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CorHealth Ontario Continues to Support Cardiac, Stroke and Vascular Care

COVID-19 Resource Centre Now Available

DATE PUBLISHED: MARCH 25, 2020

CorHealth Ontario (CorHealth) continues to support our cardiac, stroke, and vascular stakeholders as we all navigate through the quickly evolving novel coronavirus situation. Acknowledging the ever-increasing burden on our healthcare system, CorHealth is working to provide access to information and reduce duplicate conversations at the provincial level so our hospital colleagues can focus on patient care.

Understanding the multitude of decisions being made locally, provincially, and federally, I wanted to highlight some of the activities we are undertaking to support the cardiac, stroke, and vascular fields:

• CorHealth COVID-19 Stakeholder Forums: CorHealth is hosting a number of COVID-19 Stakeholder Forums for cardiac, heart failure, stroke, and vascular stakeholders to discuss emerging patient care issues that would benefit from input/planning at a provincial level. We really appreciate Dr. Madhu Natarajan, Dr. Heather Ross, Dr. Leanne Casaubon, Dr. Sudhir Nagpal, and Dr. Tom Forbes for taking on the role as Chair for these various Forums. The Forums were launched in response to interest by clinical and administrative leaders to engage in developing consistent provincial plans for patient care decisions, based on evidence and consensus on best practice today.
• CorHealth Guidance Documents: As a result of the Forums, smaller groups were formed to develop provincial guidance documents on issues raised during the Forum discussions. We will be sending out the following memos this week:
  • Recommendations for an Ontario Approach to Managing Cardiac Electrophysiology During COVID-19
  • Provision of Hospital Echocardiography Services During COVID-19
• COVID-19 Resource Centre: A COVID-19 Resource Centre is now available on the CorHealth website to centrally share the most recent updates and relevant resources and increase access to local and provincial information. Stakeholders will be able to access Ministry of Health (MOH) memos, local pandemic planning initiative documents, relevant documents from other jurisdictions, and CorHealth guidance documents developed by members of the Stakeholder Forums as they are available, and updates to the Resource Centre will be made regularly. The COVID-19 Resource Centre is available here.

CorHealth’s priority is to ensure minimal disruption and continues to focus on business priorities while actively engaging with the Ministry of Health. Understanding the unpredictability of the current landscape, CorHealth will continue to inform stakeholders as new updates become available.

I would like to thank you and all the front-line health care workers for the tireless and selfless work during this exceptional time. For any questions, please contact Graham Woodward, SVP, at graham.woodward@corhealthontario.ca or Cathy Cattaruzza, VP, at cathy.cattaruzza@corhealthontario.ca.