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Southlake’s New President And CEO Makes Global Impact With Launch Of Webex Seminar Series

Newmarket, Ontario — July 22, 2011:  Southlake Regional Heath Centre’s new President and CEO, Dr. Dave Williams has partnered with 1000 Lives Plus in Wales to host three online seminars on creating safer working systems within a healthcare environment.

The series, Operating in High Risk Environments, explores Dr. Williams’ past experiences as both an astronaut and physician and apply them to healthcare. “As a former astronaut, I have learned first-hand that there is absolutely no margin for error and a cohesive peak performing team is crucial to ensure effective quality and safety,” says Dr. Williams. ”Patient perception is one of the important determinants of quality. Are we focused on achieving their desired outcome? We need to develop quality metrics that are based on outcome measures that optimize what can be done for patients.”

The first Operating in High Risk Environments seminar, Towards Safer Systems, aired on July 20, 2011 and was received by an audience made-up of individuals and groups from across Wales, Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, USA and Canada.  During this seminar, Dr. Williams shared his NASA experiences and discussed the importance of developing and supporting a culture of safety, in order to reduce the potential for errors and improve performance.

The next seminar will be based on Understanding Leadership, Followership and Team Performance, and will air on Monday, August 15, 2011 from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. eastern time. Dr. Williams will explain how to create dynamic teams that have a joint focus on success.

The third and final seminar will air on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. eastern time and will centre on Performing at Your Personal Best. Dr. Williams will speak about his NASA training and explain how to become and repeatedly perform at your best in a pressurized healthcare environment.

All seminars are free of charge and can be watched at home from your personal computer. For more information on the series, visit www.1000livesplus.wales.nhs.uk. 

About 1000 Lives Plus: 1000 Lives Plus is a program which seeks to improve the quality of patient care and reduce avoidable harm across Wales. Every health board and trust in Wales is involved in 1000 Lives Plus, which is introducing new ways of working to improve care by reducing harm, waste and variation.

For more information or high resolution images please contact:

Shane McKenna
Corporate Communications Assistant
Southlake Regional Health Centre
T: 905-895-4521 ext. 2754
C: 289-338-1090
E: smckenna@southlakeregional.org

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