Ontario Announces New Ontario Health Team in Windsor-Essex

TORONTO — As part of the Ontario government’s plan to end hallway health care and build an integrated health care system centered on the needs of patients, the province is partnering with Ontario Health to create a new Ontario Health Team in Windsor-Essex. The province will also provide up to $1.1 million to help the Windsor Essex Ontario Health Team to seamlessly integrate health care services for patients and support the region’s continued response to COVID-19.

“An Ontario Health Team serving Windsor-Essex is another big step forward in ensuring patients can seamlessly access the health care services they need,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Throughout the pandemic, Ontario Health Teams have been an essential part of the province’s COVID-19 response, and the Windsor Essex Ontario Health Team will continue to support the health and safety of local residents during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the future.”

Working together, the Windsor Essex Ontario Health Team will break down barriers in patients’ health care journeys to ensure they receive better and faster care that meet their unique needs. Patients will experience easier transitions from one provider to another with one patient record and one care plan being shared between their health care providers for a continuous patient story. The new team will also support the unique needs of underserved communities through the High Priority Communities Strategy, ensuring residents of these communities have equitable, culturally appropriate and safe access to preventative care, chronic disease management, and mental health and addictions services.

“The approval of our OHT is a strong endorsement for the tremendous teamwork and collaboration already underway,” said Claudia den Boer and Bruce Krauter, Co-Chairs, Windsor Essex OHT Steering Committee. “It will be serving our temporary foreign worker community, those living in high risk vulnerable communities such as shelters or those struggling with mental health, substance use challenges and other advancing chronic conditions like COPD. We look forward to building on these successes and improving the integration of care focused on the wellbeing of the Windsor Essex community.”

Ontario Health Teams are part of a new approach that brings together health care providers as one collaborative team to better coordinate care and share resources, and have been able to quickly and effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new Windsor Essex Ontario Health Team is composed of over 45 local health care programs and service providers, including hospitals, primary care and community support providers, mental health and addictions agencies, long-term care and other social service providers. With the addition of this new team, the province will have a total of 51 Ontario Health Teams, which cover 95 per cent of the province’s population.

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