Evan is 20 months old and has Severe Hemophilia A, a blood clotting condition requiring immediate medication administered via I.V. whenever he sustains any injury, or in cases when he has an active bleed. As a busy toddler, Evan is prone to the usual toddler-related incidents. He has been to Headwaters’ ED a handful of times for his current condition.
Evan was born at Headwaters. He was referred to SickKids at birth due to an uncontrollable bleed where he remains as a current patient, receiving bi-weekly doses of Emicizumab (medication used to prevent bleeding) for his condition.
Aimee, her husband Brendan, Madelyn (age five) and Evan are residents of Dufferin County, and Headwaters Health Care Centre is their local hospital. While the care they have received at Headwaters has been good, Aimee and Brendan wanted to have a meeting with hospital staff. They wanted to ensure there was a known ‘game plan’ when they bring him here so staff are equipped with the appropriate knowledge, skill and judgement to deal with such conditions, explain the seriousness of his condition and advocate for specific treatment.
Headwaters’ ED manager, Tomer had several conversations with Aimee to understand their situation and provided progress updates as he and colleagues developed a ‘game plan’.
The laboratory, pharmacy, pediatricians and ED Chief of Staff have all be involved in this quality improvement initiative. Dr. Rebecca Woolnough, Head of the Division of Pediatrics at Headwaters also connected with Evan’s team at SickKids.
Working together they have resolved to add a transfusion column in the ED tracker of the new Meditech Expanse system and improve the previous communication process that was in place when Evan and his family come to the hospital for emergency care.
Evan’s family is grateful for the responsiveness and confident in the new ‘game plan’ when they need care locally.