ACES
The ACES system is maintained by KFL&A Public Health and is funded by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. ACES is a real-time syndromic surveillance system with temporal and spatial capabilities that enables public health to be better informed on the health of the community. Which in turn can improve public health protection and prevention initiatives. The system also allows hospitals to monitor emergency department (ED) volume, admissions, and surge capacity to help prepare for high volumes of patients, particularly in the event of a flu pandemic. The goals of the system are to monitor changes and trends in the incidence of endemic disease and to detect new or emerging public health threats. ACES’ syndromic surveillance capabilities are useful in a variety of situations, including:
- Acting as an early warning system for emerging pathogens
- Routine monitoring of respiratory and gastrointestinal illness
- Public health emergencies, such as extreme weather events
- Mass gatherings
The flexibility, adaptability, monitoring, and analysis capabilities of ACES enhance situation awareness for a variety of common, emerging, or unexpected public health issues.
Community Hubs
Community hubs provide a central access point for a range of needed health and social services, along with cultural, recreational, and green spaces to nourish community life. A community hub can do a school, a neighbourhood centre, an early learning centre, a library, an elderly persons center, a community health centre, an old government building, a place of worship or another public space. Whether virtual or located in a high-density urban neighbourhood or an isolated rural community, each hub is as unique as the community it serves and is defined by local needs, services and resources.
PHIMS
The PHIMS tool uses GIS technology to enhance real-time situational awareness and assist with evidence informed decision-making to help protect the health of the population. PHIMS aims to enable visualization and spatial analysis of environmental data with underlying population based indicators. PHIMS consists of layers of environmental information across Ontario where users can view maps demonstrating environmental or demographic data as they apply to specific geographic areas. This is useful for observing where environmental events are occurring, detecting potential emergency situations, and identifying areas with vulnerable populations. By displaying available real-time data from multiple partners through the PHIMS system, public health events can be identified earlier to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.
SHIIP
Health Links, and primary care as a whole, require comprehensive data analysis to effectively support patients and providers. SHIIP is a portal-based technology solution that enhances individual patient care while providing real-time feedback and summarized data to help plan care. The primary objective of SHIIP is to develop an Integrated Portal with core functionalities that will facilitate the sharing of information and enable person-centred care coordination. SHIIP aims to assists Health Links success by providing consistent maintenance and sharing of patient records, timely communication and collaboration between the patient’s multiple health care providers, and by removing physical barriers to care through the virtualization of care processes. SHIIP is designed to identify and assist in the delivery of care for complex/high needs patients, and will facilitate reporting, performance monitoring and quality improvement efforts. Some of the anticipated benefits of SHIIP include: enhanced patient experience, reduced workflow duplication, improved access to information at point of care, more efficient clinical documentation, and improved health outcomes for complex patients. Ultimately, SHIIP helps improve access and quality of healthcare.