Creating Space to Learn at HIROC’s 2025 Facilities Forum

Gillian Brandon-Hart
A group of HIROC staff smiling at HIROC's Facilities Forum

Sharing knowledge is one of our pillars at HIROC. And that includes bringing our Subscribers together for learning opportunities focused on improving safety.

That’s the HIROC advantage—learning from the HIROC community and scaling lessons learned.

And to encourage more learning, HIROC was pleased to host our annual Facilities Forum in October.

Featuring Subscriber stories about emergency preparedness and revitalizing aging infrastructure, there were many great learnings about improving safety through managing healthcare facilities.

“The Facilities Forum provides our Subscribers with a vital space for education, networking and collaboration. It's more than a one-day event. It fosters an ongoing connection and continuous learning for our Subscribers throughout the year,” HIROC’s Caroline Libarian, Senior Claims Advocate, said.

Two attendees pose and smile for the camera
(Photo: HIROC) Caroline Libarian (left) with a Subscriber at the Facilities Forum.

 

Did you know HIROC offers a one-stop-shop for all your insurance needs? Our Brokerage team is at the ready to support you with property, equipment breakdown, auto, construction projects and more. Learn more about HIROC’s insurance offerings today!

Learnings About Emergency Preparedness

The first Subscriber we heard from was St. Joseph's Health Care London where Danica Low, Manager, Patient Relations, Privacy and Risk; and Peter Kreis, Manager, Security Services, Mailroom and Transportation Services, presented. They shared their learnings from St. Joseph’s most recent emergency preparedness exercises for a cyber breach and an active attacker.

In 2024, St. Joseph’s participated in the City of London’s Exercise Zero Day focusing on a cyber incident. This large-scale exercise included all the city’s partners such as police, fire, hospitals, transit and hydro with a focus on collaboration. The scenario saw the city’s services disrupted due to a cyberattack which impacted the ER dispatch and hospitals, so St. Joseph’s had to figure out how they tied into the city’s network.

Consider keeping your own IT systems separate from other entities, like the city’s, and be able to isolate each specific site so if one has a cyber concern you can protect the rest of the network.

The next exercise St. Joseph’s did was their Code Silver Active Attacker Exercise earlier this year. This one focused on their security team and the police working together to find a suspect inside the building while being as discreet as possible to minimize impact on patients. Three different versions of the scenario were done with the suspect having different levels of knowledge of and access to the building in each scenario.

During this exercise, their team identified several key recommendations.

  • Have floor plans, key sets, and access cards ready for police when they arrive
  • Use security radios or walkie-talkies since cell signal may be poor
  • Include suspect’s full description in overhead announcements
  • Ensure adequate CCTV in building
  • Review how to lock down building or lock off parts of it to contain certain areas
  • Work with your organization’s departments, the city, and your community partners for support
  • Include your facilities team who owns and operates access control systems
Two attendees smiling for the camera at the forum.
(Photo: HIROC) HIROC's CEO Catherine Gaulton (left) with a Subscriber.


Reimagining Aging Healthcare Infrastructure

The next Subscriber story we heard was from Rudy Dahdal, Vice President, Planning, Redevelopment, and Clinical Support; and Jeff Jerome, Director, Capital Planning, at North York General Hospital (NYGH). They spoke about NYGH’s project to refresh aging infrastructure at their Finch and Bathurst site through renovations rather than a new building.

This site was built in the 1950s and was beyond its life cycle, but there were several reasons why NYGH did not build a new building:

  • Land scarcity prohibited a new building in a new location
  • There is a capacity crisis in hospitals so smaller and faster projects, like renovations, can better address that
  • Construction has a big carbon footprint
Speaker on stage next to large screen and audience in front
(Photo: HIROC) Jeff Jerome from NYGH speaks at HIROC's Facilities Forum.

 

Instead of renovating the entire building, this project focused only on renovating certain areas on each floor that are most important, like patient rooms. “Rather than trying to rebuild everything, having very targeted and specific interventions can have a big impact,” Jerome added.

The result was a modernized, functional site with updated entrances, patient rooms, lunchrooms, and open spaces. NYGH added 120 new beds and reduced the alternate level of care rate and days. Multi-patient rooms were converted to private or semi-private rooms and the building was made more accessible.

Their main takeaways are to:

  • Use what you have
  • Progress beats perfection
  • Target risk to build resilience

And Dahdal added, “HIROC has a service for designing projects like this. Look at your redevelopment plans with HIROC’s eyes to reduce risk and make your facility safer for everyone.”

Claims Tips from Our Partners

Lastly, we heard from our insurance partners at FM, HSB, and Zurich during the Claims Fireside Chat. They noted there is an uptick in humidity related losses typically caused by power disruptions. The most costly parts of these losses are business interruption and pharmaceuticals spoilage, but there are some ways organizations can limit these costs.

  • Check your alarm systems so you know when there’s any change in temperature in cooling equipment, not just when the temperature hits a certain degree
  • Identify if there’s enough space to move pharmaceuticals from one cooler to another if one fails
  • Make sure clinicians and staff know what to do if coolers stop working and can move pharmaceuticals to another cooler to save them
  • Report claims early to HIROC because we have resources to help mitigate damage
Panel speakers sit on stage in front of a large screen while moderator stands at podium
(Photo: HIROC) HIROC's Caroline Libarian (left), moderator of the Claims Fireside Chat, and the panelists.


More Resources

A speaker stands on stage at the podium

 

HIROC’s 2025 Facilities Forum was a fantastic day of learning, storytelling, and networking focused on improving safety in healthcare. Jonathan Bracamonte, HIROC’s Director, Brokerage Services, summed it up like this, “Our forum is about creating space to learn, share and connect, because when things become complicated you should never be uncertain alone.” Thank you to all our attendees, speakers, and staff for making this event so successful. See you again next year!

 

By Gillian Brandon-Hart, Communications and Marketing Specialist, HIROC