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Women Friends of Baycrest is a motivated group of supporters who believe in community and a cause.
 
Together, they have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Baycrest lead the way in care and research on memory and brain health. They also create special memories by organizing events that engage and enlighten.
 
All donors will be recognized and acknowledged. To find out how you can get involved with Women Friends of Baycrest, please contact Ian Leventhal, Leadership Gifts Director, at 416-785-2500, ext. 3896 or by email at ileventhal@baycrest.org.
Thank you to our Women Friends of Baycrest for your donations to our Safeguarding our Seniors (SOS) campaign. Your dollars are helping Baycrest add new layers of protection during the pandemic for residents, patients and frontline staff. This includes personal protective equipment (PPE) like masks, gowns, face shields and gloves. In addition, your financial support helps pay for hand sanitizer, wipes, hand soap and cleaning supplies, as well as screening and temperature-taking at the entrances to keep the virus off our campus.
 
In the early days of the pandemic, Baycrest quickly purchased equipment for telemedicine, eVisits and social programming to replace group activities. Staff set up a system for families to see their loved ones in Zoom calls or by FaceTiming. The calls use smartphones or adjustable iPads on carts that can be wheeled around to the different rooms. Social workers, redeployed staff and therapeutic recreationists are facilitating the calls.
 
By May 8, more than 2,000 eVisits had taken place, including a bris and several Zoom birthday parties. Mendel Good turned 95 recently and relatives in New York, Toronto and Vancouver were able to see him and sing Happy Birthday on one of these calls. Molly Starr turned 103 and her family also celebrated together. Thanks to SOS funds, Baycrest now has almost 30 new smart TVs on stands in the Hospital and long-term care home for therapeutic recreation programming. The programming is created through the efforts of therapeutic recreationists, Culture and Arts, Marketing and Communications, spiritual care, the Telemedicine Rapid Implementation group and others.
 
Physicians are also doing more telemedicine so that patients aren’t exposed to as many people and don’t have to leave their suites or homes, and risk catching the virus. The SOS campaign has provided equipment for these visits, including digital stethoscopes.
 
We look forward to keeping you informed on the SOS campaign. Together we are keeping our seniors safe and helping them live a life of purpose, inspiration and fulfilment during these challenging times.
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