Give a damn

Give a damn

beingwell magazine Winter 2007

When Danny Mainville retired from the military after a 22-year career, where he specialized in information technology (IT), he left Base Borden knowing he wanted to contribute to his community.

“I love helping people and being surrounded by wonderful folks,” said the recipient of the 2006 Southlake Staff Achievement Award.

After a short stint at Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston, Mr. Mainville came to Southlake as the application manager in 2001. Now, as both project management officer and IT security officer, he is living his dream of becoming a professional project manager with the opportunity to use his skills to help others.

His passion for caring about patients and staff at Southlake has marked him as the go-to guy at the hospital.

“My reputation is ‘if you need help, call Danny’ and I’m very proud of that,” he said. In one of the many examples of his dedication to excellent customer service, Mr. Mainville was part of a team that arranged a special video hook-up to allow a patient to actively participate in his high school graduation.

He recalls the event was an emotionally charged experience for everyone involved.

“Once the picture showed up on the screen there wasn’t a dry eye in the room,” he remembers. “In IT and support services we are normally atleast three degrees removed from patient care, so it was nice to be able to contribute directly.”

Another instance of his extraordinary commitment occurred when he offered to deliver a package mailed from Halifax to a patient who had already been discharged from the hospital. His willingness to drive the parcel to the patient’s residence at Base Borden on his own time didn’t strike Mr. Mainville as unusual.

“We look after our patients,” he explains. “That’s what we do.”

“I like to call Danny the poster boy for Southlake hospital,” said Dan Carriere, president and CEO. “He leads by example and that has earned him a lot of respect. He is a deserving recipient of the Staff Achievement

Award because his actions speak to his commitment to continuously give 100 per cent to everything he does for Southlake and our patients.”

Mr. Mainville attributes much of his success at the hospital to his military background.

“The environments of health care and the military are very similar. People work so hard and push so hard and we are outcome-driven. Also, in the military you look after each other and that’s what we do here. We’re a family.”

In his spare time Mr. Mainville, proud grandfather of three-year old granddaughter, Bridget, likes to indulge in another of his passions: ballroom dancing. He and his wife, Anita Chevalier, have turned their living room into a dance floor and try to practice every day.

“The cha-cha is my favourite, although my wife is a tango girl. It’s our form of stress management,” he said.

Although Mr. Mainville received the staff award for his commitment to putting patients first, he is insistent his co-workers share some of the praise.

“This is not about me,” he said. I’m part of a wonderful team.”

That’s a philosophy emergency department charge nurse Dora Feltham shares. Recipient of the 2006 Patricia Norman Patient Centred Care Award, Ms Feltham came to the emergency room as a staff nurse in 1998 and has been a charge nurse for the past five years. The award, designed to honour health care professionals who continuously demonstrate a strong belief in patient-centred care, was given in recognition of Ms Feltham’s consistent and compassionate support of patients and their families.

This dedication was demonstrated most recently when an elderly patient collapsed outside the emergency department in front of his son. Ms Feltham not only lead the resuscitation team and assisted with the safe delivery of the patient to intensive care, she also coached a nursing student through her first CPR under less than optimal conditions. She then acted as liaison between the patient, family, doctor and ICU for the remainder of the day.

In another example of exceptional thoughtfulness, Ms Feltham took it upon herself to call the parking office and request a family’s parking fees be waived after they experienced the sudden and unexpected death of a loved one in the emergency department.

“It’s the small, trivial things that really impact a person’s satisfaction,” the Newfoundland native explains, noting mundane matters like parking fees become difficult for people to handle when death occurs.

Currently juggling nursing duties with part-time nursing studies at Ryerson University she agrees with Mr. Mainville teamwork is an essential part of the job.

“In order to make patient-centred care happen, we have to work as a team. It’s the team that makes me look good. I cannot do it myself,” she explains.

As a charge nurse at Southlake, Ms Feltham is responsible for the day-to-day operation and co-ordination of the emergency department.

It’s a job she not only excels at but clearly enjoys.

“I love the fast pace, the turnover, the number of people you meet, the adrenalin rush and the network of resources I am involved with every day,” she said.

Annette Jones, vice-president and chief of nursing at Southlake, says Ms Feltham exemplifies what it means to be patient-centred.  

“It’s not just that she’s a caring and compassionate listener but she also goes the extra mile to meet the patient’s needs. It’s the little things like addressing the worries and concerns of families that make her so special,” said Ms Jones.

As far as Ms Feltham is concerned, that’s just part of the job.

“When you feel like you’ve positively impacted a patient’s life you get a sense of having completed a good day’s work,” said Ms Feltham.

Danny Mainville echoes that sentiment.

“I live by our values and I give a damn. Bottom line: I care.”

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