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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
 Thunder
Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, along with its regional
partners, has won a prestigious award at the Ontario Health
Association Convention in Toronto.
The Multi-site Telemedicine Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
for Residents of Northwestern Ontario was selected to receive
the “Ted Freedman Award for Innovation in Education”.
In 2003, strategies to improve Cardiac Rehabilitation Services
for residents of Northwestern Ontario living outside the city
of Thunder Bay were undertaken with the assistance of a grant
from the Change Foundation as well as support from Fed Nor
and the Ontario Telemedicine Network. As well, Lakehead University
assisted with the formal evaluation component of the project.
This Telemedicine-based service enabled access to a program
that previously had not been available to 50% of the region’s
population. Cardiac patients were able to remain in their
home community with the support of their family, friends and
healthcare providers while they completed their Rehabilitation
Program comprised of education sessions, exercise classes
and individual counselling. Patients could interact with Nutritionists,
Pharmacists, Nurses, Physiotherapists, Social Workers and
other healthcare providers for timely care close to home.
In October 2006, the first graduates of the program were
recognized. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. At the
“Innovations in Health Care Expo 2007”, the project
received the Minister’s Innovation Award in the category
of “Meeting Community Needs Through Integrated Care”.
TBRHSC Vice-President, Lori Marshall, stated that, “providing
world-class patient care closer to home is a significant healthcare
achievement. We are honoured to receive this Award since ‘it
recognizes those individuals or organizations that inspire,
advocate and enable education in health services and healthcare
management’. In this highly competitive environment
and because the Ted Freedman Award is open to all healthcare
organizations, all of our care providers are to be commended.
The success of the program at TBRHSC should be an encouragement
to others who want to serve patients in their home communities.
This effective ‘virtual’ healthcare strategy has
great merit”.
Gwen Third, Manager, Cardiology and General Medicine, along
with Caterina Kmill, Program Coordinator, accepted the award
on behalf of TBRHSC and the Cardiac Rehab Team. Gwen Third
stated that, “it has been truly rewarding to work with
the regional sites to create a Telemedicine Cardiac Rehabilitation
Model of excellence that is able to meet the needs of cardiac
patients regardless of location. The partnership continues
to be successful because it is committed to support these
patients remotely”.
Caterina Kmill indicated that, “we now want to extend
the service to the remaining sites in Northwestern Ontario,
to review the transferability of the approach to other Chronic
Disease Management strategies, and to share our knowledge
with others”.
Tammie Hache, from Manitouwadge, is the first graduate of
the program. She says, “It’s a wonderful program
and has done wonders for me. It’s given me more stamina
than I’ve had in years and I think if I had my way,
I would stay in the program and never graduate. Thank you
to the Doctors and Nurses that have made this program possible”.
Ron Saddington, President and CEO of Thunder Bay Regional
Health Sciences Centre commended the Cardiac Rehabilitation
Team. He said, “We are proud of our teams of healthcare
workers who have once again shown that support of all of our
patients, whether they live in Thunder Bay or beyond, is foremost
on our minds. We are achieving our corporate goal of providing
world-class acute patient care for a whole region. Congratulations
to everyone.”
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