CORNWALL, Ontario – The Cornwall Community Hospital and fellow Health Link partners celebrated the beginning of a new health care model for the area’s high-needs patients.
“In our first two weeks, we have started to help seven patients receive coordinated care,” said Christine Penney, vice president of Community Programs at CCH. “These are patients who were at risk of falling through the cracks and not receiving the care they need.”
The small celebration, complete with cake and a visit from Cornwall Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy, took place during a Stormont, Glengarry, Cornwall, & Akwesasne Health Links Steering Committee meeting at the Centre de sante communautaire de l’Estrie on Friday (November 20).
The local Health Links program is comprised of doctors, nurses, specialists, hospitals, primary and home care, long-term care, and community agencies, aiming to provide coordinated access to services, for those with a number of complex medical conditions, who use the health care system frequently.
Penney said that statistics show complex patients make up only five per cent of Ontario’s population, but use two-thirds of the health care budget.
CCH says the role of the Health Links care coordinator is to meet with patients to learn about their health care goals; bring patients, their families, and care providers together for meetings; monitor the patient’s progress; adjust care plans, as required; and facilitate collaboration with health and social service workers involved with the patient.
