Infonaut recently won a Request for Proposals to map the South East Community Care Access Centre’s (SE CCAC) patient flow process for clients requiring long-term care home placements from area hospitals or community settings.

“Patient flow” is the efficient, effective, and appropriate movement of patients, clients, and residents across sectors within the healthcare system.

The CCACs role is to provide access to government-funded home and community services, and long-term care homes. The SE CCAC is one of 14 in Ontario working together with community partners to enhance access and coordination for people across the province.

Given the consolidation of 3 Community Care Access Centres (CCAC) in the South East area, patient flow is an issue of critical importance for the CCAC. Addressing the Alternate Level of Care (ALC) is not just about waiting for a long-term care bed—it is a “whole system” issue that requires partnerships and planning across all care areas.

To this end, we are pleased that we can provide the SE CCAC with a framework and approach to eliminate duplication and waste byy creating a standardized process in delivering the CCAC’s core business.

For more information on the South East CCAC, please visit their website by clicking here.

For more information on Infonaut’s products and services, please contact us at info@infonaut.ca.

Infonaut and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health (KFLA PH) were recently awarded significant funding by GeoConnections for the creation of a Geospatial Decision Support – Syndromic Surveillance system.

“Syndromic surveillance” applies to surveillance using health-related data that precede diagnosis and signal a sufficient probability of a case or an outbreak to warrant further public health response.

This system will use real-time, anonymized respiratory and gastrointestinal data gathered from at least 7 area hospitals to aid in the prompt detection of related diseases in an effort to improve the sharing of information and enhance communication between the community, professional end-users and decision makers.

The objective is to better inform public health, researchers and the community on the prompt detection of respiratory and gastrointestinal related diseases to limit the spread of disease, reduce the impact on hospital emergency departments, save lives among at risk populations (children and elderly), and to better understand the spread of disease.

GeoConnnections recognized and awarded the partnership for their unique investigative GIS concept in aiding real-time detection and assessment of disease outbreaks.

While most public health departments do not incorporate spatial information into disease surveillance, there is a growing body of knowledge that indicates such data can be a useful tool in tracking the spread of certain diseases.

The prompt detection of respiratory and gastrointestinal related diseases are of particular importance due to the rapid transmission and potential burden such illnesses have on the community.

In particular, the threat of a pandemic necessitates the early spatial detection of an outbreak for appropriate public health action in order to save lives.

For more information on KFLA Public Health, please visit their website at http://www.healthunit.on.ca.

For more information on Infonaut’s products and services, please contact us at info@infonaut.ca.

The Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Public Health Association will jointly host the CPHA’s 98th Annual Conference with Canada’s first Public Health Geomatics Conference, of which Infonaut will be in attendance.

The Public Health Geomatics conference will have two streams – Advancing Public Health Practice through GIS, and GIS Applications to Public Health Research. Themed “From Politics to the People,” the conference will be held at The Westin Ottawa/Ottawa Congress Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, from September 16-19, 2007.

From the Naylor Report to today, public health system renewal has been taking place at the federal, provincial and local level. But much more must be done and governments need input and direction from Canadians and public health experts to ensure that they build the best system for Canada.

CPHA and its partner organizations are committed to hosting a conference that will highlight the importance of public and population health in Canada. This conference will be an excellent opportunity for public health professionals to share their programs, research, policy and practice and will give everyone an opportunity to emphasize the intra-jurisdictional nature of public health.

More information on the conference can be found at: www.conference.cpha.ca.

For more information on Infonaut’s products and services, please contact us at info@infonaut.ca.