Hospital Leader Makes Minister's Medal Honour Roll
By Ron Turner, Senior Director of Patient Services and Bonnie Nicholas, PFCC Lead - November 8, 2017
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It is with great pride and honour that Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is able to celebrate one of our outstanding leaders, Dr. Rhonda Crocker Ellacott, who has been named to the 2017 Minister’s Medal Honour Roll in the Individual Champion category. Dr. Crocker Ellacott’s nomination was unanimously supported by the Hospital’s Senior Leadership Team.
The prestigious Minister's Medal is a competitive, annual award program that recognizes excellent work done by health care partners across the province. The recipient of the award is someone who places patients at the centre of the circle of care, while promoting value and quality in the health care system. The theme of this year's awards is Patients as Partners, which focuses on health system issues being addressed in collaboration with people that matter most – patients, caregivers and their families.
Dr. Crocker Ellacott is a passionate champion of Patient and Family Centred Care (PFCC), and is critical to its success at our Hospital. She spearheaded a team-driven review of the facility’s model of care during a four-year strategic planning process, which began in 2006. After much collaboration and research, her team launched PFCC in 2009. Through organizational transformation and a focus on quality patient care, Dr. Crocker Ellacott lead the creation of a blueprint for system wide changes through partnerships between patients and families, staff, physicians and volunteers to improve the experience of care for every patient, every time.
“PFCC is not something that just happens - it’s about making an intentional commitment to a journey with a richer appreciation of what it means to work in collaborative partnership with patients and families. It changes the way you do business to shape a better organization,” said Dr. Rhonda Crocker Ellacott.
Dr. Crocker Ellacott was determined to develop a shared understanding of PFCC and advance what PFCC should look like in policy, program, teaching, research and practice. Under her leadership, Patient and Family Centred Care has become the umbrella for all care initiatives, integrating best practices related to patient care, flow, quality and safety.
“The North West LHIN congratulates Dr. Crocker Ellacott for her efforts as a dynamic champion of Patient and Family Centred Care. Her leadership has resulted in a change of culture that maintains an integrated commitment to patients and their families. To be counted among health care champions across the province is something the whole North West LHIN can be proud of,” said Laura Kokocinski, CEO, North West LHIN.