Mississauga Halton LHIN's SDL program receives 3M National Award for Health Care Quality

Jun 23 2011

The Mississauga Halton Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is proud to announce that it is the single systems-level recipient of the prestigious 3M National Award for Health Care Quality at the National Conference of Canadian Health Care Leaders, on June 7^th 2011. Beating-out many other innovative and impactful programs, Mississauga Halton LHIN's Supports for Daily Living program was the recipient in the non-acute category.  Graeme Goebelle, Chair of Mississauga Halton LHIN noted that this is a monumental achievement, not only for the many seniors, clients and families who have been touched by this program, but for local health care decision making in Ontario.

Supports for Daily Living (SDL) is an innovative regional service delivery model that targets high-needs seniors who want to, and are able to, continue living in their own homes with access to supports over a 24-hour period.  SDL bridges the gap between scheduled home care visits and long-term care.  This pioneering initiative has had proven success in reducing hospital stays for seniors, reducing unnecessary  ER visits and in developing alternatives in the community to avoid long-term care home placement for seniors who do not need this level of care.  The SDL program addresses the issue raised by Dr. Ben Chan, of Health Quality Ontario in an article by Rob Ferguson (Toronto Star June 2^nd) on the problem of nursing home waits in Ontario. Dr Chan stated "that 22 per cent of people in nursing home beds don't really need to be there because they are not in "high need" and could be more efficiently cared for elsewhere." SDL has reduced the demand for nursing home beds by 443 clients over the past two years.