Transforming the Dryden Area Health Care System

Posted by John Borst 
on May 17, 2016
 
Guest speakers for May 11th were Kim Vares and Chuck Schmitt from the Dryden Regional Health Centre (DRHC) who spoke on Transforming the Local Health Care System and the issue of raising funds for capital improvements.
 
Dryden has been chosen as one of the communities in the northwest to be early adopters of the advancing health system transformation. The plan is to transform the health care system into one that puts the client at its centre.
 
Issues of concern in the northwest are:
  • higher rates of drinking, smoking and diabetes ,
  • higher proportion of people without regular access to primary health care,
  • 147% more spending on mental health care per capita, and
  • difficulty accessing specialty resources for patients
Along with 9 partners, the Integrated Health Care Organization aims to:
  • deliver better health care outcomes
  • improved patient/client/consumer outcomes through decreased duplication of services and minimized gaps in service,
  • improved transitions in care for patients,
  • optimized management of chronic diseases,
  • improved integration across the health care system and
  • decreased variance in practices across the region in relation to provincial standards
 
Chuck Schmitt gave us a background on the hospital’s fundraising efforts including the request for a special levy from each citizen in the area to be added to municipal taxes to provide the DRHC with funds for capital improvements.