Editor’s Note: Earlier this week, CARP Sudbury Chapter Chair Pat Douglas was among the guests invited to give a talk at the launch of a new, cutting edge healthcare program for seniors that’s just been launched in Sudbury this week. It was a great moment for CARP and for Pat, who had been lobbying for the creation of this program for the past two years.
Pat was providing care to her mother in 2011 when she decided to research the various options available to seniors with limitations. She discovered the PACE model (Program of All-Inclusive Care), and says she had “a Eureka!” moment. Her CARP Chapter immediately started lobbying for the creation of such a program in the City of greater Sudbury. Click here to read a column she wrote about the PACE model in February of 2013. Local experts and advocates joined forces with CARP…
Finally, on the morning September 16th, 2013 – their dream became a reality and the first Short term Assessment Centre (STAT) was launched by Health Services North in Sudbury. The clinic offers a wide range of comprehensive outpatient services and supports to the frail elderly who are at high risk of nursing home placement, are without a primary care provider or without primary care provider referral.
Speakers at the STAT Centre Launch Event Included:
- Dr. Denis Roy, President and CEO, Health
- David McNeil, Vice President, Clinical Programs, HSN
- Dr. Janet McElhaney, Medical Lead, Seniors Care, HSN
- Her Worship Mayor Marianne Matichuk, City of Greater Sudbury
- Linda Smith, Occupational Therapist, Clinical Lead STAT program
- Patricia Douglas, CARP
- Norma Nikitin, Patient
For more information…
Listen to Pat Douglas discuss the Centre in an interview with CBC Radio
Northern Life also covered the opening; you can read their detailed column or watch the video coverage.
Read Health Service’s North’s Press Release:
SUDBURY, ON – Frail senior citizens in Greater Sudbury have a new place to go to improve their health and quality of life.
Health Sciences North/Horizon Santé-Nord (HSN) has launched a new service called the Short Term Assessment and Treatment (STAT) Clinic. It is located at HSN’s Sudbury Outpatient Centre.
STAT is geared for frail seniors 65 years and older who can live safely in the community, but who are without a primary care provider (family doctor) and at risk for placement in a nursing home. The main goals of STAT are to preserve the health of frail seniors to allow them to continue to live in the community, and prevent their health from deteriorating to the point where they must be admitted to hospital.
“STAT has been created to meet the needs of frail older adults who have been hospitalized and are at risk of readmission and further frailty, “ says Dr. Janet McElhaney, Medical Lead for Seniors Care at HSN and the holder of the HSN Volunteer Association Chair in Geriatric Research at HSN and the Advanced Medical Research Institute of Canada.
A number of health care services for seniors will be provided at STAT. The multidisciplinary treatment team includes a physician, nurse practitioner, registered nurse, pharmacist, dietician, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, speech language pathologist, and social worker.
STAT treatment teams will develop an individualized care plan for each patient, based on common health factors for seniors such as medication management, mobility/balance challenges, chronic pain, urinary incontinence, hearing loss, visual impairment, weight loss or malnutrition, depression, dementia, and caregiver burden/burnout.
HSN is developing STAT in partnership with the heath care team at North East Specialized Geriatric Services , under the direction of geriatrician Dr. Jo-Anne Clarke. Seniors are referred to STAT directly through HSN or through North East Specialized Geriatric Services (NESGS). Approximately 35 per cent of patients referred to NESGS have no primary care provider.
“At HSN, we have identified seniors health as one of our top priorities, “ says Dr. Denis Roy, HSN’s President and CEO. “Seniors and their caregivers have told us they want to live as independently as possible, and they need the right supports to do that. STAT demonstrates our commitment to ensuring seniors in our community can live with good health and dignity.”
“This is outstanding news for Health Sciences North, and for Greater Sudbury,” Mayor Marianne Matichuk said. “This is another indication that we are becoming a centre of excellence in health care and that the quality of life for all citizens in Greater Sudbury is second to none.”
“The local chapter of CARP strongly supports the STAT Clinic, and has lobbied for over two years for such a facility, so we commend HSN for pursuing an initiative that will benefit frail seniors, “ says Patricia Douglas, Chair of the Sudbury Chapter of CARP, a national organization that advocates on behalf of seniors. “The City of Greater Sudbury is fortunate to have a STAT Clinic that will care for elderly patients without a family physician after they are discharged from the hospital, and we want to thank HSN for listening to our appeals.”
Health Sciences North is improving the health of northerners by working with our partners to advance quality care, education, research and health promotion. HSN is grateful for the ongoing support of the community through the HSN Foundation, the Northern Cancer Foundation and the HSN Volunteer Association.
