Note from the editor

What people do you think of when we talk about health care? The image of surgeons and nurses in scrubs around an operating room probably comes to mind for many. They are certainly a key part of the health care team in a hospital.

In this issue of Capital Beat, you can read about how a year of activity in the ORs is planned to balance the growing need for surgical care and the need to use public dollars responsibly, while also allowing staff and doctors to take needed time off.

But the team that provides health care is much larger than the people in operating rooms. It includes those who work in many settings in hospitals and in the community. This month, Capital Beat profiles some of those other teams:

• The team of ambassadors who volunteer at our largest sites greeting visitors, answering questions and offering directions to clinics or patient floors.
• The team of liaison nurses who help serve patients from other parts of the Maritimes. They work to co-ordinate the resources patients need from the moment they are referred until they return home to New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island.
• The team that prepares thousands of nutritious meals for patients with diverse dietary needs. No butt of jokes, hospital food at Capital Health is a point of pride. Take a look through our photo essay.

Those are teams inside our walls, but we know sometimes hospitals aren’t always the best place to provide care. In nursing homes, an Enhanced Care Paramedic service is making a difference to the care residents receive and garnering national attention in the process. And recreation therapists who are part of the Addiction Prevention and Treatment Services team are helping clients build confidence and self-esteem by making lifestyle changes.

Thanks for reading.

John Gillis, on behalf of the Marketing and Communications team

Please note: You can now subscribe to Capital Beat and several other Capital Health publications online. Starting in May, Capital Beat will no longer be sent via Outlook so please consider subscribing today.