Champlain CCAC launches home care innovation centre

OTTAWA – The Champlain Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) is launching a new Innovation Centre that will help more people stay at home longer, better support caregivers, and improve access to home healthcare technologies.

The Champlain CCAC will work with healthcare technology developers and vendors to test, evaluate and recommend new technologies with patients and caregivers in real-life situations through its new Impact Centre: Innovation eMpowering Patients And Caregivers through Technology. The test facility will simulate a typical apartment with a kitchen, bathroom and living area.

“This is a very exciting direction for the home and community care sector as we embrace new approaches to care delivery and design,” explains Champlain CCAC CEO Marc Sougavinski. “Our goal is to better understand what solutions have the most potential to help patients and caregivers – and then bring these high-impact solutions to market faster through innovative procurement practices.”

Nadine Henningsen (pictured), CEO, Canadian Home Care Association and member of the IMPACT Steering Committee, notes growing research on the value of home healthcare technologies: “Technology-enabled home care is the key to helping more people live with dignity in their own homes for as long as possible while also driving efficiencies in the system.”

There are hundreds of solutions on the market. Solutions run the gamut from medication reminder technologies to remote monitoring and social networking applications. With so many technologies available in a rapidly changing environment, there is a need to pilot and evaluate solutions with direct input from real users.

With some of the highest rates of dementia in the province and a growing number of seniors, the Champlain CCAC sees an important opportunity to better support seniors and their caregivers through technology-enabled home care solutions.

Russ Morton, a devoted caregiver to his 88-year-old mother Esther, is a member of the IMPACT Steering Committee. Mr. Morton, a former banker who also cared for his father until he passed away, says caregivers are ready to embrace technology.

“It’s exciting to be directly part of the innovation journey underway in home care. We have an important opportunity to adopt innovative technologies that engage patients and caregivers in managing their health needs in the comfort of their own homes,” says Mr. Morton.

About the Champlain CCAC
The Champlain Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) is one of the largest health service providers in eastern Ontario, connecting 59,000+ people to care in a region covering over 18,000 sq. km. Every year, the Champlain CCAC supports patients in a variety of settings through injury, illness and the complications of age or disability by facilitating their access to information, community-based services and other resources.