Feedback from the community will help shape the future of health care for Vaughan, Richmond Hill, King and surrounding areas on topics such as coordination of care, virtual/digital health and caring for seniors.
A special Telephone Town Hall hosted by the Western York Region Ontario Health Team welcomed 11,609 residents from Vaughan, Richmond Hill, King, Thornhill and nearby communities. The purpose of the call was to gain insight and feedback to help shape its upcoming application to be one of 31 new Ontario Health Teams in the province.
For some patients and families in Ontario, accessing health care services can be disconnected and fragmented between service and care providers, leading to challenges in receiving the safe, quality care or support they need. An integrated system that coordinates all of a patient’s care across a defined geographic area is the goal of the Western York Region Ontario Health Team, to work as one cohesive team to deliver care that reflects local needs. The Western York Region Ontario Health Team’s submission will focus on caring for frail and elderly seniors as its primary objective in the first phase.
The Town Hall used a mix of polling and open questions to gather input from residents. Some community members expressed their frustration with wait times and the complexity of accessing different services in a disjointed system, while others expressed excitement at the potential benefits of the Western York Region Ontario Health Team and how it might improve the way they interact with their health care and social service providers.
Some of the topics discussed included:
Coordination of care in our region
- 86.5 per cent of residents on the call were interested in potentially benefiting from the Western York Region Ontario Health Team and the way it aims to deliver care locally in our community.
- Under the Ontario Health Team model, the goal is for patients to benefit from a seamless transition between various care providers, be aware of their care plan and know where to go if they need help.
Virtual Health
- 74 per cent of residents on the call indicated that they would be likely to access their health records or educational materials electronically if given the opportunity.
- The Ontario Health Team model intends to provide patients with the tools they need to be active partners in managing their health care, even after they’ve been discharged home or to the community. Accessing their own digital health record and employing virtual tools empowers patients and their families to become champions of their own care.
Caring for Seniors in York Region
- With an aging population in York Region, residents on the call indicated that providing continuity of care for seniors was important to them. In 2018/19, seniors in western York Region had more than 20,000 emergency visits and more than 7,000 hospital admissions while well over 10,000 seniors used the services of home and community care providers.
- One of the objectives of the Western York Region Ontario Health Team, aims to coordinate care and social services to help seniors navigate the different parts of our health care system so that they can stay at home longer and receive care in the right place, at the right time.
The Western York Region Ontario Health Team was one of 31 teams approved by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to develop a full submission as a next step to transforming health care, out of a total of more than 150 submissions. The team is made up of eleven health care and social support providers representing acute care, home and community care, primary care, long-term and residential care, palliative and hospice care. This includes:
- CHATS-Community & Home Assistance to Seniors
- Health 1st Medical Centre
- Hill House Hospice
- Hospice Vaughan
- Mackenzie Health
- Reena
- SE Health
- Thornhill Village Family Health Organization
- UniversalCare
- Vaughan Community Health Centre
- Woodbridge Medical Centre Family Health Team
The next phase of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s approval process will commence in early October, with full submissions due October 9.
The full telephone town hall recording can be found here.
QUOTES
“These teams are focused on improving how we deliver care to our local community by creating new and better partnerships among different health care organizations. CHATS-Community & Home Assistance to Seniors is excited by the opportunity to create new and better partnerships among health care organizations through the Western York Region Ontario Health Team. With an initial focus on enhanced coordinated care and services for frail seniors, we believe that older adults and caregivers in our community will receive the supports and services they need to live independently, safely and with dignity in their own homes as long as possible.”
- Christina Bisanz, CEO, CHATS-Community & Home Assistance to Seniors
“Hospice Vaughan is honoured and proud to be at the table with our health care colleagues, working to create a community based, patient-centered health team. Looking towards the future, we will hear, listen and respond to our community’s health care challenges in an effective team-based approach and work to provide local support.”
- BELINDA MARCHESE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HOSPICE VAUGHAN
“This new Ontario Health Team model provides us the opportunity to formalize our already-existing partnerships and become leaders in the province as we deliver care that is tailored to the local needs of the communities we serve. Before we finalized our full submission, it was important for us to engage with our community to ensure we are listening to the current health care challenges they face today so we can address those challenges with a new model of care. We’re very pleased with the participation we received through this telephone town hall.”
- Mary-Agnes Wilson, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Executive, Mackenzie Health
“Reena has been involved in our son's care. His needs are complex and Reena and their team do not just look at developmental disabilities but are able to see the many layers of complex needs beyond this and work with other agencies in the community to integrate his health care and physical disability into a working plan for him. We are pleased that this Ontario Health Team is aware of the diverse sub-populations needs, and that Reena is part of this new network supporting individuals with developmental disabilities, along with others, into their senior years.”
- SHARON MARCOVITCH, PARENT/CAREGIVER, REENA
“Overwhelmingly, people want to live and age in their own homes and communities, with access to seamless care that meets their individual needs and preferences. We’re excited to be working with health care partners and the local community in a new way to make this a reality.”
- Shirlee Sharkey, CEO, SE HEALTH
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