Assuring a place for the marginalized through LHINS
Friday, April 29, 2005 – John Driscoll
The homeless often slip through the cracks in the provincial health system, says Brenda Sedgwick of Heritage Nursing Home in Toronto.

Brenda believes a truly integrated health care system, as envisioned by the emergence of Local Heath Integration Networks (LHINS) across the province, can close some of those cracks.

“I personally believe integration is the answer,” says Brenda, nursing information services manager at the Heritage “The gaps can be covered and fewer people will slip through the cracks.”

Communication is central to the success of an integrated health system, Brenda says. Heritage is hosting a Homeless Health Awareness and Education Day, today.

In collaboration with the Heritage, the Psychogeriatric Resource Consultation Program and other community health and housing partners, Jan Kaspurski, executive director of the Ontario College of Family Physicians will present health service integration awards.

“The health integration award presentations are part of awareness building about promising practices, gaps in capacity for service integration and the Central Toronto LHIN,” Brenda explains.

The awards are being presented to nine partnership initiatives benefiting vulnerable populations. Each of the award recipients will speak at the event.

The recipients include two doctors at Heritage, Ruth Goldman and Gao Chang, for making the commitment to provide care to a high percentage of homeless, housing insecure and low-income residents since the home opened 32 years ago.

The Heritage is a 201-bed facility, including a psychogeriatric ward. The home is located close to Regent Park in a neighbourhood that traditionally has been a low-income area. There are about 6,000 homeless people in Toronto with about 600 of them senior citizens, studies show, Brenda says.

Many of those seniors are people who have experienced employment disruption, affecting CPP payments for years, Brenda says. With many seniors, their conditions are aggravated by mental health and addiction problems. Some sleep on the street and have difficulty accessing the health care system, she says.

The development of 14 LHINs throughout the province will include efforts to assure equitable access to primary health care by homeless people, she says.

LHINS development involved community workshops, with each LHIN identifying 10 regional key priorities for immediate action, she explains. In all 10 priority areas for the Toronto LHIN, marginal people were included, she said.

“We need to keep that message out there about access for marginal people,” Brenda says. “As the LHINS model begins, I believe our concerns are being listened to. It is important to maintain the momentum.”