The Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network will help fund the Community Care Access Centre's home care program.
The ESC LHIN is providing $225,000 for the CCAC's Intensive Hospital to Home Initiative, which will help care for patients at home and reduce the need for increased hospital stays.
The IHH is for patients who no longer need 24-hour attention in hospital. It enables patients to stay in their homes as long as possible and transitions them from the hospital to their homes to make decisions about their care needs in the future.
Deputy Premier Deb Matthews says $750-million will be invested over the next three years to help Ontarians access better healthcare faster and closer to home.
"Strengthening home and community care is a key priority for our government," says Matthews. "Ontarians deserve a health care system that helps them continue to live independently at home, where they want to be."
The investment delivers patient care in response to the distinct local needs. It uses local expertise to plan, coordinate, and finance health care through provincial funding and in partnership with local health service providers.
Lori Marshall, the executive director at the CCAC, says the collaboration with their hospital partners is helping reduce the length of stays and improve patient flow in the hospital system through a patient and family-centered approach to care.
"We know that in many cases, patients would prefer to receive care in the comfort of their own home," says Marshall. "The Intensive Hospital to Home Initiative is another way our CCAC is ensuring that certain patients can return home rather than stay in hospital if they need some additional short-term intensive support."
Services such as speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, nutritional counselling, and social work are available through IHH. For more information, visit their website.
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By Danielle Gagnier, St. Clair College Journalism Student
