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| - I have been a nursing student at SJHC and also a patient.
I would like to comment regarding education and training at SJHC. I was a nursing student in the Urban Family Health Team. The nurses, doctors, and allied health teams have taught me compassion, understanding, and leadership in health care. When I first came to them, I was a bit worried. I accidentally labelled the hospital as old and conservative Christian because all I saw was a very old Catholic hospital. I was very incorrect on my assumptions. I truly apologise. What I learned is to see people as people and not their diagnosis. I saw patients who did not have any money, some did not have proper health insurance, some were people had refugee status. The Family Health Team saw their patients as people and did what they needed to do to take care of them. Before anyone gets upset about people who did not have proper insurance for care, I was advised that the Church helps out these people that require medical attention. I used to live in a bubble. I did not see or understand people that were living in poverty--I will admit that I still have a lot to learn. However, they bursted my bubble and showed me how many people live in our incredibly wealthy nation. I learned to see people and real conditions. I learned to see people and not labels or diagnoses. I learned to care about people.
I was also a patient at SJHC. The nurses, doctors, and allied health were very caring during my stay as a patient. I found it very interesting that they did not have as much as several other hospitals in the GTA, but they efficiently used the resources that they did have on hand.
I have heard a lot of people discussing how the facility is incredibly old. And they are correct, but I look at the effective health care and compassion of the people who work at this hospital. I find that effective health care and compassion is more important than brand new and fancy beds with flat screen TVs. At the end of the day, I felt that I had really good care as a patient, and I had really good education as a nursing student. I am now a registered nurse, but at another hospital. Now that I have experience as a registered nurse, I can still say that I have a very soft spot for this incredible hospital and their staff.
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