May 15, 2003

Contact:
Nancy Lawrence
Communications Consultant, LHSC
519-685-8500, ext. 77642

London hospital sends video greeting card to twenty nine Toronto GTA hospitals

(LONDON, Ontario) Call it a Hallmark moment in healthcare. On the suggestion of nursing staff at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), the Hospital produced a video greeting card to send to their Toronto area peers. Twenty nine hospitals in the GTA received a copy.

The gesture by LHSC nurses, physicians and staff is a show of support for the extraordinary efforts of those on the front lines of SARS, and to thank them for helping protect all of our communities from an outbreak of this illness. The greeting comes as nurses across the country celebrate National Nursing Week.

LHSC videographer, Julia Blaszkow traveled to each of the Hospital's three sites and set up her camera. Staff was invited to stop by and record a message for their Toronto peers. These greetings were then edited to one tape and distributed to all GTA hospitals by the Ontario Hospital Association on LHSC's behalf.

"These past few weeks have been extraordinary times in healthcare," says Margaret Nish, Executive Vice-President Clinical Care and Academic Affairs & Chief Nursing Officer.. "Healthcare workers across the province have done an admirable job in the midst of these challenging times, most particularly in the GTA. This video greeting is our way of acknowledging our peers and colleagues."