Health News For Champlain
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Champlain Local Health Integration Network
Technology, Vans and Seniors: A more modern approach to non-urgent medical transportation
April 20, 2011 – A program that has succeeded in helping people get rides to medical appointments in urban and rural Ottawa has now expanded to other parts of the Champlain region. The program uses new scheduling technology put in place by the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).
A new, secure electronic ‘collaboration space’ allows community-based agencies to exchange information and more easily schedule rides and share vans. The technology simplifies scheduling efforts when multiple clients from different agencies are in transit. A key advantage is the ability to arrange group rides. For example, if two or more clients need dialysis at a particular hospital or are heading to the same medical building, only one van is required, saving extra trips. The program serves mostly seniors.
It’s an example of how the health system can help more seniors stay healthier and live more independently in their own homes.
“The Champlain LHIN works closely with local health providers to find local solutions to challenges that our residents experience every day,” says Alex Munter, Champlain LHIN CEO. “Helping seniors get to their medical appointments is an important part of creating a better health system that people can depend on.”
The Champlain LHIN worked with a number of providers to implement the project. In rural Ottawa, participating agencies include Rural Ottawa South Support Services (a merger of Rideau Community Support Services and Osgoode Home Support Program) and Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre. This rural non-urgent medical program, which launched three years ago, put in place the ‘collaboration space technology’ a year ago. The program offered more than 3,000 shuttle-service van rides in 2010/11, up from about 800 such rides the year before.
In urban Ottawa, three agencies are involved – South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre, The Good Companions and Abbotsford Outreach Services (The Glebe Centre). The urban providers have been using the new scheduling technology since the summer of 2010 and provided more than 2,300 drives in 2010/11. v In fact, the ‘collaboration-space’ technology has proven so popular it is expanding to other areas within the region. Carefor Community Services in Renfrew County recently rolled out the new scheduling technology tool as part of a push to improve its non-urgent medical transportation program.
One of Carefor’s clients is Mel Molson, 83, who lives at home in Pembroke with his wife Marie. Mel, who needs a wheelchair and has congestive heart failure as well as arthritis, gets picked up from home every Thursday for his weekly blood tests. He has also attended Pembroke Regional Hospital’s Geriatric Day Hospital. “You can’t ask for anything better,” says Marie. “It’s just made everything so much easier. They are here right on time, rain or shine.”
More efficient scheduling is only one part of a larger strategy to improve non-urgent medical transportation in our region. The Champlain LHIN invested more than $600,000 in 2010 to replace seven wheelchair-accessible mini-vans and to purchase three new mini-vans for community-based health agencies serving Champlain residents.
In addition, the collaboration space technology, which has a number of applications, has been made available by the Champlain LHIN free-of-charge to all regional health service providers.
Source: Champlain Local Health Integration Network
Email: champlain@lhins.on.ca
Website: www.champlainlhin.on.ca
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