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A long-term care home in Toronto is offering families direct access to their loved ones’ medical records 24 hours a day. It’s believed to be the first not-for-profit centre in the country to offer such a service.

"Technologically, we are way behind all other sectors," said Monica Klein-Nouri, executive director of the Meighen Health Centre, which is run by the Canadian Salvation Army. "I said, 'This is something that I want to be the first to do.'"

In March, the Isabel and Arthur Meighen Manor began offering access to Engage Plus, a Canadian-developed software program with an app that connects family members with residents' medical files.

About 140 of the 160 families are now connected, with surveys showing 84 per cent use the app regularly, reducing the need for time-consuming calls to staff about their loved ones' well-being.

"You feel comfortable and it's just a relief knowing that they're OK," said Teresa Korogyi. Her 90-year-old mother lives at the Manor.

Korogyi said that her family is notified when her mother's medical file is updated with new medications, vitals and notes from staff.

"I don't have to call them or I don't have to chase them for information about my mother. It's all there. It's at my fingertips," she said.

Introducing the novel software was a daunting step. Staff members were initially uncomfortable with the idea of open-access information.

"We are not used to freely sharing information," said Klein-Nouri.

Families typically have to rely on paper records on their loved ones' health, which are only accessible via requests and subject to lengthy processing times.

But with the app, "they can have direct access and we don't do that work. And our family members are kind of excited to have access in real-time to it," said Klein-Nouri.

Now, when nursing staff update a resident's chart, they update the link in the patient portal, sending family members a notification.

"Before, you would have to call and spend a lot of time because a family is not available," said Emma Odicta, a registered nurse at the Manor. Some families required repeated calls before they could be reached, and some families wanted updates every day.

The home says it pays about $2 a month per resident, and that early results suggest this new system is cutting about three hours a day off nursing shifts, time that then can be spent elsewhere.

"It's really nice, and now we can spend time with the resident," said Odicta.

Nouri-Klein says it has changed their workflow "completely."

Inspired by the pandemic

"The genesis of this idea was, 'Let's help the staff, let's cut the phone calls,'" said Varsha Chaugai, a biomedical engineer in Ottawa. She and her husband, Graham Fraser, heard about the strain on LTC staff as they tried to communicate with families by phone during the pandemic.

Chaugai says they were surprised to learn that while many Canadian hospitals have portals like "My Chart" that allow patients to see their medical records, there was nothing available for Canada's long-term care homes.

"All the information that we are showing is already being charted in their electronic medical record," she said. "The homes can choose what information they want to share: medications, blood sugar, physician notes (and) care plans."

The product made by their company, Evoke Health, was quickly successful in the U.S., and is now installed in some 20 homes, said Chaugai, adding it's used by about 4,000 families.

But Canada, she said, was a much harder sell.

The Salvation Army home was the first to get a demonstration, one attended by Frank Pickersgill, a member of the family council. After seeing the demo, the retired businessman said he pushed for its adoption at the Isabel and Arthur Meighen Manor.

"Communication was so sporadic and so hit and miss," said Pickersgill, whose wife, Maureen, lived there until she died this spring. While he wasn't tech-savvy, he says, he found the app easy to use and helpful.

And he saw alternate uses for the technology.

"Whether the TV was not working right, or the food not appropriate, it's such a simple and obvious way to get communication," said Pickersgill.

The fact that a not-for-profit home is the first to adopt the technology isn't a surprise to Vivian Stamatopoulous, a vocal advocate for quality care in long-term residences in Ontario and professor of social sciences at Ontario Tech University.

"You've got to wonder right if the lack of innovation in long-term care is part and parcel because of the ageism and the inability to properly fund and innovate in this sector," said Stamatopoulos, who said she thinks services like this should become standard.

"It's a win-win to have this kind of technology rolled out across the board."

Klein-Nouri says she is getting more calls asking about the service, and Chaugai said 51 care homes have contacted her to discuss her product.

For family member Korogyi, she only wishes the technology was available earlier.

"Look at how great this would have been during COVID-19, right? All those families stressed with everything that was going on, and they could have just clicked on and said, 'Mom, or Dad, are you OK?'" she said.