‘We weren’t abandoned’ — Windsor hospital program moves care into patients’ homes

Chuck Davis was overwhelmed.

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His 82-year-old wife, Doris, was home from hospital after a series of devastating falls last year, but she still needed more help than he could handle.

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The stress, the physical toll, the weight of letting down his high school sweetheart after 62 years of marriage — the thought of it all makes tears well up in his eyes.

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His saviours were a group of health care professionals who appeared at his doorstop through a new Windsor Regional Hospital program called Hospital to Home (H2H).

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They took the load off Davis, continued Doris’ care and rehab, and helped make their home safer. And they even took their shoes off.

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“It just made me feel like we weren’t abandoned,” Davis, 82, said Tuesday at Windsor Regional Hospital.

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“Anything she needed, she got. They helped her and they understood what her problems were, and they paid a lot of attention. They were so nice. They came in, they took their shoes off. They were very attentive, and actually friends. They were so welcome.”

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H2H is a partnership between Windsor Regional Hospital and SE Health, a not-for-profit home and community health care provider. The provincially funded program began in October, but the organizations made the official announcement on Tuesday.

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The goal of H2H, which is also launching at other Ontario hospitals, is to expand access to at-home care for patients who no longer need acute care in a hospital. Officials hope the program will reduce avoidable hospital readmissions and emergency department visits.

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MPP Andrew Dowie (PC — Windsor-Tecumseh) said the province is spending $2 million on the program at Windsor Regional Hospital. Funding comes from $1.1-billion that the government previously pledged provincewide over three years for home and community care.

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Eligible patients, who are referred by their in-patient unit or the emergency department, receive up to 16 weeks of “wrap around” services. That can include continuing care at home from nurses, personal support workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, social workers, and dietitians.

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“We need to make sure that patients continue to receive the quality care they need after they leave the hospital,” said Dowie. “There’s certainly no surplus of beds. We need to ensure that everyone is taken care of, and that means having more care at home.”

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Hospital president and CEO Karen Riddell said there’s a twin concern of ensuring the hospital has enough beds — especially during high volume periods like the current respiratory virus season — and making sure discharged patients are still cared for.