Helping People in Northwest Toronto Breathe Easier
COPD Health Services in Northwest Toronto gets support from TD to help improve people’s health and ability to breathe better.
Imagine you are a new Canadian who sometimes struggles with English. You work at two jobs and your family lives in a small apartment. You have persistent shortness of breath but don’t have a family doctor. It’s hard to take time off work.
Chances are, your care is not optimal, and your condition may worsen before it needs to. That problem is addressed by the new COPD collaborative health program between West Park Healthcare Centre and Black Creek Community Health Centre (CHC) in northwest Toronto. The innovative project is supported by a $750,000 donation from TD Bank Group (TD).
“This collaboration is important to enable appropriate supports for patients with COPD within this community,” says Dr. Doris Forlemu-Kamwa, Senior Director Primary Healthcare at the CHC. “We want to improve access to a suite of services that will now include what West Park has to offer. The care of the patient will be at the centre of it all.”
Dr. Roger Goldstein, West Park’s Director of Respiratory Medicine, says the population served by the CHC includes many people who are disadvantaged in socioeconomic terms, and may have difficulty retrieving and using health care information. He adds, “Many people find accessing our health system bewildering, and it’s so much more challenging when you are new to an area.”
A 2020 study conducted by the CHC and West Park found that people in this population had difficulty transitioning between primary, tertiary and acute health care.
The three-year pilot project uses a collaborative care model—a close partnership between primary care, specialists, the community healthcare team, and the patient and family —to ensure the best possible outcomes. Says Dr. Goldstein, “A collaborative care model is an innovative approach that creates a care team who are responsible for the patient’s well-being.”
The project will begin by assessing the prevalence of lung disease, vaping and smoking—the most common cause of COPD—in the CHC population. People at high risk of lung disease will be tested and then streamed into the most appropriate group to help them: those who need just patient education, those who need help with self-management and those who need a full rehabilitation program. West Park, home to Canada’s largest lung rehabilitation program, will help back up and support a rehabilitation program at the CHC.
Dr. Forlemu-Kamwa says working with West Park has been a “rewarding experience” because the hospital shares an understanding of the impact of socio-demographic factors on health issues. The model is adaptable to other locations and health conditions.
The funding provided by TD will enable West Park and the CHC to hire a manager, a consultant in collaborative care and other supports as well as to translate patient materials into several languages. “Through the TD Ready commitment, our corporate citizenship platform, we are proud to champion innovative solutions that help make equitable health outcomes possible for all,” says Alicia Rose, AVP Social Impact, Sustainability & Corporate Citizenship, TD Bank Group. “West Park’s collaborative project with Black Creek Community Health Centre will help increase access for communities facing barriers to care, helping people improve their lung health and reducing the need to access acute hospital services.”
Dr. Forlemu-Kamwa expects the project will improve patient outcomes. “By ensuring that patients are adequately managed at the level of the community, we will reduce patient exacerbations, caregiver and provider burnout, the number of emergency visits, and healthcare costs.” Adds Dr. Goldstein, “We have the ability to improve quality of life through earlier disease detection, education and self-management. Patients will know what to do, and where, when and to whom to go when they need care.”
