Three Scarborough health care programs in line for award

November 11, 2009

All three finalists in the running for a health innovation award being given next week are from Scarborough.

The Central East Local Health Integration Network, which oversees health care planning in an area stretching from Scarborough to Peterborough, will present the award at the Celebrating Innovations of Health Care Expo, being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Wednesday, Nov. 18.

First in the running is Carefirst Seniors, operated by the Community Services Association and the Scarborough Regional Dialysis Program.

The program aims to improve the quality of care for patients who suffer from or are at risk of developing kidney disease by bringing together different health care services.

The second finalist is the Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (SALT) program, run at St. Paul's L'Amoreaux Centre.

First implemented by the Ontario Provincial Police in Orillia, the program promotes crime-proofing and personal safety initiatives among seniors. The program at St. Paul's brought the initiative to a wider, culturally diverse audience.

Rouge Valley Health System is nominated for its neonatal and pediatric orientation program designed for the new graduate.

Developed in 2006 in response to a provincial government plan, the program allowed Rouge Valley to hire six graduate nurses to work full-time in specialty areas.

The nurses learned comprehensive skills in caring for sick newborns, children and their families through a lab setting and by working alongside an experience mentor in the neonatal intensive care unit and pediatric department.

"These projects are outstanding examples of the kind of innovative thinking and collaboration that is taking place across our LHIN," LHIN chief executive office Deborah Hammons said in a statement.

The winner of the award will receive a $10,000 achievement grant.