VHA Home HealthCare, Toronto, Ontario
VHA Home HealthCare is a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive health care services in a variety of settings to people of all ages, from parent review services to caring for elderly people. Its team includes around 2,800 professionals including nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, personal support workers, home support workers, cleaners, social workers, dieticians and speech language pathologists. Those service providers work wherever they are needed including homes and assisted living facilities in several areas in Canada to care for over 20,000 clients and patients at any given time.
VHA Home HealthCare previously relied on emails and voicemails to communicate with its large network of staff and stakeholders. It selected Regroup Mass Notification as its first-ever provider for more flexible and responsive emergency and day-to-day communications.
“This is the first time VHA has employed an external mass notification system. We do have global voicemails and emails for internal use but saw some of the functionality of Regroup as a real opportunity to extend our reach quickly and with great reporting features. It also offers us the chance to connect with our clients (patients) and their caregivers.”
Pamela Stoikopoulos
VHA Head of Innovation Engagement
Flexible, Cost Effective, Efficient
There are a number of ways and reasons VHA uses the Regroup system.
- It’s cost effective
- Easy to fill last-minute shifts quickly and efficiently
- Onboarding and set-up is quick and intuitive to the user
- It’s available on any device, including SMS/text, voice and email
- Multiple ways to reach both patients and their caregivers
- Data analytics can show VHA the impact of its messaging
Pandemic Response
their communications strategies. Before using a mass notification system like Regroup, VHA would have relied on phone calls and mail to reach its clients and family caregivers, as their email lists were not comprehensive enough. Even pre-pandemic, VHA found the method costly and too resource-intensive for its ever-changing needs. With mass notifications, the organization was able to bolster their stakeholder list so that everyone can be reached with ease, dedication
The organization can quickly mobilize to fill last-minute shifts, and because of Regroup’s geofencing capabilities, VHA can target workers who are within a reasonable radius of fulfilling the work that’s needed.
“If you’re a health care organization and are hesitating because you ‘don’t have time’ to set it up during COVID-19, don’t! Regroup will guide you through and you’ll quickly realize how much easier it will make your emergency communications.”
Pamela Stoikopoulos
VHA Head of Innovation Engagement
Superior Customer Service
Regroup Mass Notification has a 24/7 customer service operation that is globally located to help customers at any time. In addition to onboarding that helps our clients and their administrators learn how intuitive the system is, clients receive a 24/7 support team that is willing and able to assist with problem solving in both day-to-day and emergency communications.
“Customer support has been amazing! From sales to customer support Regroup has been very responsive to any questions, requests and suggestions.”
Pamela Stoikopoulos
VHA Head of Innovation Engagement
Did You Know?
While VHA Home HealthCare serves people of all ages, including parent relief programming and speech assistance for children, the growing population of senior citizens has caused a demand for more flexible health care providers worldwide. Outside of a traditional clinical system, these workers can visit patients at home, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and hospitals to help with continuity of care.
In the United States alone, there were 12,200 home health care agencies in 2016 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the most recent statistic available.) Home health care providers in the United States served an estimated 4.5 million patients.
Regroup Mass Notification for Health Care
Critical Alerts
- Prepare for bomb threats, active shooters and other disasters
- Alert staff about evacuations and medical lockdowns
- Automatically distribute severe weather alerts
- Mobilize teams to find at-risk missing patients quickly
- Send all-clear notifications to geo-targeted locations
- Immediately alert IT staff about network disruptions
- Immediately alert staff about viral and infectious disease outbreaks
Day-to-Day Use
- QuickConference for on-the-fly patient care collaboration
- Connect with staff to cancel or fill shifts as needed
- Keep remote workers, such as home health nurses, informed
- Remind staff about training and certification compliance needs
- Publish information about policy changes and mandatory meetings
- Update patients with important care information