Friday, February 29, 2008
South West Local Health Integration Network
South West LHIN announces first phase of plan
$7 million in funding for 2008/09 will support post-hospital care, stroke rehabilitation, supportive housing and other projects across the South West
LONDON, ON – The South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) Board of Directors has approved $7 million in new funding allocations as part of a provincial strategy to help support seniors living healthy lives at home.
“Our communities have been waiting to hear how the Aging at Home provincial dollars announced last August will help improve the health status and quality of life of their family, friends, and clients,” says Norm Gamble, chair of the South West LHIN Board of Directors. “Our first year funding decisions will help hundreds of seniors in our area this coming year, and will lay the groundwork for further initiatives to be implemented over the remaining two years of our strategy.”
Services to be funded in the coming year will focus on promoting wellness and healthy living among seniors, supporting and caring for caregivers, and supporting seniors at risk of going to long-term care homes and hospitals.
Examples of programs and services funded through Aging at Home include:
- $1.65 million for supportive housing initiatives that allow seniors to live in seniors’ communities, in their own residence, with access to 24-hour personal care supports seven days a week.
- $793,000 for Home at Last projects that care for seniors following a hospital stay by providing transportation, personal care, and other supports as necessary, such as grocery and prescription pick-up, meal preparation, etc.
- $700,000 for a community stroke rehabilitation program for seniors recovering from stroke that includes the provision of therapy at home.
In total, 25 projects were approved for the first year roll-out of the Aging at Home strategy in the South West LHIN. Other projects seek to enhance transportation and home-help options for seniors, adult day programs, home care, health and wellness programs, and services to Francophone and immigrant communities.
“Our seniors want health care options that allow them to live healthy, independent lives in their own homes as they age,” says Tony Woolgar, chief executive officer of the South West LHIN. “The LHIN is seeking a more integrated health care delivery system built around extending the range of services available to individuals in the home. That means embracing new and innovative approaches that reach out to seniors in their own communities, and that consider the whole person, the family, and carers, and all the factors that have an impact on health status.”
Kelly Gillis, senior director of Planning, Integration and Community Engagement at the South West LHIN, says the Aging at Home process is reflective of a new approach to health care decision-making by giving health service providers a formal role in the process.
“These decisions were not made by the South West LHIN working alone, but with input and direction from groups of health service providers and community partners working together. Community support services, the South West CCAC, local hospitals and other community partners not only worked together to develop proposals for how the Aging at Home funds should be allocated, but also to evaluate them and rank them in order of priority for their communities,” says Gillis.
While the South West LHIN’s first year plan is focused on stabilizing and enhancing community-based services, at least twenty percent of the LHIN’s total Aging at Home funds are earmarked for innovative projects that represent a new or different service concept or a variation of an existing one.
The Aging at Home funds are an investment in the future of our seniors and in the future of health care," says Chris Bentley MPP London West. "With Ontario's over-65 population expected to double in the next 16 years, this investment ensures a more sustainable health care system by providing supports to seniors where they most want them - in their own homes."
The South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is a crown agency responsible for planning, integrating and funding more than 150 health service providers, including hospitals, long-term care homes, mental health and addictions agencies, community support services, community health centres, and the South West CCAC. Established under the Local Health System Integration Act, 2006, as one of 14 LHINs across Ontario, the South West LHIN operates an annual health care budget of $1.8 billion. The South West LHIN covers an area from Lake Erie to the Bruce Peninsula and is home to almost one million people.
For more information contact:
Tommasina Conte
519 672-0445, ext. 2566/1 866 294-5446
tommasina.conte@lhins.on.ca
Annabelle Mackey
519 672-0445, ext. 2573/1 866 294-5446
annabelle.mackey@lhins.on.ca
Background
- The Aging at Home strategy is a three-year, $700-million initiative announced by the Ontario government in August 2007 to help seniors live healthy, independent lives in their own homes.
- The South West LHIN was allotted $55,163,982 for the three-year funding period ending 2010-11, with $7 million, $17.4 million, and $30.7 million to be allocated respectively over the course of the three years. At the end of the three-year strategy, $30.7 million for Aging at Home will be added to the LHIN’s ongoing base funding.
- Improving the continuum of care for seniors and adults with complex needs is a key strategic priority for the South West LHIN and is identified in the LHIN’s Integrated Health Service Plan. In developing its Aging at Home strategy, the South West LHIN was able to draw on the work of its three seniors and long-term care Priority Action Teams, as well as the work of its advisory groups and other Priority Actions Teams. In all, hundreds of health service providers, health care professionals, community partners, and members of the community contributed to the decision-making process for the Aging at Home funds.
- The first year funding decisions will be implemented early in the 2008/09 fiscal year following a due diligence review by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
- For more information on Aging at Home, visit the South West LHIN website at
www.southwestlhin.on.ca.
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