Mide Seyi-Ajayi
For Mide Seyi-Ajayi, nursing is more than a profession. It is the foundation of everything he does. Now the Executive Director of the Apotex Jewish Home for the Aged at Baycrest, Mide still sees his nursing roots guiding his leadership.
“Once a nurse, always a nurse,” he says. “Even in day-to-day business operations, I reflect back to the nursing process and apply that to other things I am doing.”
Mide’s career began in acute care, where he discovered a strong connection with older adults. While completing his MBA, he took part in a unique international healthcare management program in Germany, gaining insight into health systems around the world. That experience broadened his perspective and shaped his approach to senior care. He later worked in Saskatchewan, helping transition residents into a new care home, his first leadership role in long-term care. Mide has held various leadership roles across the senior’s care sector in Alberta and Ontario.
Baycrest’s continuum of care drew him to his current role in the Apotex. The ability to connect hospital, long-term care, research, education and community programs all on one campus was unlike anything he had seen elsewhere.
“That integration is what makes Baycrest so unique,” he explains. “It gives us the opportunity to look at the whole person and their journey, not just one part of it.”
Mide is proud of the results Baycrest achieves. Residents at the Apotex live, on average, twice as long as the provincial average. Behind those numbers is a focus on continuous improvement shaped by resident voices. Questions like “What does better mean?” and “How can we measure what we are doing?” guide decisions. When residents asked for more meaningful activities outside of daytime hours, Baycrest used Ministry of Long-Term Care funding to expand therapeutic recreation staffing into evenings and weekends. Also increasing nursing staff ratios for evening and night shifts.
Equally important is Baycrest’s commitment to culturally appropriate care. As a Jewish faith-based organization, the Apotex provides a wide range of Jewish programming, from Shabbat services to holiday celebrations. At the same time, Mide emphasizes the importance of recognizing and reflecting the diversity of the entire resident community.
“Resident feedback is key. We have to ask what people need and how we can meet those needs. There is always more work to do.”
For Mide, leadership at Baycrest is about combining the science of quality care with the heart of nursing and the voices of residents. It is about ensuring that every person who calls the Apotex home is supported to live with dignity, purpose and connection.