The Change Foundation's new report puts human face on navigating Ontario health care system

Patients and caregivers are given centre stage in The Change Foundation's first health integration report, Who is the Puzzle maker? Patient/Caregiver Perspectives on Navigating Health Services in Ontario. The report features the often overlooked experiences and perspectives of patients and their families as they move between and among health providers and services. SE LHIN CEO Paul Huras applauded the Foundation's "very human and personal" contribution to better understanding health-care integration in Ontario. Huras was a panelist at The Change Foundation's June 12th AGM releasing the new work. Watch the thought-provoking AGM panel discussion also featuring Central CCAC Executive Director Cathy Szabo and Change Foundation CEO Cathy Fooks. Read the popular report and watch a video to hear first hand from patients and caregivers.

Introducing the Centre for Healthcare Quality Improvement at The Change Foundation

The Foundation's team just got mightier this summer as CEO Cathy Fooks announced the establishment of the Centre for Healthcare Quality Improvement (CHQI) at The Change Foundation, effective July 1. Formerly known as the Ontario Health Performance Initiative (OHPI) of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, CHQI is now part of The Change Foundation and will operate at arms-length from the provincial government. Fooks said that the Centre's commitment to improving the quality of health care through on-the-ground projects across the province aligns well with the Foundation's strategic goals to support the integration of health services and improve the quality of community care. Learn more and watch a webcast interview with CHQI's Executive Director Paula Blackstien-Hirsch about how this synergistic health-care merger will improve the quality of patient care in Ontario.

South East project points to ways of easing patient transitions from hospital to 'home'

It took more than 160 steps to move patients in one South East Ontario institution from hospital to long-term care home according to findings from phase 1 of a quality improvement project called Having their Say & Choosing their Way: helping patients and caregivers move from hospital to 'home'. The project is funded by The Change Foundation, in partnership with the Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres (OACCAC). It began last February when the South East CCAC and Quinte Health Care (QHC) Trenton Memorial signed on to be the first of three Ontario participants. The project is dedicated to pinpointing and improving the transition from hospital to home, be it a personal residence, retirement home, long-term care home or supportive housing.

The second phase of the project, to begin in the fall, will involve the Central CCAC in and a Toronto area hospital.

Read the phase one report, news release, summary of findings and related media coverage.

Study to zero in on LHIN-by-LHIN use of home care by elderly with congestive heart failure

Studies tell us that most Canadians living with a disease want to live and recover at home. How well they can do that depends on many factors, and The Change Foundation will be focusing on some of them. The Change Foundation is working with University of Waterloo health studies professor John Hirdes who will be examining the role of home care in managing congestive heart failure in the frail elderly. Results will reveal for the first time who is using which type of home-care service, LHIN by LHIN, to manage congestive heart failure. The Ontario project will also look at how home-care service use by this group affects hospital re-admissions, emergency room use, quality of life, and mortality. The quality improvement project will mine data gathered using the International Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC). The study will also examine the needs of overburdened caregivers taking care of friends and family with heart disease. The study will evaluate how responsive Community Care Access Centres are to the needs of caregivers with an eye to developing strategies to better prevent burnout. "This study aligns well with the Foundation's goal to improve the quality of community care and will add new data to support the province's Aging at Home initiative. Overall, we hope it will contribute to best practices in this area across LHINs," says Change Foundation CEO Cathy Fooks. Stay tuned for a final report to be released at a joint symposium in 2009.

The Change Foundation, P.O. Box 42, 200 Front Street West, Suite 2501, Toronto, ON, M5V 3M1, Phone: 416.205.1353, Fax: 416.205.1440

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