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Chinese Advisory Committee Raises $3 Million for New Initiatives in Seniors' Health Services

TORONTO, November 10, 2004 — Today at 4:00 p.m., North York General Hospital will celebrate its Chinese Advisory Committee's achievements in raising $3 million to support seniors' services at the hospital with a Benefactors panel dedication. The funds were initially raised from the community for the McNicoll long-term care facility and have been redirected, with donors' consent and the Chinese Advisory Committee's support, to two exciting projects at North York General Hospital's Seniors' Health Centre on Buchan Court.

Upon the advice of the Chinese Advisory Committee and donors to the program, North York General Hospital Foundation is channeling $1.2 million to an endowment fund to support a new Chronic Disease Self-Management Program at the hospital that has been successful around the world. This is a self-management program for people with heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and other conditions. North York General Hospital is the first organization in Ontario to become licensed to create this program, developed by the world renowned Patient Education Research Centre at Stanford University. This program has been proven to help people with a variety of chronic conditions to positively self-manage their conditions and thereby improve the quality of their lives. It has also been proven to reduce health care use. We hope to launch the program in early 2005.

In addition, $1.4 million will fund the creation of a new dining room on the first floor of the Seniors' Health Centre and updating the current dining room and kitchen on the second floor. These alterations will enable the Seniors' Health Centre to improve the experience for our residents and provide a broader range of ethnic meals.

"The Chinese Advisory Committee's support of these two initiatives is great news for the community and our residents in the Seniors' Health Centre and we are very grateful," says Bonnie Adamson, President and CEO, North York General Hospital. "This is all part of the hospital's commitment to providing culturally sensitive care for the seniors in our community."

Chronic disease is the principal cause of disability and the major reason for seeking health care. Most people will eventually have two or more chronic diseases, the majority of which will cause people to lose physical conditioning and experience fatigue. This can cause emotional distress such as frustration, anger, depression or helplessness. The program is especially effective in minimizing the long-term effects of chronic illness.


The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program is unique in that a doctor referral is not required and past participants can become lay leaders, with training, and then run this program in their community. North York General Hospital will accredit a master trainer to help provide training to other organizations and lay leaders to run this program. Moreover, this program has already been translated into several different languages including Spanish, Chinese and French. This will help the Hospital meet the multicultural needs of the community. In Shanghai, China this program found similar success after it was modified to be culturally suitable for the Chinese population.

"Tonight's dedication is a celebration of seven years of helping North York General Hospital improve its patient care and services to better meet the needs of the Chinese community," says Mable Cheng, Chair of the Chinese Advisory Committee and Governor, Foundation Board of Governors. "I'd like to thank the many donors and volunteers on the Chinese Advisory Committee, both the Hospital and Foundation Board of Governors and many others who helped us raise $3 million to enhance the Hospital's services."

North York General Hospital remains committed to providing care for seniors in our community. Through our specialized geriatric services and our positive working relationships with our community partners, the elderly will continue to receive support and care through our outreach, ambulatory, rehabilitation, Emergency and Day Hospital initiatives, as well as through our geriatric inpatient programs and the Seniors' Health Centre at Buchan Court.

Learn more about the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program

Contact:
Destiny Pickford
Media Relations and Communications Coordinator
Phone:(416) 756-6693
Email: dpickfor@nygh.on.ca