Live a better life with heart failure

The shortness of breath and fatigue that often come with congestive heart failure can make carrying out daily activities difficult. Telehomecare can help: it’s a six-month health coaching and remote monitoring program that supports people with heart failure. Free to patients in Ontario.

Virtual Care for Heart Failure | Telehomecare: Content

How Telehomecare Works

  • Customize your program: The monitoring and coaching is based on your unique condition and circumstances. You and your nurse will address your specific health challenges and work together to achieve your specific goals.
  • Receive your health kit: You will receive easy-to-use equipment to measure your blood pressure, the oxygen in your blood, and your weight daily, as well as a computer tablet. You will learn more about how your body works and what may be a good or poor influence on your condition.
  • Connect with your nurse: Your nurse will call regularly to see how you are and to talk about the progress you’re making toward your goals. Together you will discover opportunities to make, and maintain, simple changes to help improve your life.
  • Graduate from the program: After six months you will have the skills to manage your condition in the best way possible. Before you graduate, your nurse will ensure that you have the tools you need to keep living as healthy a life as possible and that you are connected to care close to your home to help you manage your condition.

The Benefits of Telehomecare

Spend less time travelling to appointments, being at the hospital, and having to go to the emergency room, have your condition monitored from home. Telehomecare meets your individual needs, focusing on your specific health considerations. Telehomecare helps make managing your condition as simple as possible.

If a change in your condition appears, your nurse will contact you to see what might be contributing to the problem and discuss how to keep you healthy. Information about how you’re doing will be shared with your family doctor. You will learn how to watch out for signs your condition may be worsening and know how to manage on your own.

Telehomecare patients report a high degree of satisfaction with the program and see a reduction of more than 50% in emergency room visits and hospital admissions, even six months after graduating from the program.

What Your Day Will Look Like

Every day, right after you wake up, you will track your vital signs using the simple, in-home monitoring equipment sent to you. Guided by the tablet, you will weigh yourself, use the blood pressure monitor, and check your blood oxygen using the pulse oximeter. Next you will answer some daily health questions. The information gets sent through the tablet to a registered nurse who monitors your numbers. If the nurse is concerned about any of the information they see, they will contact you.

Once a week, you will connect with your nurse by phone for the health coaching piece. The nurse will help you work toward achieving the health goals you have set.