A Message from
Sinai Health Leadership

This year has been one that the world, and Sinai Health, will not soon forget. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a change to how we all interact in the world. It has also brought global attention to the expertise, compassion and courage of front-line health-care providers in providing care to their communities.

While we can’t predict the future, the pandemic has already reshaped the care and service that we provide to our patients and caregivers, and we can expect to be living with the impacts for some time to come.

This will require Sinai Health, like all health-care providers, to pivot from a mindset of “getting through COVID” to “living with COVID”. Our hospital leadership is responding to this new reality by actively focusing on resuming surgeries and procedures, continuing an intense focus on infection prevention and control, supporting long-term care homes and offering their expertise at various regional and provincial leadership tables.

The recovery from, and adjustment to, COVID-19 realities will also create opportunities for Sinai Health; everything from embedding our successes in virtual care, to planning for future phases of need for health-care with a new infectious disease in the world.

However, this report cannot be all about COVID-19. In our constant striving for excellence in care and service, value creation and discovery, there is much to celebrate from 2019-2020.

This year marked the fifth anniversary of the formation of Sinai Health, and the introduction of our new Strategic Plan 2020-2025, which will guide our aspirations and priorities, and set the stage for our future. Regardless of changing circumstances, we are very pleased that our vision To discover and deliver life-changing care is as sound today as the day it was imagined.

It was also a transformative year in investing in our people, infrastructure and the future of patient care and research at Sinai Health.

We were fortunate to appoint new medical leadership in paediatrics, radiology, cancer and general surgery. Each of these leaders is renowned in their areas of practice, with expertise that is frequently sought out by the greater health-care sector.

On our Mount Sinai Hospital campus, Renew Sinai Phase 3A is now more than half complete. In less than three years’ time, we will have state-of-the-art facilities and programs in surgery, critical care and emergency medicine, in addition to crucial upgrades to our building and expansion of inpatient and ambulatory services.

At Bridgepoint Active Healthcare, the Albert and Temmy Latner Family Palliative Care Unit relocated from the 4th floor to the previously unoccupied 10th floor. This enabled a new Academic Medical Rehabilitation Unit to open to support patients with complex health conditions while providing education and research opportunities for learners.

The Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI) continues to produce medical discoveries and science at the highest international level. Our fundamental research program is a jewel that is essential in defining Sinai Health as a highest-quality health sciences institution, drawing the best clinicians and scientists. This has been a banner year for the LTRI, with our scientists achieving some of the most prestigious national and international honours in recognition of their groundbreaking contributions to research. Our investigators are also leading the charge in crucial research of the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19-related illnesses.

Our system partner, Circle of Care, has grown dramatically in the last five years, including being the largest Meals on Wheels provider in the province; the lead agency for iRide, a large-scale transportation service across the GTA; and the proud provider of home-care services for Holocaust survivors living in Toronto.

Support from our community literally built Mount Sinai Hospital and is responsible for our continued successes over generations. Against this background, we are at a truly exciting moment for Sinai Health Foundation. Our Foundation has a new and highly talented leadership team and an inspiring strategic plan that maps out new approaches to philanthropy that are essential in our highly competitive environment. None of our aspirations are possible without philanthropic support and we are excited by the energy, engagement and the many initiatives being led by our Foundation.

We hope you are deeply proud of what our people have been able to accomplish this year, and over the last five years, as we have grown and evolved into the leading health-care system we are today.

To our people of Sinai Health, thank you. Your extraordinary efforts during COVID-19 to support our patients, each other and our community have been nothing short of breathtaking.

Thank you to our dedicated and engaged Board and Committee leadership; you are constant and faithful in your service to, and support of, Sinai Health.

And, our heartfelt thanks to our donor community for your ongoing support and generosity. We count on you, and thank you.