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Meet Joyce Asabere, Assistant Manager, Clinical Resource Team. She is one of Osler’s six 2023 Values Award winners, receiving the peer-nominated Excellence Award.
We spoke with Joyce to learn more about how she embodies Osler’s Value of Excellence in her daily work.
“Just to help and do good.”
That’s what Joyce Asabere, Assistant Manager, Clinical Resource Team, said when asked about what inspires her to come to work every day.
You don’t need to spend much time with Joyce to know she does, indeed, do a lot of good, whether it’s for her patients, their families, or the people she works with at Osler. It’s clear in the stories she tells and the pride she so obviously has for her profession.
“It’s in me to want to help. That’s why I went into nursing. To help patients get well. To help families understand what’s happening. The act of helping has always been my passion,” she said.
Joyce was working as a Transitional Care Coordinator (TCC) in Osler’s Reactivation Care Centre when she was nominated – and won – Osler’s Excellence Award, before moving into her new role in August 2023. Like the award winners before her, she is humble about receiving this recognition. “I didn’t think I’d win because there are so many great people in this organization.”
While this is true, there is no denying that Joyce is a perfect recipient for the Excellence Award, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to delivering safe, high-quality care and always looking for ways to enhance the patient experience.
One of the many ways she does this is by taking the time to make sure that patients and families understand what is happening to them and around them. Joyce said she is very aware that the people who live and work in the communities Osler serves are among the most culturally diverse in the province and that communication – especially language – needs to be a key consideration.
She said interpretation tools such as video interpretation via iPad and language line have been great resources, for herself and her patients. In one example, she was able to use it to connect an elderly patient, admitted to hospital after breaking her hip, with her only family in eastern Europe who were desperately trying to locate her. “I arranged for her to call her family … and let them know that she was in the hospital and had had surgery,” said Joyce. “She was so happy, she was crying.”
This is one of many stories of how, in her role as a TCC, Joyce would Go Beyond for her patients and embed the value of Excellence into her work.
Joyce said she believes in looking at the whole person – not only the illness – and in never underestimating the power of listening. “Just being there with [a patient], talking to them, hearing them, makes a huge difference,” she said. It is in these interactions that you learn how to best support and advocate for a patient. “Sometimes it’s the little things that help the person to get well, whether it’s getting up in a chair, taking a warm shower.”
This perspective and commitment to Excellence is something Joyce brings with her to her new role and the incredible Clinical Resource Team she is managing.
“To be that person that brings a bright light … that makes a difference in someone’s life. That really is what motivates me. I think when you do good, you feel good,” she said.
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