The “mail carriers” at our CIUSSS walk the corridors of our facilities delivering mail to units and departments. While email is everywhere, paper documents still play an important role and remain a vital means of communicating within our organization. Paper documents remain essential for test requisitions, neonatal screening, clinical reports, medical archives, and more. Did you know that our Messenger and Distribution Department handles some 25 000 envelopes per month and plays a key role in the continuum of care?
The logistics of sending a letter from Point A to Point B are more complex than they might appear. The two main message distribution centres of our CIUSSS are located at Ste. Anne’s Hospital and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute (DMHUI). Those centres receive the largest volume of mail deliveries from Canada Post every morning. That mail is then sorted for redistribution to our various facilities by the MedExpress delivery service. They also handle all aspects of shipping, such as sealing and and postal franking external mail (e.g., correspondence with suppliers, invoicing, etc.).
St. Mary’s Hospital Centre and the Hôpital de LaSalle also have Messenger and Distribution Departments and mail carriers to collect and distribute internal mail, and to prepare outgoing mail. “On a regular day I often do more than 20 000 steps! It’s what I like about this job. I get to interact professionally with many different people, and that together we are the heart of this hospital,” says Colleen Leger, a mail carrier at the Hôpital de LaSalle.
“It’s all invisible and undervalued work. But message delivery is an essential service, both internally and externally. Without it, the chain of communications and the services provided would break down,” adds Alain Frigault, Messenger and Distribution Department manager. “Over time, the Messenger and Distribution Department plans to harmonize the pick-up and distribution systems at our facilities, including the Lakeshore General Hospital. We are convinced we can find the space needed to achieve that, and the workforce to make it work,” says Mr. Frigault.
It’s worth remembering that sending out a message with the wrong address, or no address at all, is like trying to send a message in a bottle. And that is why it’s important to update the internal directory available on the intranet—it prevents messages from being returned to sender or getting lost along the way. Think about it!
