impact.
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At SE Health, we're always on the lookout for new ways to spread hope and happiness. Take a 'paws' to meet our newest ambassador, Jewels.
Watch VideoSE HEALTH (Saint Elizabeth Health Care) is a social enterprise applying knowledge, vision and drive to forever impact how people live and age at home, today and into the future. With Canadian roots and 110 years of expertise, the not-for-profit organization brings quality excellence and innovation to home care, seniors’ lifestyle and family caregiving. Through its team of 9,000 Leaders of Impact, SE Health delivers 20,000 care exchanges daily, totaling 50 million in the last decade.
To Spread Hope and Happiness
As a Social Enterprise we apply our knowledge, vision and drive to forever impact how people live and age at home.
We bring person-and family-centred care to life throughout the health care ecosystem
We nurture partnerships and community-led development
We collaborate to improve patient experience, health outcomes and system performance
We leverage a century of wisdom to educate, inspire and empower health care providers
We work to bring greater comfort, dignity and peace to the end of life
We scout and ignite new ways to deliver care and impact
SE Health benefits greatly from the expert guidance and support we receive from our Board of Directors. We are forever grateful for their contributions and community service.