Big Picture Healthcare Change: Green Shield Canada Foundation Reports Learnings for Collaborative Project

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct. 29, 2015) - The Green Shield Canada Foundation (GSCF) announced the key learnings from the Green Shield Canada Foundation Health Innovation Collaborative (GSCF HIC), a three-year outcomes-driven project that funded five innovative health care organizations in Canada with a focus on big-picture change in health care for seniors. This project addressed two challenges affecting the Canadian health care system: the country's aging population and the costs of supporting those with multiple complex chronic conditions in a hospital or long-term care setting. The GSCF acted as the funder and facilitator of the GSCF HIC, investing more than $3-million since 2012 to support the unique initiatives developed by each GSCF HIC partner.

"With the recent Statistics Canada report that seniors are now outnumbering those under 15 years of age in Canada, it is vital that we develop long-term, meaningful solutions to care for the elder population," says Sarah Saso, Executive Director of the GSCF. "We were able to bring together five passionate, like-minded organizations that are experts in the field of eldercare to identify the unmet needs of seniors living with multiple chronic conditions. Over the past three years, each partner worked collaboratively to developed innovative initiatives to address these essential needs. There is no road map for collaboration in healthcare that we could find, but we discovered, through the HIC, that in working together, we were creating one."

The GSCF Health Innovation Collaborative worked to achieve the following:

• Improve quality and accessibility of care for seniors in the GTA region, aged 65+ with multiple complex chronic health issues
• Expand opportunities for care at home, improving the quality of life of seniors and their caregivers
• Reduce emergency department visits, hospital admissions/re-admissions, and admissions to long-term care facilities by improving community or at-home services and support
• Increase the skills of personal support workers who work directly with seniors in their homes.
• Increase the availability of online and mobile resources that offer practical tools to connect seniors and their informal caregivers to local healthcare providers

Each Health Innovation Collaborative member organization was chosen for their unique and innovative approach to improving health care. The organizations and their respective projects funded by the GSCF include:

• Bridgepoint Active Healthcare, which created Bridge2Health, a website of recommended health information resources for people living with complex conditions and disabilities and their families;
• The Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, which created Health eConcierge, a search engine that makes it easier for the public to find health and social services that meet their needs;
• The Alzheimer Society of Toronto, Dementia Care Training Program, which is an online training program for Personal Support Workers and primary caregivers in dementia care excellence;
• SPRINT Senior Care, HouseCalls, which is an interdisciplinary, home-based, primary healthcare program for frail and homebound seniors, and;
• St. Michael's Hospital, GEMINI Project, which is a General Medicine Inpatient Clinical Registry that measures the quality of hospital care to identify opportunities for quality improvement.

About Green Shield Canada Foundation

GSC, a national not-for-profit Health Benefits provider, created the Green Shield Canada Foundation (GSCF) in 1992 to act as a catalyst, supporting innovative ideas that pave the way for fundamental, big-picture change in Canadian health care. Its strategy is designed to build community capacity, strengthen public policy and advance knowledge in the health care field to ensure long-term change and address urgent needs. Projects currently funded by the GSCF include The CFCC Capacity Development and Expansion Program in conjunction with Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC), The First Nations, Inuit & Métis Caregiver Support Program with the Saint Elizabeth Foundation and the GSCF's HIC. For additional information, please visit gscfoundation.ca, or connect with GSCF on Facebook @GSC Foundation and Twitter @GreenShieldFDN.