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Emily Mackey

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News Release

Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team Welcomes New Executive Lead

LAMBTON COUNTY – The Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team (SL-OHT) is pleased to announce that Steve Pancino will be joining the SL-OHT as its Executive Lead beginning June 21, 2021.

Reporting to the SL-OHT Collaboration Council, the Executive Lead will develop and implement initiatives to advance integrated care and partnerships across the OHT. Pancino will work closely with partners using the philosophy “nothing about me, without me” to improve the healthcare journey for members of the Sarnia-Lambton community.

“I am very excited about this unique and challenging opportunity to build on the early success of the SL-OHT as we work together to build a seamless, fully-coordinated model of care for patients in the community,” said Pancino.

The Executive Lead will be integral in achieving the year-one population priorities of Transforming Care for Seniors Population (55+) and Advancing Transitional Age Youth Mental Health & Addictions Services.

Pancino brings over 20 years of experience in healthcare to this role, including years as a primary, advanced, and critical care paramedic delivering air ambulance services.

Most recently, Pancino worked as Manager of Lambton Emergency Medical Services (EMS) where he oversaw and led a number of projects such as the Community Paramedicine Program, and the introduction of a “Just Culture” quality assurance framework, and worked closely with key partners in the helipad project. His background will be integral to continuing to build partnership within the SL-OHT.

Please join us in welcoming Steve Pancino to his new role with the SL-OHT as he prepares to continue the work to ensure the Sarnia-Lambton community has exceptional care across the healthcare continuum.

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The Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team is a collaboration of 35 partners with a shared goal of improving the healthcare journey for members of the Sarnia-Lambton community. The Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team’s purpose is: Local partners innovating together for better health. For more information, visit sarnialambtonoht.ca.

News Release

Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team Receives Approval

LAMBTON COUNTY – Today, the Honourable Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, announced that Sarnia-Lambton has received approval to move forward as an Ontario Health Team (OHT).

OHTs are groups of healthcare providers and organizations that are clinically and fiscally accountable for delivering a full and coordinated continuum of care to a defined geographic population. OHTs are charged with providing a new way of organizing and delivering care that is more connected to patients in their local communities.

“Today’s announcement on the creation of the Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team (SL-OHT) is the beginning of an exciting journey to improve healthcare in Sarnia-Lambton,” says Mike Lapaine, President and CEO, Bluewater Health and SL-OHT application steering committee chair. “This is an important step towards improved quality, access, and care for patients across our region. All of our partners are committed to working collaboratively to provide seamless, patient-centric care in our community.”

The Sarnia-Lambton community faces a number of population health priorities that must be managed by the team. For the first year, the SL-OHT will focus on transforming care for seniors and advancing transitional age youth mental health and addiction services. Early intervention and increased community-based care are integral goals for both these populations.

The SL-OHT comprises over 35 partners across the care continuum, representing primary care, home care, public health, long-term care, mental health and addictions services, palliative and acute care. The SL-OHT will work together as one team to remove barriers for patients accessing health supports in Sarnia-Lambton, creating a coordinated approach to care that makes it easier for patients to access services, providing our population with increased quality care, and creating seamless transition between providers.

For more information, read the province’s media release and backgrounder and visit the Sarnia-Lambton OHT website.

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The Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team is a collaboration of 35 partners with a shared goal of improving the healthcare journey for members of the Sarnia-Lambton community. The Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team’s purpose is: Local partners innovating together for better health. For more information, visit sarnialambtonoht.ca.


MEDIA CONTACT

Julia Oosterman
Chief, Communications & Public Affairs
Bluewater Health
519-328-3136

News Release

Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team Submits Full Application

SARNIA & PETROLIA – September 18, 2020 – The Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team planning group is pleased to announce that their 35+ member group has submitted the full application to become an Ontario Health Team (OHT).
 
“Our team has a successful track record of community partnership and working together to find creative solutions that work here in Sarnia-Lambton: from how we mobilized as a community over COVID; to the Mobile Mental Health Engagement and Response Team (MHEART); to the innovative addiction services programs we’ve embarked on,” commented Mike Lapaine, President & CEO, Bluewater Health and Sarnia-Lambton OHT application steering committee chair. “Building on this history, we’ve developed a plan that will re-envision our local health system for the better, with a year-one focus on transforming care for seniors and advancing transitional age youth mental health and addiction services.”
 
Following the submission of the self-assessment in November 2019, the group continued to build momentum by meeting regularly to plan for the eventual submission of this full application. The working model of this OHT has been developed using a co-design process that brought stakeholders together to create a set of solutions that would benefit patients, families, care partners and our providers. This strengthened the group’s resolve to become an OHT and continued the efforts to work together to better meet the needs of the residents the partners collectively serve. The local experience during the pandemic further solidified a commitment to collaborative work across sectors. 
 
The proposed health team will work to remove silos and deliver more integrated healthcare across the community. More than 35 health and social services organizations serving Sarnia-Lambton, along with patients, families and caregivers with lived experience are actively engaged in the creation of the proposed OHT and will continue to be foundational members. One hundred per cent of the partners (representing 85+ individuals) who initially indicated their interest to participate, agreed and signed on to become members of the OHT.

The full application is available at www.bluewaterhealth.ca/sarnia-lambton-ontario-health-team. 

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Media Contact:

Julia Oosterman
Chief, Communications & Public Affairs
Bluewater Health
519-328-3136

News Release

Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team Selected to Move Forward

SARNIA & PETROLIA – July 23, 2020 – As a member of the Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team, Bluewater Health is pleased to mark the next step in our community’s journey to become an Ontario Health Team (OHT). On December 3, 2019, 35 local health partners submitted a Self-Assessment to the Government of Ontario for consideration. Today, our local collaborative was formally invited to move forward with the next step in becoming an Ontario Health Team. Ontario Health teams are cross-sector healthcare partners who work together to remove silos and deliver more integrated healthcare across the community.

The Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team (SL-OHT) comprises more than 35 health and social service organizations serving Sarnia-Lambton and surrounding communities. Patients, families and caregivers with lived experience are actively engaged in the creation of the Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team.

“We worked very hard as a community to innovate and imagine a new way of working together,” commented Mike Lapaine, President & CEO, Bluewater Health and the SL-OHT application steering committee chair “Locally we had a huge amount of input from every corner of the healthcare sector in preparing for today’s announcement. And, in fact, that teamwork and relationship building really set us up well for the pandemic. This experience has actually strengthened our future ability to operate as an OHT.”

Examples include:

  • Bluewater Health and Vision Nursing Home collaborated to eradicate Vision’s outbreak
  • Home and Community Care and community partners supported hospital operations in a unique and unprecedented way with the urgent and immediate ramp down of operations in March
  • Unprecedented communication and coordination among local primary care practitioners, the hospital and Lambton Public Health
  • Multiple assessment clinics were set up quickly due to pre-COVID relationships. This nimbleness and systems-thinking created an urban, rural and two Indigenous testing centres.

The Ontario government’s announcement will enable the Sarnia Lambton Ontario Health Team to move forward to continue to explore ways to offer better, more integrated care.

https://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2020/07/17-more-teams-invited-to-complete-full-application-to-become-an-ontario-health-team.html

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Media Contact:
Julia Oosterman
Chief, Communications & Public Affairs
Bluewater Health
519-328-3136