COVID-19 Health System Response Structure

To:          Health System Partners

From:    Matthew Anderson, President and CEO

Re           COVID-19 Health System Response Structure

Please see attached our Health System Response structure designed to meet the increasing demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key elements are being addressed by a province-wide health system oversight table with:

  • Patient and family advisors, led by Mary Beaucage
  • Data and analytics, led by Rachel Solomon of The Hospital for Sick Children
  • Supply chain, led by Mike Nader of Ontario Health
  • Critical care, led by Kevin Smith of the University Health Network (UHN) and Jennifer Gibson of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics
  • Communications, led by Gillian Howard of UHN
  • Human resources, led by Michelle DiEmanuele of Trillium Health Partners
  • Diagnostic capacity, led by David Hallett, who has just joined Ontario Health to lend his expertise in this area
  • Emergency care, led by Dr. Howard Ovens of Mount Sinai Hospital
  • System planning and implementations, led by Catherine Brown from Ontario Health

This structure enables the development of consistent provincial plans and actions that are nimble, relevant, and adaptable for Ontario’s different regions.

This work is also supported by our five existing COVID-19 Regional Steering Committees and led by our Transitional Regional Leads and a hospital CEO. These committees are advising and adapting plans and putting them into action at the local level with their local partners. They also provide a feedback loop for critical regional system intelligence that informs our health system oversight work and province-wide decision-making.

Finally, all of this is tightly coordinated through an Ontario Health Secretariat which is providing support for the entire structure, ensuring that decision-making and communications are timely and that priority actions are taken.

Matt

Ontario Health