In the hospital drama, they’re the supporting characters working steadily but silently in the background, aiding the doctors and nurses as they strive to improve their patients’ lives. Who are these supporting characters? They are the vital sign monitors that track a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen level, respiratory rate and more—vital information for determining and monitoring a patient’s care.

“We cannot do our jobs without cardiac monitors,” says Brenda Ferguson, Acting Nurse Manager for the Intensive Care Unit at Royal University Hospital. “They provide us with baseline and current data which assist us in ongoing patient treatment and management decisions.”

This fall, Royal University Hospital Foundation has launched the Royal Vital Care appeal with the goal of raising $2.8 million over two years to purchase new,

state-of-the-art vital sign monitors for RUH. In addition to 96 vital sign monitors, the campaign will also fund the purchase of 24 defibrillators and a central monitoring system. Royal Vital Care is an extension of

the Royal Care Campaign, which raised $15 million for research, training and patient-care at RUH.

“In a stressful environment, where important decisions are often made quickly, our doctors and nurses deserve the very best tools on which to base their treatment decisions,” says Arla Gustafson, CEO of RUH Foundation. “These new monitors will do that and more.”

BENCHMARKSSEpTEMBER 2009, VOlUME 14 ISSUE 2

NEWSlETTER OF THE ROyAl UNIVERSITy HOSpITAl FOUNdATION

(cont’d on page 4)

(cont’d on page 2)

“As we learn more about

the new monitors, we are

discovering new advantages

all the time.”

The heART of The MATTeR 2009 appeal is vital to patient care

Dr. Anita Chakravarti, Anesthesiologist, demonstrates the use of a new

state-of-the-art vital sign monitor at RUH.

Ever work with a tool that quit in the middle of a job? Now, imagine that tool is a vital sign monitor connected to a critically ill patient, and that you are on an elevator transporting an unconscious patient to another unit when the monitor goes black.

“That is a sick feeling,” says Kelly Johnson, RN and Clinical Nurse Specialist for Heart Health. “I just try to stay calm until that elevator door opens. I don’t ever want

to take another ride in an elevator with a monitor that doesn’t work.”

That’s why Johnson and many other hospital personnel are supporting the Royal Vital Care appeal to replace 96 aging vital sign monitors at RUH.

Five years ago, medical personnel at RUH donated more than $250,000 to the Royal Care Campaign, which raised an

unprecedented $15 million for education, research and patient-care at RUH. The goal of this year’s Staff Appeal is to build on that achievement by raising 10 percent of the Royal Vital Care appeal from among the physicians, nurses, administrators, technicians and medical staff who work at Royal University Hospital and Saskatoon Health Region.

Staff Appeal plays a vital role in Royal Vital Care

(Royal Vital Care Staff Appeal… cont’d from page 1)

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“Our medical team knows better than anyone how important it is to replace these old monitors, and we want to give them the opportunity to have a lasting and vital impact on the place where they work and the patients they care for every day,” says Arla Gustafson, CEO of the Royal University Hospital Foundation.

“I am very excited to see the new monitors, and that’s why I’m supportive of the campaign,” says david Maier, a Registered Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit who is

serving as a Staff Champion of the Royal Vital Care appeal.

The Staff Appeal during September and October will reach out to all personnel who work at RUH, encouraging them to support this initiative which goes to the very heart of what they do. “This generation of hospital staff deserves to work with the newest generation of technology,” says Gustafson. “By supporting Royal Vital Care, they are supporting themselves and their patients.”

He’s an elderly farmer with terminal cancer. And he’s changing his Will. When he passes away, eight charities including Royal University Hospital will benefit from his generosity and gratitude.

“He lost his wife to cancer a couple of years ago. They both had the benefit of RUH being there, and they wanted to make sure that whenever somebody else is in their shoes, those facilities are still there and may be even better,” says Jocelyn davey-Hawreluik, an investment advisor at the Unity Credit Union who is assisting with the Will. “More and more people are asking me how to leave their money behind for charity.”

A planned legacy can take the form of an endowment, trust, will, life insurance policy or other means that provides funding for the charity of your choice, while avoiding probate and income taxes in the future. “If you’re going to have to pay so much

in tax to Canada Revenue Agency, you might as well have it going to a charitable organization of your choice,” says davey-Hawreluik.

Executed properly, with the help of a lawyer, accountant and financial advisor, these forms of planned giving can generate tax savings both during your lifetime and for your estate after your death.

“Simply put, a Will, as part of an overall estate plan, will enhance your wealth, minimize taxes, give your heirs the greatest benefits, ensure that your intentions are carried out and allow you to give to your favourite charity,” says Crystal Taylor, a law partner at Macpherson leslie and Tyerman and a member of the RUH Foundation planned Giving Advisory Committee.

She warns that without a Will in Saskatchewan, you lose the legal rightto control the distribution of your

estate, your assets could be sold under unfavourable market conditions, your heirs might have to pay tax that could otherwise have been reduced or deferred and your estate could be left in a legal tangle, delaying settlement and increasing costs. “preparing a Will is one of the most important things you can do for your spouse, children, friends and favorite charity,” advises Taylor.

For further information about how to include Royal University Hospital in your future plans, please contact Bruce Acton, director of development, at 306-655-6530.

Lawyer Crystal Taylor, member of RUH Foundation Planned Giving

Advisory Committee and partner at MacPherson Leslie and Tyerman LLP.

Kelly Johnson, RN, Clinical Nurse Specialist for Heart Health

Leaving Your Mark – the benefits of Planned Giving

filipino nurses settle in, thanks to a little help from TD Bank financial Group

New recruits celebrate with Bonnie Blakley, VP People Strategies, Saskatoon Health Region (centre front).

3

They’re settling in, buying homes, getting their drivers’ licenses, having babies and sending their children off to school. It’s life as usual for almost 100 nurses who recently started work in the Saskatoon Health Region—even though they’ve just moved halfway around the world.

They are nurses from the philippines who have come to work in Saskatoon under a provincial government program to recruit more foreign-trained nurses. Thanks to a $75,000 donation from Td Bank Financial Group and its Td Grants in Medical Excellence Scholarship Fund, Royal University Hospital Foundation was able to provide $15,000 to assist the Saskatoon Health Region with the training and education of these new recruits. When the first group of nurses wrote the Canadian Registered Nurse Examination the pass rate was an unprecedented 84 percent, proving we had recruited the very best.

lette Ramos came to Saskatoon from

Manilla almost one year ago. Three months later, her husband John and their two children joined her. “I was very happy to see them,” she says. Jason, six years old, and John Edwards, nine, made a quick transition into St. Anne Elementary School and their new community. “They like biking along the river, swimming and playing in the park,” lette adds. The couple has bought a car, and John is preparing for his driver’s test.

Ramos works in the Oncology Unit at Royal University Hospital. One of her colleagues is daniel Montecillo,

who also arrived from the philippines last October. Montecillo considered nursing in Britain and Ireland, but chose Saskatoon and RUH because of the many opportunities offered here to advance his skills. His goal is to study Nursing Infometrics, an area of specialized nursing that uses computer technology to gather, interpret and analyze clinical data to the advantage of patients and nursing in general. “Infometrics is a very interesting and new field for nurses,” says Montecillo. “It’s one of the major reasons I came here to Canada.”

He is grateful to Saskatoon Health Region, Royal University Hospital Foundation and Td Bank Financial Group for easing the transition and training for himself and his Filipino colleagues: “It was beneficial to come here as a group. We are strangers in a foreign land, and it is very fortunate to share the experience with someone who has the same feelings and is facing the same adjustment.”

“Infometrics is a very interesting

and new field for nurses.

It’s one of the major reasons

I came here to Canada.”

“As we learn more about the new monitors, we are discovering new advantages all the time,” says david Maier, a Registered Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit. “We realize how much more information we can get from them. We’ll see trends more quickly. Stay on top of things. If a patient is deteriorating, we will be able to detect it more quickly than before.”

The Saskatoon Health Region has already replaced 77 vital sign monitors at RUH. The remaining monitors are increasingly outdated and under repair. “The old monitors break down and can no longer be fixed because the manufacturer doesn’t make replacement parts anymore,” notes ying Zhu, Manager of Clinical Engineering for the Saskatoon Health Region. “New monitors are a top priority.”

“Our medical staff and nurses will be able to provide better quality care to critically ill patients when we have new monitors installed throughout RUH,” says dr. Vernon Hoeppner, Head of the department of Medicine for the Saskatoon Health Region and College

of Medicine. “The technology will allow us to improve care and prevent complications through better patient management.”

doctors and nurses are also anticipating the advantages of a centralized monitoring system that will consolidate a patient’s vital sign records, allowing medical staff to analyze data instantly, in real time. Central monitors will be able to track and store this essential data over the course of 96 hours, and doctors will be able to access the data remotely. “With new cardiac monitors, we won’t have to wait for vital sign data to be sent over from another hospital,” says Heather Miazga, Nurse Manager for the Coronary Care Unit. “If a doctor on the Sixth Floor wants to review patient data, all he or she will have to do is look at the central monitor. The data will be right there.”

Saving precious minutes—and precious lives—at RUH, Saskatchewan’s largest critical care hospital.

Special EVENTRecognizing a Corporate LeaderOn July 15 the curtain opened on the new potashCorp MRI Centre at Royal University Hospital, named in honour of a good corporate citizen that has given so much to the health of our community. Back in 1992, potashCorp joined the campaign to bring the first MRI to Royal University Hospital and Saskatchewan by pledging to match all donations up to $1.5 million.

In 2004 during the Royal Care Campaign it stepped up again, contributing $1.5 million in matching funds for the potashCorp Chair in Clinical Research at Royal University Hospital. please visit RUH, A Wing, Main Floor, to see the beautiful mural capturing the exciting history of medical imaging in Saskatchewan.

(Royal Vital Care Appeal… cont’d from page 1)

4

Report Ceo’SOn my regular walks across the University Bridge, I have followed construction of the new Irene and leslie dubé Centre for Mental Health as it takes shape on the east bank of the South Saskatchewan. The importance of this new facility to patients and their families was recently brought home to me yet again, this time by the actions of Jeanette Chenier.

In May, Jeanette ran the Saskatchewan Marathon in honour of her son, Jeremy, who suffered from a mental illness and, tragically, committed suicide in 2004. Jeannette dedicated her marathon to raising money for the Royal University Hospital Foundation Community Mental Health Endowment, which will provide much-needed funds for research, training and community initiatives in the area of mental health. Jeannette was overwhelmed by the support of her friends and family, who together pledged more than $10,000 to her run.

As CEO of RUH Foundation, I am honoured and humbled by Jeanette’s determination and by the generosity of her supporters. Mental illness is a silent killer in our community and many people suffer in secret. However, I am encouraged that we can change that by speaking up and supporting mental health through our words and deeds—just as Jeanette and her supporters have done.

Our Board of directors is committed to building the Community Mental Health Endowment to $2.5 million and was, therefore, thrilled to add close to $500,000 in net proceeds from our share of Hospital Home lottery 24. Thank you again to everyone who supported The Future in Mind Campaign and the Hospital Home lottery, and to all those who have and will contribute to the Community Mental Health Endowment.

I’d also like to pay tribute to the dedicated medical personnel at RUH including RN Kathy lyle, who recently retired after 36 years of service. We misquoted Kathy in a previous issue of Benchmarks, and for that we apologize. A long and dedicated career and community volunteerism speak louder than words.

RUH FoUndation

In front of the new PotashCorp MRI Centre (lt-rt): Arnie Arnott, Volunteer Chair RUH Foundation; Dallas Howe, Chair PotashCorp Board of Directors; MLA Jocelyn Schriemer;

Bill Doyle, President and CEO PotashCorp; Maura Davies, CEO Saskatoon Health Region; Katherine Daniels, St. Paul’s Hospital Board.

Arla Gustafson

KudosBMo financial Group

5

Three Champions for a Cause

david Maier is a Registered Nurse with a flair for technology, so when an aging vital sign monitor breaks down, he’s often called in to troubleshoot. “I have a high tolerance for frustration,” he says. Even so, he welcomes the day when the old, unreliable vital sign monitors are replaced with reliable state-of-the-art machines. “A lot of the problems with the old monitors aren’t something you can tinker with anymore. They just need to be replaced,” says Maier, a Coordinator in the Intensive Care Unit at RUH.

Maier is one of three Staff Champions who have lent their names and faces to the Royal Vital Care appeal. The other two Staff Champions are Kelly Johnson, Registered Nurse and Clinical Nurse Specialist for Heart Health, and dr. Chakravarti, department of Anesth- esiology, Saskatoon Health Region and College of Medicine. As respected and

dedicated medical specialists, they’re supporting the campaign to raise $2.8 million (including approximately 10 percent or $280,000 from health care staff) to replace the aging vital sign monitors and defibrillators at RUH.

That day can’t come soon enough for Johnson, who cares for critically ill heart patients. Far too often, the old vital sign monitors simply quit or, even worse, set off a false alarm. “We have to treat the alarm seriously until we figure out that it’s the machine,” she says. “I decided to become a Staff Champion because I know the importance of having monitors that work every time. I’m very excited about that.”

dr. Chakravarti spent more than 25 years in OR, where vital sign monitors are critical for monitoring unconscious patients during surgery. The new monitors will “increase

patient safety by decreasing the likelihood of errors and promoting new initiatives in quality of care and quality assurance,” says dr. Chakravarti, who is also a Volunteer Board Member of RUH Foundation. “They will complement the care and compassion of health care workers in the management of their patients.”

Staff Profile

David Maier, RN and Staff Champion, relies on vital sign monitors in ICU.

David Maier, RN and Staff Champion, relies on vital sign monitors in ICU

Representatives of BMO Financial Group donned “scrubs” to tour the renovated Operating Rooms at RUH, work completed thanks to their generous donation of $150,000 to the Royal Care Campaign. In recognition, a plaque has been mounted designating the BMO Financial Group OR Family Waiting Room. Every year close to 9,000 patients undergo surgery at RUH, and family members often gather here to await the outcome and make important decisions at a difficult time. “BMO has a long-standing commitment to support organizations that improve the social well-being and quality of life of our employees and of the citizens and the communities where we do business,” says Ken Segboer, Vice-president, Saskatchewan district, BMO Financial Group.

BMO team tours OR (lt-rt): Kelly Walker, Harold Halyk, Ken Segboer, Kieron Kilduff and Tanis Taylor.

Special EVENT

NHl hockey star Jarret Stoll has earned a place in the hearts and hallways of Royal University Hospital. In just four years, the Jarret Stoll Celebrity Golf Classic has raised more than $500,000 for the care and comfort of sick children and their families at RUH. In recognition of Stoll’s fundraising efforts, a special ceremony was held at RUH in June to name one of the pediatric family waiting areas the Jarret Stoll Comfort Zone.

“It’s great to be here,” says Stoll, who grew up in Neudorf and yorkton. “It’s important to have a waiting area like this for families to make their days easier at a stressful time.”

during this special event, a cheque for $25,000 was presented by Felix Kerbler of Boston pizza on 51st, the presenting sponsor of the annual celebrity golf tournament. Funds raised by the event are invested in the Jarret Stoll patient Comfort Fund Endowment for

Children at RUH. Interest earnings from the endowment have been used to purchase a number of important items for the pediatric Unit including sleep chairs for family members, vital sign monitors, baby swings, children’s furniture, activity tables and dVds.

“It’s wonderful that a young man like Jarret Stoll, who has made a career for himself in the NHl, will come back to his home province and make a difference in the lives of so many,” says Arla Gustafson, CEO of Royal University Hospital Foundation.

Stoll was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 2002. In 2008 he was traded to the los Angeles Kings, where he wears jersey #28. The next Jarret Stoll Celebrity Golf Classic is scheduled for June 24 - 25, 2010, at the Moonlake Golf and Country Club. For more information on the golf tournament and the endowment, please call 306-655-1984 or visit www.jarretstollgolf.com.

Two seminal events occurred in 1955—Elvis presley released his first album and Royal University Hospital opened its doors. And we’ve been rockin’ and rollin’ ever since! In October, these two celebrated institutions will come together at the Rockin’ Royal Ball, sponsored by potashCorp, celebrating four decades of rock and roll music while raising funds for the Royal University

Hospital Foundation’s Royal Vital Care appeal. The event is slated for Saturday, October 3 at the delta Bessborough Hotel; tickets are $300 each. Come as your favourite rock star/band or in black tie. (Now, wasn’t Black Tie the name of a david Bowie album?) For tickets call Candace at 306-655-6501 or e-mail ruhfoundation@saskatoonhealthregion.ca.

6

Rockin’ for a Royal Cause

hockey Star Scores Big

at RUh

ROCKIN’ ROYAL BALLfeAtuRINg pAst deCAdes Of ROCK

Royal University Hospital Foundation'sPresented by

Pediatric patient Adam Silbernagel gets a lift from Jarret Stoll

Celine Hounjet knows that a little comfort goes a long way. That’s why she’s rallying behind a fundraising campaign to purchase six specialized high-backed chairs for stem cell transplant patients on Unit 6100, now under renovation at Royal University Hospital. Each chair costs about $1,600, so the goal is to raise $10,000.

The chairs come with a high price tag because they must meet strict hospital standards as well as the special needs of patients who have been weakened by their stem cell treatments. “They may want to sit and read or have a place to sit and talk with visitors,” says

Hounjet, Volunteer Chair of STEM, a patient advocacy group dedicated to the provincial blood and bone marrow transplant program. “It’s more about patient comfort than anything else.”

Renovations to Unit 6100 are being undertaken to accommodate stem cell patients who must now go out of province for treatment. “The goal is that we will not need to send anybody out of province in the future,” says Hounjet. The RUH 6100 Chair and Comfort Campaign is off to a good start, with about $4,000 in the coffers. To donate to STEM’s campaign, contact RUH Foundation at 306-655-1984.

Kudos

Campaigning for Comfort

7

A healthy heartdr. Colin pearce has a big heart, so much so, the cardiologist at Royal University Hospital has undertaken a fundraising drive to establish a Heart Function Clinic for people living with chronic heart failure. “The key is that it is a multi-faceted team approach to treating the patient,” says dr. pearce. He is spearheading his efforts with colleagues patrick Robertson, dr. Rashpal Basran, Stuart Hutton and Judy davis through Chronic disease Management and Heart Health programs.

The clinic will offer treatment, follow-up and prevention programs that improve heart function and quality of life for patients, thereby decreasing their use of acute care services. About $200,000 has been raised to date, mainly through industry appeals. As well, RUH Foundation has committed $25,000 per year for three years. The Heart Function Clinic is set to open this fall at RUH on a pilot basis, with the long-term goal of establishing a permanent clinic supported through the Saskatoon Health Region.

Congratulations to Greg Sutton, the first person to make a donation through the new automated donor Kiosk in the Main Mall at Royal University Hospital. He made the donation while waiting for his wife, who was at a medical appointment. “It was an interesting and convenient way to donate,” says Sutton of TinyEye Therapy Services, which offers software for online speech therapy for children. “We serve children in remote communities so anytime we can give back to the community, we take that opportunity.” Everyone is invited to check out the new multimedia donor Recognition Wall in the Main Mall at RUH!

Gerald Salter, of Swift Current, transplant recipient and STEM Board Member, finds comfort in a new specialized chair.

Leader of the Packdonations to heart function cLinic:

Abbott laboratories ltd. $ 50,000.00 Medtronic of Canada ltd. $ 50,000.00 AstraZeneca $ 25,000.00 pfizer Canada Inc. $ 20,000.00 Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Inc. $ 9,000.00 Servier Canada Inc. $ 5,000.00 Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) ltd $ 2,500.00 RUH Foundation (over 3 yrs) $ 75,000.00

Volunteer Board of Directors, 2009–2010

executive CommiteeChair, Arnie Arnott, president and CEO, Saskatchewan Blue Cross Vice Chair, Bill Johnson, director, public Affairs, potashCorpPast Chair, Zeba Ahmad, pharmacist; director of development, phreedom Santé Inc.Member at Large, Dr. Anita Chakravarti, department of Anesthesiology, Saskatoon Health Region and College of MedicineCEO, Arla Gustafson, RUH Foundation

Members at LargeDan Anderson, partner, Macpherson, leslie & Tyerman, llpSandra Blevins, Vp Clinical and Operations Support, Saskatoon Health RegionJohn Cross, Business and Mentorship Adviser Blair Davidson, partner, Hergott duval Stack llpKim Goheen, Senior Vice-president and Chief Financial Officer, CamecoLori Isinger, president, RUH AuxiliaryJim Rhode, president and Owner, davis Machine Company (1960) ltd.Crystal Smudy, Chief Financial Officer, Saskatchewan Research Council Dr. Jim Thornhill, Associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies, College of Medicine, University of SaskatchewanSue Williams, Manager of Resource development, Mendel Art Gallery

RUh foundation Staff

CEO, Arla Gustafson

director of development, Bruce Acton, CFRE

Manager of Finance, Maria Styacko, CA

Operations Coordinator, Marlene Saretsky

donor Stewardship Officer, Margot Weiner

Fund development Coordinator, Candace Boersma

part-time Communications Adviser, Amy Jo Ehman

Administrative Assistants, Lisa Gaudet and Kim Parent

Benchmarks Freelance Writer, Jenny Gabruch

Benchmarks Copy Editor/proofreader, Wanda Drury

publications Mail Agreement No. 41571019 RETURN UNdElIVERABlE ITEMS TO: Royal University Hospital Foundation 103 Hospital drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W8

phone: 306-655-1984Fax: 306-655-1979Internet: www.ruhf.orgE-mail: ruhfoundation@saskatoonhealthregion.caCharitable business number: 11927 9131 RR0001

Royal University Hospital Foundation is a member of the Association for Healthcare philanthropy, the Canadian Association of Gift planners, the Association of Fundraising professionals, and the Health Care public Relations Association.

Royal University Hospital Foundation does not sell, trade or lease the personal information of its donors. If you wish to be removed from our mailing lists, please contact us at the RUHF office:

Royal University Hospital Foundation Purpose Statement: The RUH Foundation creates excellence in and impacts health care by raising funds to anticipate and respond to needs for research, education, and patient-care.

GiftsCommemorative gifts are made to honour loved ones and friends to mark or celebrate special occasions (“In Honour of”) or as lasting memorials (“In Memory of”). We thank family members and friends who paid tribute to the following individuals between April 1 and June 30, 2009.

In Honour ofChris MuirEd Trefiak

In Memory ofVerna BernhardsonKlaas Boersmapieternella Boersmaleon BomokCohen J. BoormanMarina H. BundrockJeremy Chenierdennis demongpeter F. dyckCarrington C. Engeleliliane FellingAmin GelaniElizabeth GeorgeBeverley Goodmanpaul GrantGarry GuentherAlvin M. GustafsonHarvey HeichmanChristopher Karam

SPECIAL

Kenneth KingRonald KnightRose KnightJohn lischJohn loeppkydale R. MacGowanGwen McdonaldBonnie NordgulenBrett W. NordgulenElizabeth RolfesNorman SarichJoseph SchlosserMary SwitykVictoria Tluchakdoris TurnbillMichael J. WallRoger Wallsdan Zamkowicz

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