Day 2 - The Adventures of Flat Thorn and Flat Maddie

From Sharon Navarro, Communications Officer:  Flat Thorn and Flat Maddie continue to meet staff.

They stopped by to visit our Respiratory Therapists. RTs as they are called help protect our heart, lungs and airways ensuring that they are healthy. Maddie had some breathing issues this morning so Monica, RT helped her breathe with a ventilator. Brad, RT is listening to Flat Thorn's lungs.



A healthy and happy staff is also better prepared to provide the safest and highest quality of care. Here Flat Thorn & Flat Maddie take in a staff wellness class.

Poor Flat Maddie. She had a ballet accident and broke her left fibula. She and Flat Thorn visited the Fracture Clinic and Martin, Orthopedic Technologist, kept her leg safe and put a cast on it.



Afterwards, Flat Thorn & Maddie visited Diagnostic imaging and donned special aprons - that protect their organs- while Cynthia - an  X-ray technologist made sure Flat Maddie's bone was healing properly.

More Adventures of Flat Maddie and Flat Thorn

Here are two more pictures of Flat Maddie's and Flat Thorn's adventures in the Emergency Department.

From Sharon Navarro, Communications Officer at Toronto East General Hospital:

Today, Flat Thorn & Maddie have ventured into the Emergency Department. For many people who come to the hospital, this is their first stop.

Before people enter the Emerg, they have to be pre-screened. In the first picture, Irene, Chief Nurse and Elizabeth Registered Nurse have brought Flat Thorn and Maddie to the registration clerk. They will be asked about where they traveled to and whether they recently were in places that have an Ebola outbreak. The clerk will also ask if they have some of the symptoms or signs related to Ebola. We added this pre-screening step to keep our patients, staff and volunteers safe.

Next Flat Thorn and Maddie will meet Dr. George Porfiris and Dr. Zoe Mitchell, a medical resident- docs in our ER. We have such great staff in the ER who help kids feel comfortable and safe. They will see if Flat Thorn or Maddie need any blood work to be done.

Here they are...Flat Thorn and Flat Maddie visiting Toronto East General Hospital

Last week, I wrote about our project with the Toronto East General Hospital. Our class chose the characters that would be travelling around the hospital.

Here they are with Chief Nurse Executive, Irene Andress, in the Emergency Department.

Below is the schedule of where Flat Maddie and Flat Thorne will be visiting to learn how these departments keep patients safe.

· Fracture Clinic (MONDAY)

· Diagnostic Imaging (MONDAY)

· The Lab (TUESDAY)

· Surgery (WEDNESDAY)

· Peds G7 (THURSDAY)

· Porters/Housekeeping (FRIDAY)

We will be visiting Ms. Andress, other staff, and our flat characters at the hospital on Wednesday, October 29th to experience ourselves where they have been.

Community Outreach Project with Toronto East General Hospital

Toronto East General Hospital has asked our class to be a part of a project on Patient Safety at the hospital.

Students were asked to design a flat character similar to the book "Flat Stanley" by Jeff Brown.



Students created the illustration, gave it a name, and created a back story.  We shared these in class, and the class voted.  We decided on Flat Thorn (for Thorncliffe) and Flat Maddie.  The Communications Officer from TEGH will be here Monday to pick up the flat characters.  These characters will then travel around the hospital and pictures will be taken to show students and the community how staff keep patients, like Flat Thorn and Flat Maddie, safe. (just as Flat Stanley's journey around the world was documented).  

On October 29, we will go visit the hospital, and will be shown where the flat characters visited and we will meet staff of the different departments, and discover what happens in the various parts of the hospital.

This activity is connected to our Language unit on analysing characters, and creating narratives, and in Health, there is a unit on safety.

Welcome Ms. Cass

We welcome Ms. Cass to our classroom for the next 5 weeks.

Ms. Cass is a Teacher Candidate from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.  She is learning to become a teacher, and will be working closely with me and the students.  Ms. Cass will take over some of the teaching under my guidance.  She will be teaching some Language, Math, and French.

Ms. Cass is from Toronto, and has told the students a lot about herself.  She loves to dance, canoe, and she has a rather larger dog!!!  The students should be able to tell you what was in her "Me Bag".

Trip to City Hall

On Friday, October 17, our class went to visit City Hall to see where our municipal government meets.  They have been learning about the three levels of government in Social Studies.  We travelled by bus and subway, and were very lucky that it never rained.

Inside city hall, we split into groups to do a tour guided by the 3 adults:  Ms. Bordonaro, Gemma (Ms. Bordonaro's daughter), and Ms. Cass, our Queen's Teacher Candidate.  We saw the famous architecture, sculptures, a model of the city, aboriginal artwork, the base of the council chambers, a mosaic wall, a time capsule, and the mayor's office.

Ask your child to tell you something they learned.

Since it was a lovely day, we ate lunch outside on the steps in Nathan Phillips Square.  (Ask your child who Nathan Phillips was).

Afterwards, we headed to the Eaton's Centre for a media hunt.  Students were looking for different types of signs and advertising.  It was hard for them to not go shopping!  See what they can tell you.



Can they explain about these birds!!!!

We arrived safely back at school exhausted, but happy about the day.  Students behaved extremely well during the trip, and listened attentively to what we told them.

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