Hospital at Home acute care program comes to Vancouver

A programthat provides some patients acute-level care in their own homeis now up and running at four Vancouver hospitals: Vancouver General, St. Paul's,Mount St. Joseph and the University of B.C. hospital.

Hospital At Homestarted rolling out in January of this year in other parts of B.C., including Vancouver Island and the north.

The project, launched in the Vancouver Coastal Healthregion on Friday, aims toconnectpatients with a team of doctors, nurses and pharmacies through a virtual call bell and phone number.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said the program serves a dual purpose.

"Giving patients the option to receive safe and individualized care in their own homes not only helps with the recovery of the patient, but it also benefits the health-care system," said Dix.

Patients need to meet certain criteria to qualify,such as living within the city of Vancouver.

The program isopen to patientswith certain diagnoses, including sepsis, pneumonia,chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and dehydration.

Daily visits to a patient's home are done by a multidisciplinary team, and health professionals are also available virtually.

Former Hospital at Home participant Ricardo Garcia was one of the first to usethe program, and spoke about it positively at a media event.

"Two nurses set me up at home with all the equipment Ineeded, including a tablet, a thermometer, a blood pressure cuff, plus a virtual call bell to get in touch with them if ever I needed it," he said.

"I was so happy that I was eligible. I wanted to be in my own bed, eat my own food and chill out on the couch. And I recovered."

In a statement, the Hospital Employees' Union said it supports the program. The HEU represents 60,000 health-care workers in the province.

"It's exciting to see this type of innovation in our publicly operated health-care system, which is in stark contrast to what is happening in other provinces in Canada," saidLynn Bueckert, the union's interim secretary and business manager.

Hospital at Home already is up and running in two other regions: Northern Health and Island Health.

Patients in the program will be transferred back to hospital if their condition changes, or if they choose to no longer participate.