Rainy River District Ontario Health Team

In the

Community

We’re Here to Help:

Improving the Health Care Journey

To make a difference in our communities, the Rainy River District Ontario Health Team identified areas of importance in the early days of establishment.


The priorities identified as our top outcomes with the most impact across the district led to the creation of our first sub-committees – groups of experts teaming up to tackle the most important questions specifically of the local patient population.

 ​

  • Digital Health
  • Diabetes
  • Mental Health & Addictions

Established in 2021, these working groups are focused on building on our collaborative foundation with the Ontario Health Team pillars top of mind: 


  • Improved health outcomes
  • Improved patient experience
  • Reduced costs
  • Increased provider satisfaction


We are also excited to announce the creation of the Primary Care Committee, bringing together service providers in the district to improve care.

Digital Health Committee

Our Digital Health committee seeks to leverage innovative digital health technologies to provide better and more efficient care, enable better health care outcomes, and address the local needs of their patients and providers.​ The ministry aims to enable OHTs to be innovative and flexible while also ensuring that a minimum set of data can flow provincially. ​


Goals:

  • Facilitate better health outcomes​
  • Securely connect and share health information between authorized care providers​
  • Empower patients to better understand and manage their own health ​
  • Enhance efficiency of healthcare delivery​
  • Ensure minimum set of data can flow provincially

Creating Solutions for Digital Care

In order to meet these goals, the RRDOHT is focused on concepts such as virtual visits that allow patients to interact with their healthcare providers, including:

1

Using telephone, video or electronic messaging

2

Creating or adopting websites and apps that provide patients with easy access to their health records

3

Adding innovative programs and apps that help patients manage their condition from their homes

4

Providing tools that allow patients to book appointments online and connect with the care they need from a distance

Interim Lead: ​Tara Tolley​, Fort Frances Family Health Team

Diabetes Committee

Identified as a top priority for the Rainy River District, we're working to enhance diabetes management and outcomes through pilot projects in our communities. 


Goals

  • remote care monitoring
  • diabetic retinopathy screening


Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication that affects eyes. It's caused by damage to the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (in the retina). At first, diabetic retinopathy might cause no symptoms or only mild vision problems but can worsen without proper treatment. ​

Led by Gizhewaadiziwin Health Access Centre, the RRDOHT is supporting a new Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Program in our First Nation communities. The team has begun screening patients in their own communities and will expand these visits across the district. This program is already helping with early treatment for preservation of precious eyesight.


Lead: ​David Black​, Director, Community Services, ​Riverside Health Care​

Mental Health

& Addictions Committee

We’re putting a district-focused lens on the urgent need to address issues at the intersection of mental health and addiction service delivery and care.


Goals:

  • Assess and improve Transitional and Long-Term Housing
  • Impact availability and funding for Children and Youth Mental Health programs
  • Help streamline MH&A System Navigation
  • Educate to reduce stigma of mental health and addictions


This work has led to an additional withdrawal management bed and two residential treatment beds in the district – FFTAHS-CMHAFF.


Leads: ​

Charlene Strain​, Chief Executive Officer, ​CMHA Fort Frances​



Tanya Hughes, Director of Behavioural Health Services, Giishkaandago’lkwe

Primary Care Committee

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Bringing people together to create better health care experiences and outcomes in the community,

the Rainy River District Ontario Health Team (RRDOHT) has brought together a collaborative team of active and retired health care practitioners to form the Primary Care Committee (PCC). 


This group is adding its collective voice to RRDOHT efforts. Primary care and family physicians, hospital- and community-based specialists, nurses, and rehabilitative care professionals all add valuable input to important health issues.

Advising the RRDOHT Leadership Council from the front-line, primary care perspective, members of the PCC are sharing their experiences to make a difference in the Rainy River District.


Strategic engagement through quarterly meetings is advancing the culture of patient-centred care within the district, guiding improvements for health care access and service delivery, stepping up support and recognition for service providers, and connecting with other advisory groups in the region and across the province to help establish the best standards and policies for positive experiences and outcomes in our communities.

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We’re always

interested in

Adding New Voices and
Perspectives!

If you’re a permanent resident of the Rainy River District who offers health care services, or a retired member of the health care community, we are always interested in hearing from you. 


Fill out our application form and we may reach out to you when spots are available on the Primary Care Committee at the Rainy River District Ontario Health Team.

 

We look forward to working together toward an even brighter future for health care. 

Yes, I Want to Help Change Healthcare! ➤

Patient & Family Advisory Committee

Partnering with the Community

Information Coming Soon

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