Baycrest

BrainMatters • Fall/Winter 2021 • 23 Digital Medical Health's IT specialists work with older adults in the community in the Connected Seniors program. "At this critical time, our Digital Health team, with the support of Baycrest's generous community of funders, stepped in to provide much needed support to vulnerable and marginalized older adults living in the community." Some of the ways the new department is helping seniors include offering an array of services, including remote phone-in support, access to COVID-19 vaccinations and online booking systems, in-person tech support and education, access to digital devices, remote care monitoring for COVID-19 patients, translation services and digital literacy education customized for older adults. According to Iancovitz, social connection is required for communities to be resilient to crises such as the pandemic. COVID-19 has also worsened social isolation and created a "digital divide" between those who are proficient with technology and those who are less so. Many older adults fall into the latter group. "Our immediate goal is to address this gap by reaching out to seniors in the community and offering them support so they can acquire the tech skills they need to digitally access basic resources and healthcare services," she says. "Our longer term goals include overseeing the rise of digital communities of seniors and their caregivers who have adapted to technology and are comfortable accessing services via digital platforms, thereby remotely monitoring their health and wellness. Additionally, they can share needed information with healthcare providers through online platforms while aging in place. Ultimately, our program will adopt a train-the-trainer model to ensure knowledge translation continues and to maintain the many positive outcomes that remote care monitoring and digital literacy afford." Clinical Digital Health Programs and Services in the Community Connected Seniors Provides senior-friendly and customized digital literacy training/education (via in-person tech support) and virtual exercise and social recreational programs to 600 seniors living in three Toronto Community Housing units. Remote Monitoring Expansion of Remote Patient Monitoring now includes a COVID-19 support group for patients experiencing lingering post-acute COVID-19 symptoms. MyChart Development, Expansion and Adoption In partnership with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, MyChart is the backbone software of the Clinical Digital Health platform. It has recently expanded to include a mobile app feature with customizable remote monitoring capabilities. North York CARES In partnership with VHA Home Healthcare, the Digital Health team continues to support the North York Community Access to Resources Enabling Support (CARES) program, which enables older adults to age in place via access to in-person and digital services. Connected Communities A partnership with the Canadian Red Cross to assess the health and social needs of older adults in the GTA.

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