Throughout its 85-year history, Mount Sinai has built and achieved a reputation for excellence in patient care, research and education. We have made excellence a part of who we are and what we do, every day.

The number of patients we serve each year continues to grow. In 2008/09, more than 25,000 people were admitted to the Hospital for treatment in one of our specialized clinical areas and approximately 665,000 visits were made to our ambulatory clinics. Our surgeons performed more than 20,000 surgical procedures, compared to 19,431 last year. The number of visits to our Emergency Department increased by more than 1,000 to 44,959 visits this year. New programs such as our Emergency Wait Times Strategy are enabling us to deliver more efficient and effective patient care.

We are midway through Phase 1 of our multi-year capital project, Renew Sinai. The objective of this capital redevelopment is to improve the patient experience through a rejuvenation of the Hospital’s physical space. The result for patients: greater efficiency and enhanced safety. This project will add six new floors to our existing building, expanding space for The Bloomberg Centre for Women’s and Infants’ Health. This exciting project will also modernize a medical inpatient unit, Pharmacy and Cardiology as well as a number of clinical support areas. We are also planning for Phase 2, which will encompass the renewal of the majority of the Hospital including the Critical Care Unit, Emergency Department, surgical suites and the inpatient units. Upgrading critical hospital infrastructure and providing a more patient and family-centred environment are closely intertwined in this project.

Mount Sinai continues to make strides in using technology to help increase the efficiency and safety of patient care. Our electronic medication project has been progressing rapidly, and in the fall our clinicians will be ordering, dispensing and administering medications using our new system.  A new information system has been in development for the Emergency Department this year; it is scheduled for release in the summer.  To improve patient flow, we have implemented a bed management solution to increase the accuracy of our patient census and optimize our bed utilization.  

As an academic research Hospital, our clinical practice reflects the high calibre of research by our clinicians and by scientists at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute. Their breakthrough accomplishments are reflected in improved patient care. The Lunenfeld continues to excel in its scientific achievements and its high rate of success in attracting competitive funds from external sources. These funds totaled over $70 million in 2008/09. Among the many research breakthroughs at the Lunenfeld this year, three in particular make the link between research and patient care and also garnered overwhelming international media coverage.

Lunenfeld Senior Investigator Dr. Andras Nagy received worldwide media recognition for discovering a new method of creating stem cells that could lead to possible cures for devastating diseases such as spinal cord injury, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. Senior Investigator Dr. Jeff Wrana unveiled a new technology tool called “DyNeMo” which analyzes breast cancer tumours and can predict with more than 80 per cent accuracy a patient’s chance of recovery. Finally, Distinguished Investigator Dr. Tony Pawson became the first Canadian scientist to be awarded the prestigious Kyoto Prize for his life’s work on communication amongst human cells, which will most notably lead to precision-guided therapeutic approaches to cancer treatment.

In addition to its reputation for advancements in research, Mount Sinai is known locally and internationally for its strong credentials as an academic health sciences centre. As a University of Toronto teaching hospital, we trained 408 nurses and 400 medical students, residents and fellows this year.

The Hospital performed exceedingly well in the Accreditation Canada survey, scoring an A+ , in the words of the lead accreditor, and meeting 97 per cent of all criteria. For the third year in a row, Mount Sinai earned distinction as one of the Greater Toronto Area’s Top Employers. We take pride in hiring the best and the brightest to deliver our outstanding programs and services.

In an economically challenging year, we have successfully balanced our budget and remain in a stable financial position. Moving forward, we will continue to operate in a prudent and fiscally responsible manner. One way we have identified to achieve our fiscal goals is to continue to grow our business development portfolio.

In October 2008, in partnership with Rexall, we opened a bright, new pharmacy on the main floor of the Hospital. The Rehab and Wellbeing Centre, located on the Hospital’s 11th Floor, opened recently and we will soon launch our new state-of-the-art Centre for Fertility and Reproductive Health. All of these facilities generate revenue that helps support the Hospital.

The Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation significantly increased its marketing activities, making productive use of online, social media and telemarketing initiatives to broaden its base of donors and engage new and existing donors.  Early in 2009, the Foundation launched a successful Grateful Patients campaign that offers patients and family members an opportunity to honour their Mount Sinai experience with a donation. Meanwhile, Mount Sinai’s Auxiliary continues to raise funds for its Advancing e-Meds pledge that will help implement an electronic medication ordering system across the Hospital. It has been a difficult year for philanthropy; however, the Foundation and Auxiliary continue to move forward despite the challenges.

Community involvement is the foundation on which Mount Sinai was first opened in 1923. Today, as one of Canada’s pre-eminent patient care, research and academic health science centres, we recognize and thank the many committed members of the Mount Sinai community – Boards and Committee members, Hospital Auxiliary, Leadership Sinai, donors, volunteers, staff, nurses and physicians - without whom Mount Sinai’s continued evolution could not be sustained.