#IamMGH - Meet Janet Gothreau

#IamMGH tells the story of our people. Meet Janet Gothreau, psychiatric nurse at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH). Like many healthcare professionals, Janet’s role at MGH changed in an instant when COVID-19 emerged in the community. Mental Illness Awareness Week is October 3-9, 2021; MGH celebrates the  tremendous efforts of mental health workers like Janet across East Toronto who care for this community today and every day. 

“I started off my career at MGH 20 years ago as a Nursing Resource Team (NRT) nurse, moving around to different departments. I eventually landed a role in psychiatry and this is how I discovered my true passion as nurse, providing mental health support to children and youth.

 On April 18, I was asked to help set up a brand new Adult Mental Health Isolation Unit at MGH, to ensure that our patients could continue to receive mental health care in a safe environment as they awaited their COVID-19 test results.

I approached the creation of this new unit armed with my own personal experience working as a frontline nurse during SARS. Caring for patients during SARS really stuck with me. It was traumatizing. But it was this experience that made me a very particular person, specifically around the steps that must be taken to protect yourself and others from infectious diseases. Since SARS, everything we do is through the lens of infection prevention and control.

I’m the type of person who doesn’t focus on problems, I focus on solutions. Before we opened the unit, it was important that everything my colleagues and I needed to protect ourselves and provide safe care to patients in isolation was in place. We made sure the right protective equipment was stocked, we removed items that could potentially promote the spread of COVID-19 within the unit, and we made sure that each room was equipped to support the ongoing treatment of our patients.

The new eight bed Adult Mental Health Isolation Unit is now in operation and provides persons under investigation for COVID-19 with a private room to get well in, with the support of their entire care team.

Working on the frontlines during COVID-19 has been a tremendously collaborative and rewarding experience. Everyone is so willing to work together in support of our patients’ best interests. MGH is a great community. We support each other no matter what.”