When a patient on the Complex Continuing Care unit at Baycrest noticed tomatoes growing on the hospital terrace, it inspired an unexpected activity. With support from her family and staff members, she gathered the tomatoes, brought ingredients to the unit and began pickling. Soon she was sharing jars with others on her floor. 

For her daughter, long-time Baycrest client and family partner Cari Cogan, the moment captured something essential about the culture at Baycrest. 

“We had a very special experience in a very clinical setting,” she recalls. “The people made the difference.” 

At Baycrest, patient experience is not only measured but also actively shaped through partnerships with patients and families who help design, evaluate, and improve care. 

Patient and family-centred care is embedded throughout the organization, defined by doing “with” the patient and family, not “to” or “for” them. Guided by Accreditation Canada standards and Baycrest’s holistic, person-centred approach that reflects the unique needs of each individual, Baycrest routinely engages patients and families, inviting their contribution to activities such as program design and policy development. Their perspectives help ensure care decisions are grounded in the lived experiences and priorities of those receiving care. 

A key driver of this work is Baycrest’s Client and Family Partner Program, which partners with Baycrest staff and leadership to improve care at Baycrest. The Client Family Partners are not health care professionals, but rather community members, patients, and families who have had their own individual experiences with Baycrest. They continue to participate in committees and working groups such as the Operations Committee, the Interprofessional Practice Steering Committee and the Health Equity Working Group, helping teams identify opportunities to strengthen care from the patient and family perspective. 

“Clients and families bring unique experiences, perspectives and understanding that offer insights into the care and services that are being offered at Baycrest.” 

“By actively engaging client family partners in committees, quality improvement initiatives, and day-to-day care discussions, we foster a culture of collaboration in which decisions are made in partnership. This approach ensures that care is guided by their needs, values, and lived experiences,” says Paula Tohm, Director, Risk, Safety and Client Relations and Experience Officer at Baycrest. ​​​​​​

Partnership with families is also visible at the point of care. Following incidents such as patient falls, changes in clinical status or other safety events, families may participate in huddles with care teams to ensure patient goals and care needs remain central to care plans and prevention strategies. 

Patient feedback is another key driver of improvement. Insights from Baycrest’s Client Experience survey informed a recent Quality Improvement Plan to improve how care teams communicate progress and priorities to patients and families. 

To help close this gap, Baycrest teams worked with a client and family partner to co-design a patient-facing whiteboard that highlights information patients and families identified as most meaningful to their care. The board now supports communication between patients, families and the interprofessional team on Baycrest’s 7 East Low Intensity Rehabilitation unit. 

Client and family partners have also helped develop resources for patients and caregivers, including the Baycrest Patient Handbook and the Safety at Baycrest brochure. 

Listening directly to patients remains a cornerstone of Baycrest’s approach. The hospital’s Client Experience survey is conducted through one-on-one conversations between patients and trained volunteers. 

Devika Sehgal, a client experience volunteer at Baycrest, says these conversations highlight how meaningful it is for patients simply to be heard. 

“As a volunteer at Baycrest, I have the opportunity to speak with patients and family members about their experiences,” she says. “Patients are often pleasantly surprised that someone is taking the time to listen to their concerns and opinions.” 

For Cogan, these partnerships helped transform what could have been a difficult experience into a meaningful one. 

Her mother eventually transitioned from hospital care to long-term care at Baycrest’s Apotex, Jewish Home for the Aged on the 23-acre campus that serves as a hub for aging adults’ wellness. The sector-leading long-term care home is part of a continuum of care, also home to independent living, assisted living, specialized memory care, rehabilitation, specialized hospital-based programs and a preeminent international centre for the study of aging and human brain function.  

Along the way, Cogan says the care team’s compassion made a lasting impression. 

These experiences reflect Baycrest’s commitment to keeping patient goals at the centre of care. When care is shaped with patients and families, it creates space for moments that matter - where even a simple observation, like tomatoes growing on a terrace, can become something meaningful.  ​