November 16, 2005 Stroke Conference
First, let me say a big “Thank You” to all participants who attended from every health region in Saskatchewan except two of the far northern ones.
Evaluations were very positive regarding process and content for the day. Many of you expressed appreciation for the opportunity to join with others who share your concern about the need for enhancing stroke care in Saskatchewan.
Summary of “Open Mic”, Evaluation and Question Period Comments
Themes:
Communication – between health regions and between healthcare providers and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. In response, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan has committed to the creation of a web-based resource, on our provincial website, which will allow for communication between the Foundation and stroke stakeholders throughout the province. This resource will be designed for the purpose of keeping everyone in touch with what is happening, both from the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s perspective and the health region and healthcare professionals’ perspective. The successful creation and implementation of an integrated stroke strategy for Saskatchewan depends upon your input and support at every step of the way. We hope to have this up and running within the next few weeks.
Professional Development Needs - of healthcare providers across the continuum of stroke prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and community re-integration. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario has made available their professional development workshop series on “Best Practice In Stroke” and the Canadian Stroke Strategy has a workgroup focused on updating “best practice” information as it emerges from the research. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan will work with health regions and healthcare providers to disseminate this information in a timely fashion. Telehealth opportunities for professional development will be utilized to the fullest extent possible.
Inclusion of Aboriginal Communities in Health Region Stroke Care Planning – a number of conference participants expressed concern that, because aboriginal communities and surrounding health regions received healthcare from two different administrative entities, stroke prevention and care needs of citizens of the aboriginal communities might be over-looked. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan shares this concern and has initiated dialogue with aboriginal healthcare providers across Saskatchewan re: stroke and heart disease in the broader sense. Furthermore, we have specifically endeavoured to have Stroke Strategy Steering Committee members who can advise us on how to ensure these issues are addressed in the development of a provincial integrated stroke strategy.
Lack of Services and Distance to Care – these are issues of concern for both northern and rural residents of Saskatchewan. The development of a tailor-made integrated stroke strategy for Saskatchewan will address the opportunities and gaps that presently exist throughout our province across the continuum of stroke prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. As the Expert Working Groups are developed by the Integrated Stroke Strategy Steering Committee, they will be looking for input from health regions and health professionals in each area of expertise re: ”challenges and opportunities” that must be addressed in order to achieve a truly comprehensive and integrated stroke strategy in practice.
Staffing Issues
The development of an integrated stroke strategy will include recommendations regarding the health human resource component to effectively deliver “ best practice” in stroke across the continuum.
Need For More Engagement by Senior Health Region Administrators – the Heart and Stroke Foundation recognized this need and issued personalized invitations to the November stroke conference to every senior healthcare manager and health region board member in Saskatchewan who could be identified. Unfortunately, very few of those individuals attended the conference. The challenge remains for the Steering Committee, through the Working Groups, to engage those individuals in the development and implementation of an integrated stroke strategy for Saskatchewan and for each of you to continue to champion an Integrated Stroke Strategy for Saskatchewan with your managers, senior leaders and board members. Never under-estimate the power of one committed person to stimulate change - and a group of committed people are unstoppable!!
In their summary remarks to the conference participants, guest speakers, Chris O’Callaghan and Debra Lynkowski, from the Ontario Stroke System and Canadian Stroke Strategy respectively, acknowledged that there are already pockets of excellence in stroke care in each aspect of an integrated system, in various locations in Saskatchewan. The challenge for us now is to ensure that each of those are played out in every health region in an integrated provincial system.
Next Steps
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan - New Staffing for Stroke Strategy
As of January, 2006, HSFS has committed a half-time Health Promotion Coordinator to work with the Director of Health Promotion and the Saskatchewan Integrated Stroke Strategy Steering Committee to advance the development of a stroke strategy in Saskatchewan. Selene Daniel-Whyte has been with the Foundation, in the capacity of Health Promotion Coordinator in the areas of Primary and Secondary prevention since 2001. With the immense variety of experience she has gained and the health region contacts she has made around the province, she will make a valuable contribution to our developmental work.
Canadian Stroke Strategy
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan continues to receive support for the developmental work we are doing in our province in the areas of best practice, evaluation and economic modelling( allows for the input of provincial stroke data and the generation of a cost/benefit analysis, both human and financial, of providing integrated stroke care provincially).
Saskatchewan Integrated Stroke Strategy Steering Committee
The Steering Committee will meet for an all-day strategic planning session on February 10, 2006 to set the course for the development of our made-in-Saskatchewan recommendations for an integrated stroke strategy that acknowledges the unique needs and circumstances in our province. Working groups will be struck and stroke stakeholders from around the province will be involved, in a variety of ways, in supporting this developmental work.