By: Sarah Downey, President & CEO of CAMH
As many of you may know, I've recently had the honour of becoming President and CEO of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada's largest mental health hospital. It's a “back to school" feeling for me this September as I take the reins of this organization that faces most of the same challenges as the rest of our hospitals, as well as some unique ones.
In 2023, CAMH, which came from a merger of four organizations, will celebrate its 25th anniversary. I've been reflecting on the immeasurable ways mental health care has improved in that time. Collectively, we've started to address the stigma associated with mental illness, enhanced mental health diagnostics and treatments, and made phenomenal discoveries in brain health.
However, there is still a long road ahead to ensure people living with mental illness have the same access to high quality care as patients needing treatment in other parts of medicine. While much of the public discourse has understandably focused on the harms from delayed access to surgical care, the truth is that people have not had access to timely mental health care during this pandemic either. The worsening opioid epidemic, the impact of isolation on seniors, children, and others in our community, and the people with serious mental illness lost in the system have caused considerable harm. We must not allow this problem to go unseen and unaddressed.
A major part of the CEO role is to find, link, and partner with organizations that help advance its cause. Mental health care needs strong, durable, and two-way bridges across primary care, acute care, long-term care, home and community care, and complex and continuing care. Additionally, people living with mental illness frequently require supports for the social determinants of health such as housing, education, and employment. This is a complex puzzle.
What I learned at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH), where I served as CEO for seven years, and through the pandemic, is that building a system is possible – especially when the need is urgent and obvious.
With a common COVID-19 enemy, we built bridges quickly across health care providers and organizations to protect our community. The barriers that previously existed and differences in culture or mission were suddenly less important than the need for action. For instance, in the spring of 2020, MGH staff, physicians, and IPAC professionals provided support to 1,500 long-term care residents. Dozens of community-based family physicians staffed MGH COVID-19 assessment centres and vaccinated the public across all the East Toronto neighbourhoods. VHA Home Health Care partnered with MGH to convert and staff an 80-bed retirement home into an ALC facility to create more acute care capacity. We established relationships with most of the local schools across four school boards to provide COVID-19 testing and optimize infection control practices. One of the most tangible examples of what true partnership can do is that on June 28, 2021, MGH, University Health Network, City of Toronto, Scotiabank, and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment combined their expertise to set a one-day world record of administering 26,771 COVID-19 vaccines at the Scotiabank Arena.
We must build on these lessons and keep these connections strong, even when the urgency seems less palpable.
Building a system takes work and time. In the case of East Toronto, we were fortunate to have long-established relationships across providers, built on trust and humility. These connections allowed us to mobilize rapidly and adapt to the critical and changing circumstances. At the core was our high-functioning Ontario Health Team, the East Toronto Health Partners. This group, whose commitment to serving the community supersedes organizational self-interest, whose deep respect and personal connections across the East End, became even stronger as a result.
One of the things that excites me most about leading CAMH is the chance to build a mental health system. I know that it won't be easy. Provision of mental health care is complex: bridges are required across sectors like health, community and social services, justice, and education. Mental health needs extend into every corner of our communities and organizations. The demand for care support has never been greater, and the strain has only been intensified by the pandemic. And, our workforce is exhausted and depleted.
However, the need for a true mental health system is the most important health issue of our lifetime. We need to ask ourselves, can we create the same kind of momentum as we did during COVID-19? Who are our best allies? What partnerships can we accelerate? How will the immense shortages of staff and increased demand affect our ability, courage, and energy to try new things?
We all know that mental health is health. Together, we must find the ways to build a true mental health system. Let's make this happen!