In Canada, 30 to 50 per cent of all health care involves a wound.
With the pandemic, older, comorbid patients at the highest risk for wounds are also at the greatest risk of COVID-19 complications. While public health measures have helped to limit the spread of the virus, many wound patients can experience greater difficulty accessing the wound care they need.
With impeded or delayed access to wound care, these patients are 20 times more likely to end up in hospital – at a time when preserving hospital capacity is vital.
To help ensure continuity and accessibility of care for wound patients in the home and community, a consortium of leading Canadian organizations has come together to launch Telewound Care Canada, a virtual care initiative designed to help patients connect with their care teams while reducing unnecessary travel and in-person care.
Funded by a $2.5 million strategic investment from the Digital Technology Supercluster, Telewound Care Canada aims to implement, evaluate and scale integrated, virtually-enabled models of wound care that will impact over one thousand wound patients in Ontario and Quebec by Summer 2021.
By deploying Swift Medical’s AI-powered mobile application, patients will be able to easily capture and share scientifically-calibrated, high-precision wound images with their care team from the safety and comfort of their homes, empowering interdisciplinary care teams to better monitor, communicate and care for their patients.
“With an incredible Canadian consortium, we will be able to truly transform the way wound care is delivered across the country,” says Carlo Perez, CEO at Swift Medical. “Together, we will create a framework to help providers deliver the next generation of wound care.”
“While COVID-19 continues to challenge how we provide health care to Canadians, our Supercluster community is deploying digital solutions to deliver safe, effective care for particularly vulnerable Canadians. This initiative is yet another example of how our community has contributed to Team Canada’s efforts to fight COVID-19,” says Sue Paish, CEO of the Digital Technology Supercluster.
By the summer, Telewound Care Canada will impact over one thousand wound patients across Ontario and Quebec, with patients already experiencing benefits from using the solution, including one patient who says: “The Swift application has been very beneficial for us in several ways. For starters, it is very easy to use and has prevented unnecessary travel (to the hospital) and travel expenses. It has also enabled us to maintain quick and direct contact
with our physician.”
As the initiative expands, Telewound Care Canada intends to scale further across North America to help provide accessible, empathic care to all wound patients, throughout and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Digital Technology Supercluster solves some of industry’s and society’s biggest problems through Canadian-made technologies. We bring together private and public sector organizations of all sizes to address challenges facing Canada’s economic sectors including healthcare, natural resources, manufacturing, and transportation. Through this ‘collaborative innovation,’ the Supercluster helps to drive solutions better than any
single organization could on its own.
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