At the 2019 National Health Leadership Conference (NHLC) in Toronto, over 800 healthcare leaders descended on the city, just minutes from the famed Jurassic Park.

This year’s conference created a seismic shift in energy. Between talks of healthcare innovation, and the fact that almost every session and many hallway conversations were also peppered with buzz from the NBA playoffs – NHLC 2019 was certainly one to remember.

Have you ever thought of yourself as a little transport unit for healthcare organizations? I hadn’t until I heard Huda Idrees, Founder of Dot Health, speak at InnovationEX last month. She talked about patients who carry stacks of papers and binders with their health information from hospital to clinic, from provider to specialist.

This month Polly Stevens will be retiring from her role as Vice President, Healthcare Safety & Risk Management at HIROC. Over the course of Polly’s 35-year career in clinical operations, quality, patient safety and risk management, she has made an incredible impact on healthcare in Canada.

Luckily Polly won’t be going too far, as she shifts to a new role dedicated to strategy, learning and leadership development at HIROC.

"What unites people?” asked Tyrion Lannister in the Game of Thrones series finale. “Stories. There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story.” Tyrion was on to something. When told well, stories are sticky, they are memorable, and most of all… a good story can drive change.

Every day for nearly a month, patients, staff, physicians and volunteers at Markham Stouffville Hospital (MSH) walked by a model racetrack with the words “START YOUR ENGINES!" written across the top – an unusual sight for those who weren't in the know.

Sharing stories is part of what makes us human. In the case of health system reform in Canada, these stories can provide unique learning opportunities. With their pulse on what’s trending in healthcare, Longwoods recently hosted a Breakfast with the Chiefs session to offer insights into Ontario’s Health Teams, based on the lived experience of two diverse leaders.

When we hear the word resilience we often think about ourselves – who we are as people, and how we recover from stressful situations. But in the insurance world, the definition of resilience is also applied to our teams, our organization, and the physical buildings we live and work in.