Sustainability and shelter, with a good dose of innovation. These are the words that come to mind when Catherine thinks about HIROC and the past year. It is her hope that for Subscribers, when things feel in flux, HIROC is viewed as that calm place in the storm.

Catherine and Philip tease HIROC's new strategic plan "The Art of Safety", which is launching in January 2026. Spoiler alert: topics like cyber, perinatal, education, and accessible data are featured heavily in the new plan.

We talk about Catherine's roots and the lessons she carries with her from her father, especially around there being no limitations to what his kids could do. For Catherine, it's about asking, "What's stopping you?" when things get tough.

In the spirit of the holidays, it's a true family episode as Catherine's son Thomas also stops in at the studio for a chat. We learn a lot about Catherine from talking with him – including some of what makes her a classic Newfoundlander.

Thomas uses the word "perseverance" to describe his mom. From all of us at HIROC, we concur.

So, we'll leave this as our challenge to all of you as we head into 2026… what's stopping you?

Quotables:

"I think when things are really so volatile, [when] they're so hectic, that you look for a calm place in the storm. And I would hope that while we [HIROC] are always changing in order to meet Subscribers' needs, that we're also viewed as that place in the storm." – CG

"I am always surprised by just the unequivocal devotion that we have here [at HIROC] to Subscribers." – CG

"This past year in our annual Subscriber Engagement Survey, we asked Subscribers to rank HIROC's Value Drivers. And the top five chosen by them, by our Subscribers, were expertise, responsiveness, risk reduction, price, and quality." – PD

"These values and these drivers for Subscribers are the cornerstone of where we start from as we develop strategic plans, as we do operational planning for the organization." – CG

"I have conversations every year with a whole cross-section of leaders across the country and they are driven entirely by: what's your context now that we should know, and what can we be doing more of, better in." – CG

Mentioned in this Episode:

- Catherine Gaulton

- HIROC's Risk Management Residency Program

- HIROC

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

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A core component of what Christina Bisanz, CEO of CHATS, focuses on is understanding the caregiver perspective and the pressures that come with it. By listening to the experiences of caregivers, the programs and services offered by CHATS reflect their voices and respond to their needs.

"Caregivers really are the unsung heroes of our health system. If not for the presence and support that is being provided by informal caregivers, our health system could likely collapse," Christina explains.

Christina also tells us about CHATS' Assisted Living for High-Risk Adults program and CIBPA Place, York Region's first not-for-profit Overnight Respite Care Centre for short-term stays.

She also explains how caregivers and services provided for older adults support the health system as a whole and helps take pressure off other areas such as emergency departments.

Quotables:

"We believe aging should never mean that an individual loses their dignity, or their choice, or their agency on how they're able to live their lives." – CB

"The other thing about empowerment is that it really does foster resilience and helps combat isolation that too many older adults are facing in our communities." – CB

"The pressure on emergency rooms would increase tremendously if we didn't have informal caregivers helping to keep people home, helping to keep their loved ones able to meet medical appointments, and be socially involved." – CB

"One of the concepts that stuck with me is the idea that aging isn't a problem to solve, it really is a journey to support." – CB

"Innovation doesn't always mean the latest piece of technology, or the newest cell phone or AI, it often means rethinking how we listen and how we collaborate with others in our communities." – CB

"At CHATS we have engrained innovation as part of our culture and we're always empowering our staff to bring forward ideas and pilot new models and also to learn from failure." - CB

Mentioned in this Episode:

- CHATS

- CIBPA Place

- Care As One

- Amy Coupal

- Dr. Samir K. Sinha

- Ryan Schell

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

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Email us at [email protected].

When Paul Young, COO of the University of PEI Faculty of Medicine, sees an uphill battle, he doesn't turn the other way. His love for healthcare fuels his ability to face a challenge head on, with the outcome rooted in finding solutions collaboratively.

Paul's courageous leadership was witnessed through his support in bringing UPEI's Faculty of Medicine to fruition.

Paul shares key leadership lessons on helping teams feel empowered, how to drive positive partnerships, and navigating intergenerational differences in the workplace.

Having been named one of Atlantic Canada's Top 50 CEOS for a fifth consecutive year, we're not surprised to hear much of Paul's forward-thinking leadership shine through on this episode.

Quotables:

"I love healthcare and everything about it, especially for someone who loves challenges and loves puzzles, that is healthcare in its finest, there's always a problem to be solved." -PY

"We believe in every bit that [this medical school] is a big part of a better tomorrow, not just for the country but certainly for PEI in terms of trying to stabilize our healthcare." - PY

"It's really important that folks feel your passion, passion for the mandate, passion for the work, passion for the people that you're working with." - PY

"When I think of what's one thing that can be done today to drive those positive relationships… it's to ensure that I'm prioritizing the value of the relationship. We need to approach relationships and partnerships and collaboration with an open mind." – PY

"One of the hardest parts of today with all the challenges whether it's healthcare or outside, it's leading and holding your values close to heart and not sacrificing what you truly believe in to advance a relationship or initiative at the cost of someone or something else." – PY

"I think a big part of courageous leadership is creating a space where you can hear those perspectives, particularly when you're seeking out daring opinions and supporting a constructive debate, it takes courage to do that." – PY

Mentioned in this Episode:

- University of PEI

- University of PEI Faculty of Medicine

- Memorial University of Newfoundland

- Melanie Fraser

- Dr. Preston Smith

- Toronto Blue Jays

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

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Email us at [email protected].

Dr. Mike Heenan is the President and CEO of St. Joseph's Health System and President of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

On the episode, Mike tells us about a time when he received one very striking complaint and how it pivoted his work and that of the organization.

We also speak to Mike about his career path and how no matter who you are, you can have an impact on someone's life.

Throughout his career, Mike has dedicated a lot of time to learning. He shares with us his views on how it's an important balance for all of us to keep in view.

While covering some heavy but important topics, Mike also touches on how his family grounds him. And of course, how he's a big Blue Jays fan!

Quotables:

"I think when you go through life and you say what's my value proposition, it allows you to focus on what gets you up every day and it doesn't look like a transactional job, but a career calling." – M. Heenan

"It's these real-life experiences that can stop you as a leader… but it's these humanistic ethical issues that really make a leader pivot and say enough is enough, we really need to deal with this." – M. Heenan

"This happens in coffee shops, and it happens in hospitals. And so, I'm not going to change society overnight in one healthcare organization, but I can contribute to us fixing it one incident at a time, or one hospital at a time." – M. Heenan

"Even though we have signs in our hallways across all our hospitals in this country that say there's zero tolerance, the fact of the matter is, we do tolerate some of it." – M. Heenan

"Someone like the IHI or HIROC who sees all these different organizations can bring this very diverse perspective to a table and apply it depending on the environment." – M. Heenan

"I appreciate all of HIROC's support. Most people see HIROC perhaps from an insurance reciprocal perspective but the value-added services and the partnership it provides to the whole continuum of providing quality care…" – M. Heenan

Mentioned in this Episode:

- St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton

- St. Joseph's Health System

- Catherine Gaulton

- HIROC

- Dr. Kevin Smith

- University Health Network

- National Museum of African American History

- Institute for Healthcare Improvement

- Longwoods

- London Health Sciences Centre

- McMaster University

- Ontario Hospital Association

- Toronto Blue Jays

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

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Email us at [email protected].

Leading the largest not-for-profit continuing care organization in Atlantic Canada, Charbel Daniel is always looking at how the organization can do better to serve its people.

On this episode of Healthcare Change Makers, Charbel tells Philip and Michelle about Northwood's career college, which is adding capacity in a growing sector.

He shares the work Northwood's Behavioural Support Unit is doing – challenging the standards of care provided to patients with dementia.

Throughout this, Charbel weaves in lessons from his parents who immigrated from Lebanon, and how this has shaped him as a leader.

Quotables:

- "We say a lot: it's not about adding years to life, but adding life to those years." – CD

- "Failure is really the recipe to success; you don't know how you're going to get there until you know how not to get there." – CD

- "The work that's being done today is already fantastic and amazing but, yet every single day people are showing up and saying, 'how can we actually do better?'. And that's one of our values." – CD

- "I think of partnerships as things that go past being transactional and move toward transformation and working together." – CD

Mentioned in this Episode:

- Be Advice

- Care By Design Program, Nova Scotia Health

- Department of Infrastructure and Housing (Nova Scotia)

- Department of Seniors and Long-Term Care (Nova Scotia)

- Emergency Health Services (EHS), Nova Scotia

- HIROC

- Northwood Care

- Northwood Career College

- Tim Coolen

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram, and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Email us at [email protected].

For critically ill children, survival is just the beginning of their story and post-PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) care is the cornerstone of ensuring children thrive afterwards. Dr. David Zorko's research places a magnifying glass on post-PICU care, aiming to better understand this type of care, identify the types of children who are at higher risk, and generate evidence-based practices to better support children and their families.

Dr. David Zorko's role as researcher also helps him become a stronger paediatric critical care physician, as his eye for the long-term effects impacts the decisions he makes in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).

For the first time on Healthcare Change Makers, our interviewee becomes the interviewer on a special second part of the episode! For the longest time, we've wanted to give our guests an opportunity to spotlight key people in their network.

Dr. David Zorko interviews two of his mentors, Dr. Geneviève Du Pont-Thibodeau and Dr. Karen Choong, who share a collective goal of researching post-PICU care. With their combined expertise, they explain why research about this type of care is critical and share advice for hospitals on improving post-PICU care. And it's a true indication of how healthcare is a team sport.

Quotables:

"I'm really passionate about improving outcomes for children and families who survive critical illness, and my research focuses on their long-term outcome." - DZ

"The dyad of a child and their caregivers and family are inseparable and codependent so consequently family members can also experience adverse outcomes related to their children's critical illness. Then that can impact further upon the child." - DZ

"What interventions and practices can we implement to not just help children survive, but survive better." - DZ

"My inspiration comes from the patients and their families. Some are surviving and thriving after their critical illness and some are not. And some have such serious chronic health problems that they require long ICU stays or repeated ICU admissions, and many of these survivors are becoming our future patients." - DZ

"There are over 4,000 Tim Hortons stores in Canada and less than 20 PICUs in Canada. You can imagine everyone kind of knows everyone in the Pediatric Critical Care world in Canada, and if you want to get any type of large-scale research done, we all need to partner together." - DZ

"I like to use that Ted Lasso phrase, be curious not judgemental." - DZ

"If you saw me in the ICU, what you'll hear me say to families when their child is critically ill is despite how scary this all is…that doesn't change the fact that you are still their parents. All the mom and dad things apply. And if you want to do something that your child would like, don't let these things be barriers, let us make it happen." - DZ

"There's consistent evidence that the top predictor for reducing many of these ICU consequences is family presence, so empowering and engaging them is fundamental." – DZ

"There's been so much improvement in the way that we help kids survive critical care and critical disease, that now I think our priority has shifted in terms of making sure that not only they survive but they survive with a good quality of life." - GDT

"We've evolved the model and come to understand that critical illness is a continuum of care, and it doesn't just start in the ICU. In fact, it starts before the ICU and therefore should continue after the ICU." – KC

Mentioned in this Episode:

· McMaster Children's Hospital

· McMaster University

· The Canadian Critical Care Trials Group

· Dr. Geneviève Du Pont-Thibodeau

· Dr. Karen Choong

· Ted Lasso TV Show

· The Pitt TV Show

· ER TV Show

· Noah Wyle

· Dr. Jacques Lacroix

· Dr. Margaret Herridge

· Dr. Deborah Cook

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram, and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Email us at [email protected].

Carey Lucki sat down with us to talk about her deep pride and passion for the work Circle of Care does as a predominant organization in Ontario's home and community care sector.

What sets Circle of Care apart, as you'll hear in this episode, is its unique combination of traditional home care and upstream social care programs. This includes transportation, meals on wheels, and innovative programs like their Adult Day Program, which contributes to that true wrap-around experience for their clients.

Carey speaks passionately about her vision for the future of homecare, one where people can age gracefully in their homes, and where younger generations are encouraged to pursue careers in this space.

Stick around to the end where we have a fun chat in our lightning round. Carey tells us about the fiction novel she's written, which she describes as the perfect beach read.

Quotables:

"What's unique is that we have this wrap-around service for clients. Because when our PSW goes in a home and sees an empty fridge, we can quickly link that client up with our meals program." – CL

"Having the leaders completely together, in jive, in sync at the top is really I think what made this happen." – CL

"Our Adult Day Program (ADP) is a gem, it's a little jewel… We always say when you're having a bad day at Circle of Care, go to the ADP." – CL

"Just the relief for the caregivers… it's tough on them and when they can drop somebody off for the day or the weekend, it makes a world of difference in their lives." – CL

"97 per cent of Ontarians want to age in their home, they want to age gracefully in their home, they want to even die in their home… I think the future vision of home and community care is there." – CL

"I think also a future of home and community care is really embedding us a little more closely with primary care." – CL

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Circle of Care
• Circle of Care Adult Day Program
• Sinai Health
• Charity Village
• Excellence Canada, Gold Award
• CAMH: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
• Jane Philpott
• Mark Chignell
• Dr. Sandra McKay
• The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram, and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Email us at [email protected].

As a health lawyer, Mary Jane Dykeman, partner at INQ Law has a strong pulse on health information, privacy, and AI, believing that these factors are critical to the future of healthcare. This pulse allows for a unique and tailored perspective on preventing risk and strengthening privacy.

In this episode of Healthcare Change Makers, Mary Jane taps into her dual expertise to share insight into some of the biggest influences on the future of healthcare, finding the balance between privacy and AI, and the risk processes that improve healthcare.

Quotables:

"I come from a place where I think if you're going to practice law, wrap yourself around an area you love and just go do it. Law can be anything you want it to be." – MJD

"I have great faith in the leadership of the health system… it's a very dedicated group of people across the sector and across the country." – MJD

"Privacy is in place for very good reasons. We need it, it is the price of entry. And I do think increasingly governments and public bodies are thinking about the fact that they hold this data." – MJD

"Nothing in healthcare is perfect. We don't have the resources for perfection, and I don't think we need that. We need common sense, what is the graceful solution, what is the compliant thing that we need to do." – MJD

"Maybe it's a Canadian thing, but there is a generosity, there's a real push to share what we've done." – MJD

"We think about solutions, not answers." – MJD

"I like risk management because I think it's very proactive, we're not waiting for something to go wrong, we're being thoughtful and considerate upfront and hopefully finding what I've always called the graceful path through." – MJD

Mentioned in this Episode:

· INQ Law

· CAMH

· Sarah Downey

· Dr. Muhammad Mamdani

· Unity Health

· CAMH's BrainHealth Data Bank

· Gemini Medicine

· CHMA York Region & South Simcoe

· Ontario Brain Institute

· LHSC EpiSign

· Holland Bloorview

· Julia Hanigsberg

· SickKids

· Alan Alda

· Dr. Ross Stanway

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram, and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Email us at [email protected].

Black maternal health in Canada requires collective change, and that belief is exactly what sparked Toronto's first Black Maternal Health Week. Dr. Modupe Tunde-Byass, OB-GYN (NYGH) and President-Elect (FMWC), and Jennifer Dockery, Vice President, Quality, Post-Acute Care & Community Integration at North York General Hospital are determined to spotlight gaps in care and amplify the voices of Black mothers.

In this episode of Healthcare Change Makers, Dr. Tunde-Byass and Jennifer talk candidly about why there is limited data about Black maternal health in Canada, what data is available, and what healthcare organizations can do today to better support Black families and patients. They also share a bit about their own career journey, including launching Canada's first racially concordant mentorship program.

Quotables:

"The biggest advice that I would give to other leaders on walking into uncharted territory is don't do it alone. Change doesn't happen in silos." – JD

"You need to start by listening, really listening, to the communities that you're aiming to serve. Their voices will actually help to guide the process – they're critical to it." – JD

"I think it's important to understand that the black population accounts for 4.5% of the total Canadian population but is only represented by 2.3% physicians who identify as Black. So, you can see there are some gaps there and some underrepresentation." – Dr. TB

"The impact of anti-Black racism on Black maternal health is well documented as a crisis in the USA. It's now being recognized as an urgent health issue affecting Black women and pregnant people and families in Canada." – JD

"What we're seeing is the higher deaths of Black women in preventable diseases like breast cancer. And also, the fact that when breast cancer occurs, these women are being affected by this disease in their 40s even before they get to the point of mammograms at the age of 50." – Dr. TB

"Shining a light on these dark realities is important. And that was the essence of Black Maternal Health Week in Canada. The important thing is we're not ignored, so we have allies and people who are interested in changing the status quo." – Dr. TB

"My hope is there will be an awareness that Black Maternal Health Week isn't just about Black mothers. It's actually about a broader truth that women as a group have long been marginalized in healthcare. They've been denied access, they've been dismissed, they've been undervalued. And within that reality, Black women, Indigenous women, and other women of colour actually bear the heaviest burden." – JD

"The first step of healthcare organizations supporting Black mothers and families is recognizing that equity isn't a project. It actually has to be something that gets woven into the culture, the system, and the daily practices of care." – JD

Mentioned in this Episode:

· North York General Hospital

· NYGH Early Pregnancy Assessment Clinic

· Black Physicians of Canada

· Federation of Medical Women of Canada (FMWC)

· HIROC

· Toronto Black Maternal Health Week

· Jenelle Ambrose Dash

· Black Maternal Health Collective Canada

· City of Toronto

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram, and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Email us at [email protected].

Rebecca Shields and her team at CMHA York and South Simcoe have strong throughlines in place for their 2025-2028 Strategic Plan. A key driver of this plan is the update of their mission and values, and their new vision which is all about a cure for mental illness. This disruptive and exciting thought stems from CHMA's belief that true recovery is possible when institutions globally work together towards this goal.

What does this vision mean for their organization? "It means that we begin more and more to look at how do we partner in research, how do we ensure that we're adopting promising, evidence-based best practices, how are we adopting better data analytics and decision making," explains Rebecca.

In this episode of Healthcare Change Makers, Rebecca also shares insight into York Region's first Mental Health Community Care Centre. She speaks passionately about how healthcare organizations can work together to move the needle around mental health and addiction issues, and the importance of equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and reconciliation strategies.

Quotables:

"The field of mental illness because of stigma has been left behind, in research, investment, in care; and so bringing people along is helping them believe and turning that belief into action that things can actually improve."

"Mental illness can be treated, people can recover. And that I think we can all get behind."

"And that collective vision is, what do we need to do to ensure that somebody's first mental health crisis is their last."

"I just want to say a huge gratitude to all of our partners, and Ontario Health and the government, for stepping up and supporting this work. This is about system change, and although we're leading it, everybody is committed to a collective vision and we can't do it without going back and believing in the possible."

"All of us have to lean in right now as we see an erosion of, and people trying to dismantle the respect and identity of each and every person and their own personal identities."

"We know that there's a tie between racism, oppression and mental health. It is a stressor. It is morally disruptive, you know absolutely that kind of ongoing trauma of racism, discrimination and oppression actually impacts somebody's wellbeing."

"I've always thought back about Dr. Ian Dawe who used to say, all of us as healthcare providers, we might be able to treat the symptoms and treat mental illness, but mental health is a home, a job, and a friend."

"The value of each person, and the perspective and what they bring actually will be part of what makes communities resilient and allows for the recovery and support of people for all of us, and our kids, our families and our seniors."

"I feel that governance is incredibly important. Good governance really supports an organization to achieve great things."

"We are trying to solve wicked problems together – and good governance and leadership are part of that."

Mentioned in this Episode:

· CHMA York and South Simcoe

· CAMH

· Dr. Ian Dawe

· Health Common Solutions Lab (Sinai Health Systems)

· Human Services Planning Board of York Region

· IABC Communicator of the Year Award

· Ontario Health Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence

· Ontario Health

· Share Scale Repeat: A Podcast by HIROC

· Southlake Health

Access More Interviews with Healthcare Leaders at HIROC.com/podcast

Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram, and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Email us at [email protected].