Abstract
Introduction: Approved in 2020, the Algoma Ontario Health Team (OHT) has been working towards integrating care for specific target populations. Given the prevalence of older adults in Algoma, foundational work on integrating care is focused on frail older adults.
The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted older adults through the negative clinical outcomes and protective precautions to prevent virus contraction. Community consultations with clinicians, older adults and their caregivers elicited the impact of the pandemic on this population.
Aims, Objectives, Theory or Methods: The impacts of the pandemic, combined with historical funding and services inequities within Algoma, precipitated the development of a post-COVID recovery plan. The Algoma OHT Healthy Aging advisory team (the team) developed a comprehensive plan to identify and reduce service gaps caused by the pandemic. The purpose of the plan is to create an integrated care strategy for older adults and their caregivers that incorporates best practice standards within the context of local capacity and system development.
The ‘Algoma Post-COVID 19 Recovery Plan for Older Adults and their Caregivers’ is informed by evidence and standards from the North East Specialized Geriatric Centre (NESGC) and Provincial Geriatrics Leadership Ontario (PGLO), including the ‘Design Elements for Integrated Care for Older Adults with Complex Health Concerns’. Using these design elements, the team created recommendations to address identified service gaps and help to advance integrated care within Algoma.
Highlights, Results, or Key Findings: Recovery Plan recommendations were developed using best practice guidelines, opportunities to spread successful programs, and innovative approaches to care. The team engaged local health leaders, regional and provincial geriatric specialists, and older adults and caregivers to inform and refine the recommendations. Consulted stakeholders confirmed the focus on high impact design elements for integrated care, and older adults and caregivers validated that the recommendations were reflective of both the current impacts of the pandemic and anticipated future health service needs.
The recovery plan has served as a foundational element in developing programs and projects including patient experience qualitative research, funding applications, and program development. It created a tangible means by which various organizations, leaders and providers came together to formulate a shared strategy.
Conclusion: The case study will review the recovery plan development, how both provincial and regional specialized geriatric resources informed the recommendations and development of projects, methods to engage the community, and how the plan has informed an intentional streamlining of work to improve care for older adults in Algoma.
Implications: The process of developing the recommendations and building the plan alongside the health leaders and patients are foundational elements of engaging the community. The limitations of the report is the short timelines and COIVD restrictions limited the ways in which we could interact with older adults and their caregivers. Overall, the approach taken with the post-COVID recovery plan in Algoma is a straightforward process that can be easily replicated.