OHA Partners with GTA Hotels to Provide Free Hotel Rooms to Families in Need

For the Attention of CEOs and CACN Members

From Hilary Short, President & CEO

During this holiday season, the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) is partnering with the Greater Toronto Hotel Association (GTHA) on a “Christmas Holiday Emergency Program.” This program has been designed to provide a free hotel room to families in need, who have the misfortune of having an immediate family member in a GTA hospital in and around the holidays.

Some GTA hospitals have already worked with select hotels on programs like this in the past, and they have been met with much success and positive feedback. We hope that we can help to build on this success, and work together as a community of hospitals to assist as many individuals/families as we can.

The program is available to GTA hospitals from December 22, 2004 through to December 30, 2004. While the hotel membership of the GTHA spans an area containing a good number of our Region 3 hospitals, it will not include those hospitals in Bowmanville, Oshawa, Port Perry, Whitby, Ajax and Newmarket.

If your hospital is interested in participating, you are requested to conduct a screening process for patients’ families who may be eligible for the program. Hospitals who have participated in programs like this in the past have typically designated an individual(s) from their Social Work department or from Chaplaincy, to conduct the screening.

Using criteria that has been included below, the designate(s) should contact families, screen and then determine who is in greatest need. The criteria should serve as a guideline in order to achieve consistency in screening across our hospitals, and to add even greater value to the program.

There is no limit to the number of families who you can identify, though the availability of hotel rooms will serve as a limiting factor.

When a list of potential participants has been developed, the hospital designate should call Accommodation Toronto at (416)-203-2500 to request the hotel rooms for the date(s) specified. Accommodation Toronto will then process the request, and follow-up with the designate about which hotels may be available, and for how many nights. The designate would then help to book the rooms for the families they had selected.

GTA hospitals interested in participating in this program should have their designate contact Cara Francis, OHA Public Affairs Specialist at (416)-205-1371 for further details, and for a code for use when communicating with Accommodation Toronto. Questions can be directed to Cara Francis at the number listed above.

While this is a special time of year, it can also be particularly difficult for those with a loved one in the hospital. We hope that you can help us to make this time a bit easier for those individuals/families, and continue a tradition of goodwill and support within our community.

Screening Criteria for Families in Need:

The family may have financial difficulties and are unable to afford hotel accommodations; and/or
The family is from out-of-town and would have to travel long distances to the hospital; and/or
The family is unable to travel to the hospital via Public Transit (TTC, GO Bus or GO Train).

Please note that families need not meet each of the criteria outlined above. While the criteria should serve as a guideline, the hospital designate is encouraged to use their own discretion when screening families, and prioritize according to the family situation.