February 2011 Horizon Health Network Board Corporate Summary

Horizon Health Network’s Population Health Promotion – Chronic Disease Management strategy

Horizon Health Network recently formed a Population Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Management Department to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities and to contribute to the sustainability of our provincial health-care system. The department’s mandate is to provide leadership to Horizon Health Network in the development and implementation of regional strategies for population health promotion and chronic disease management. The strategies, being developed in collaboration with key internal and external partners, will reduce health inequities among population groups; enable people to take control over and improve their health; provide individuals who have a chronic disease with resources and skills required to properly manage their illness; provide support to health-care professionals to incorporate the concepts of population health promotion and chronic disease management into their daily work; and focus on collaboration with traditional and non-traditional stakeholders to address the determinants of health.

New enhanced Cardiac Diagnostic Department at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital

The Chalmers Regional Hospital Foundation, along with community partners, recently completed a two-year fundraising campaign to raise $874,000 for the construction of a new enhanced Cardiac Diagnostic Department at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital. The department’s new 3,000 sq foot space will offer patient care in one integrated, central location that includes the medical team, equipment and critical cardiac diagnostics. The renovation will provide increased patient privacy and comfort with the construction of a private waiting area. The campaign also includes new equipment and computer software that will increase Horizon’s ability to offer patients the most advanced cardiac diagnostic services. Construction of the new department is scheduled to begin this spring and completion is anticipated this fall.

Patients waiting for an alternate setting of care update

The number of patients waiting for an alternate setting of care, such as a nursing home, increased by one per cent in the last month within regional hospitals across Horizon Health Network. As of February 2, 29 per cent of acute care beds located in regional hospitals were occupied by patients waiting for an alternate setting of care. These patients no longer require acute care services of a hospital but are unable to return home due to their health-care requirements. This represents an average of 340 patients in regional hospitals and an average of 46 patients in community hospitals. Horizon is continuing to work collaboratively with the Department of Health, the Department of Social Development and Vitalité Health Network to develop solutions to this issue.

Physician recruitment update
During the last month, six new physicians joined Horizon Health Network’s medical staff. An internal medicine specialist joined the team in Saint John and Moncton welcomed a pediatrician and a pediatric dental surgeon. Fredericton welcomed one family physician and a respirologist to their team and an orthopedic surgeon joined the
group in Miramichi. Horizon Health Network is actively recruiting for positions in the area of family medicine and medical specialties.

Horizon Health Network is the largest health-care organization in Atlantic Canada, operating 12 hospitals and more than 100 medical facilities, clinics and offices providing medical services ranging from acute care to community based health services to New Brunswick, northern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. With 1000 physicians, an annual budget exceeding $1 billion and 14,000 employees, Horizon Health Network’s strategic vision focuses on research, innovation and education.