Catherine Booth Hospital wins infection prevention prize
Our team proudly presented this year’s Sally Sperry Award to Sharon O’Grady, Head Nurse at the Catherine Booth Hospital. Ms. O’Grady and her team were singled out for their exemplary dedication to IPAC practices.
Congratulations to Ms. O’Grady and her team! They have been proactive in implementing a wide range of measures aimed at stopping the transmission of drug-resistant carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriacae (more commonly known as CRO). As part of her efforts, Ms. O’Grady has also instilled a hand hygiene culture in her establishment. She conducts frequent audits of her team’s hand hygiene performance, which tallies a record-breaking rate within CIUSSS West-Central Montreal—78 per cent.
Sally Sperry began her nursing career at the Jewish General Hospital in Health Services and the Emergency Department, but it was as Head Nurse of the JGH Central Sterilization Department—a position she held for a quarter of a century—that she forged her pioneering role in the development of sterilization standards. These guidelines were adopted in the hospital and across Canada.
Ms. Sperry retired in 1993 and passed away in 1995. The eponymous award was created to honour her work and memory, and in recognition of the vital role of nurses in promoting best practices in infection prevention. It is presented each year to a nurse who has made an outstanding contribution to patient safety through IPAC initiatives.
We hope that this award will encourage CIUSSS West-Central Montreal staff to keep raising the bar in providing quality, safe health care, and will inspire colleagues from throughout the network to observe IPAC measures to protect our patients, residents and users.
