No Images? Click here The Waterloo Wellington LHIN’s news for health professionals provides the latest updates from across the local health system as we work together to deliver high-quality, integrated, and patient-centred care for local residents. Natasha’s Story: Natasha’s path to self-care has taken years and throughout, she has had to learn to manage severe anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. She credits the Taking Charge Chronic Pain class hosted at the Two Rivers Family Health Team with providing her with the tools – and support – she needed to deal with what she had been through and develop healthy ways to cope. Waterloo Wellington LHIN Supports Light Therapy in Kitchener Public Libraries Robin Mazumder knows first-hand just how shorter days, lack of sunlight and cold winter weather can impact mental health. That’s what makes the partnership between the Waterloo Wellington LHIN, the Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre and the Kitchener Public Library, fostered through Robin’s connections and experiences, just that much brighter. Using Technology to Connect More Caregivers to the Support They Need, Close to Home With Statistics Canada reporting that nearly half of Canadians age 15+ will support the health of a loved one at one point or another, providing help, education and support for caregivers is vital. That’s why the Alzheimer’s Society of Waterloo Wellington is in the process of merging health and technology to connect more residents to the caregiver support groups they need. New Online Tool Will Support People Waiting for Mental Health Services An on-line portal is being developed to support people coping with mental health and addictions issues while they wait for services, thanks to an innovative idea generated by local primary care providers. “It gets them started to getting the help they need,” says Karen Bell, senior manager of health system integration at the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network. *article shared from therecord.com One Year of IMPACT in Wellington County; a Huge Success More than 289 local residents were helped this year, thanks to an innovative collaborative response model that was one of the first of its kind in Ontario. One year ago, the County of Wellington Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington (CMHA WW) came together to sign a landmark agreement kicking off their new Integrated Mobile Police and Crisis Team dubbed IMPACT. Waterloo Wellington LHIN Brings Clinicians Together for Critical Conversations Conversations are the cornerstone of practice. Only through conversation can we, as practitioners, discover the issues, pains, challenges and obstacles that patients face in order to assist them. However, throughout our practice we may wonder what conversations should we be having with patients? How can we develop better relationships to support the patient experience? To help answer some of these questions and more, the Waterloo Wellington LHIN recently hosted its annual Critical Conversations event. Share Your Vision for Wellbeing in Waterloo Region! Community health and wellbeing isn't something that one organization or sector alone can improve - that's why the Waterloo Wellington LHIN is a key sponsor of the Wellbeing Waterloo Region initiative. Help us create a vision for health and wellbeing by answering the question: How can we improve wellbeing in Waterloo Region? #WeRally2021 for the Health and Wellbeing of Our Community "For me, sports has been a way to connect to my community and give back (outside of my day job) and I can’t think of a better way to build a sense of community though sports than by rallying together to host the 2021 Canada Summer Games." Patient’s First Update The government recently passed the Patients First Act, new legislation that aims to help patients and their families obtain better access to a more local and integrated health care system, improving the patient experience and delivering higher-quality care. With the passage of the Act, we are focused locally on supporting clinicians as they work to help their patients, working more closely together with public health, and preparing to take on responsibility for home and community care in Waterloo Wellington. We are also committed to improving the patient experience by embedding the patient and family voice into all that we do. |