Connect all parts of healthcare, especially primary care. Communicate well, early, often, and across the board: provider to patient/family, provider to provider; place to place. Include patients and family in decisions that affect their lives. Don’t let people facing barriers fall behind.

That’s the essential advice that emerged from a province-wide engagement that The Change Foundation undertook late last year with seniors with chronic health conditions and their informal caregivers. You can learn more in a new report from The Change Foundation: Loud and Clear: Seniors and caregivers speak out about navigating Ontario’s healthcare system, (microsite & PDF) which CEO Cathy Fooks introduces via a short video.

“From the stories and experiences of seniors and caregivers navigating across Ontario’s healthcare system emerges an understanding about what adds value, what needs fixing, and what’s missing. They have given us rich and instructive stories that point to the big and little things we need to tackle (starting with primary care’s disconnection to the rest of the system), not just for seniors with chronic health conditions, but for all,” says Cathy Fooks, CEO of The Change Foundation.

Key sections:

• CEO Message
• Executive Summary
• Why?
• Who and how?
• What we heard?
• Next steps?

Final word to one Ontario caregiver:
Linda Whetung, a caregiver from Peterborough who participated in the regional engagement session, said she’s heartened by the Foundation’s work and focus: “Over my ten years of providing care to my parents and parents-in-law, no one ever asked me (or them) how things were going. I would estimate that two-thirds of the time I spent caring for my ill parents has been more about advocating and recordkeeping, than just being a loving and caring daughter. My only hope is that the recommendations from this Foundation are used by healthcare providers to improve and organize the management of care of the elderly.”

Loud and Clear:
microsite, PDF, video
(see related news item)