As Ontario begins to see light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, the Ontario Health Team-Northumberland is ready to take what has been learned and pursue the public-health agenda it has always wanted to further.
One key lesson is the vital importance of partnerships – not surprisingly, since the OHT- N is a county-wide collaboration of patients, caregivers, health and community care providers working together to improve patient, caregiver and provider experience. With the pandemic arriving just weeks after it was formed in December 2019, their focus was shifted from their initial plans to such measures as testing, mobile vaccination efforts and other initiatives.
“Looking back on the past year and a half, the partners agree: OHT-N relationships enabled a faster and more comprehensive response to COVID-19 across Northumberland, and a more positive outcome for all,” the press release said.
Now OHT-N partners can begin to accelerate the three priority projects it had initially intended to implement.
The Volunteer Peer Support program will match trained volunteers with members of the community who require informal support, broadening their social networks and helping them navigate and access the health-care services they need.
Community Paramedicine leverages the skills and training of Northumberland Paramedics to provide proactive services for those who use 911 services due to system gaps and challenges (remote monitoring for appropriate patients, for example).
Rural Outreach Clinics began in April with the opening of the one in Colborne that brings the services of OHT-N partners to rural locations to reduce barriers to care experienced by patients in these areas such as access and transportation.
The OHT-N announces a new resource in helping drive this work forward with local patients and caregivers who have lived experience – the Experience Partner Council.
Members have been recruited from the network of patients and caregivers already serving in advisory roles with various OHT-N partners, and the inaugural Experience Partner Council is comprised of eight volunteers from across Northumberland County – co-chairs Kaye Jackson and Scott Macpherson, and members Gwen Barnes, Susan Fedorka, Howard Goodfellow, Edna McKim, William Prawecki and Lisa van der Vinne.
As the first opportunity for direct patient and caregiver engagement across the local health and community care system, the initiative qualifies as unique.
The Experience Partner Council is working together with service provider partners to help transform the delivery of local health and community care through the Ontario Health Team model.
With active representation across all the OHT-N’s governance, planning and project team structures, Experience Partner Council volunteers are committed to ensuring patients and caregivers have a clear and equal voice in advancing local priorities for health and community care services and bringing to life Ontario’s Patient Declaration of Values here in Northumberland. For more information, visit www.ohtnorthumberland.ca/en/ohtn/oht-n-experience-partner-council.aspx
In the press release, the co-chairs recalled having the opportunity to be at the OHT-N planning table from its inception, watching the silos in which each partner operated vanish. They predict that the new collaborative engagement model that will carry forward real result in a true patient-caregiver partnership.
The first full-time OHT-N resource has been recruited to coordinate OHT-N operations and advance the work of the priority projects.
OHT-N Director Marley Budreau comes to Northumberland from the Region of Peel, where she most recently worked as Manager of Strategic Initiatives, leading the development and implementation of Peel’s Community Safety and Well-being Plan - as well as leading vaccination efforts through primary care as part of Peel’s mass-vaccination team. She was also part of the secretariat responsible for supporting the development of the Brampton Etobicoke Ontario Health Team, and has held senior roles at the Central East Local Health Integration Network (having worked to implement programs such as Behavioural Supports Ontario and Health Links).
“Marley’s passion lies in the development of integrated and coordinated models of care that aim to put the patient and caregiver voice at the centre of planning and implementation efforts, while ensuring meaningful collaboration,” the press release said.
“Raised and currently residing in Northumberland County, Marley is excited to reconnect with OHT-N partners as the team works to better connect local patients and providers to improve patient outcomes.”
“Northumberland has very unique experiences with patient and caregiver engagement, a commitment to joint health service planning and evaluation, and a local culture of creativity and innovation,” Budreau stated.
“I am thrilled to be joining the OHT-N at this point in its evolution, and I look forward to supporting its current and future priority projects to improve care here in my own home community.”
As Northumberland Hills Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Linda Davis retires, her leadership role is being assumed by Adrienne Bell-Smith and Trish Baird – Executive Directors of the Northumberland Family Health Team and Community Care Northumberland respectively.
The new co-chairs commented on the deep commitment of OHT-N partners to creating meaningful improvements in health services within Northumberland, as well as the resiliency displayed by the team over its challenging first months during an unprecedented public health crisis.
