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Keewaytinook Okimakanak Telehealth's capacity to continue to serve First Nations in the Sioux Lookout Health Zone and future opportunities for Aboriginal people to gain access to telehealth services in the province of Ontario has successfully demonstrated how comrprehensive telehealth can improve integrated access to health and wellness services on reserve, reduce health service worker and professional isolation and reduce patient and system travel burden. Our partnerships with Ontario First Nations, Health Canada and the Ontario Telehealth Network have supported the growth of our network from five pilot sites in  2002 to 25 sites in 2006.

Now entering our fifth year of operation, KO Telehealth faces the on-going challenge of securing program funding. Independent evaluations in 2001 (Telesychiatry Pilot), 2003 (CHIPP) and most recently in  2006 (PHCTF), demonstrates KO Telehealth's capacity to make more effective use of existing health and human resources. The findings of the most recent evaluation completed in March 2006 by the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research and the University of Guelph suggests that.... the Expansion Project has successfully improved access. The program has the ability to reach the economic breakeven point based soley on averted travel. Ohter benefits, not included in the model could push the program beyond the breakeven point. Feedback from numerous stakeholders spoke of the many improvements in access and the potential to improve health.

The purpose of the 12 – 13 September meetings is to share with stakeholders current and planned evaluatory and research activities that will impact future delivery of regional and province-wide telehealth service development and to use this opportunity to connect principals involved in these evaluation and research activities with community, provider and policy stakeholders. Specifically, the gathering will address the capacity of telehealth services to remove longstanding barriers and support Aboriginal and First Nations health policy objectives, its ability to make more effective use of health human resources and how evaluation and research will attend to First Nation and Inuit Health Branch requirements to show medical transportation savings. This workshop also provides participants with an opportunity to understand what is necessary to sustain telehealth in remote and northern places -- such as the Sioux Lookout Health Zone – and what might be required to extend this service model to rural and near-urban Aboriginal settings in Ontario.

We are inviting representatives from the Community Health Directors Advisory Committee, Telehealth Elders Committee, Chiefs Committee on Health, Tribal Council Health Directors, KO Evaluation Team, Sioux Lookout First Nation Health Authority, Health Canada, Canada Health Infoway, Ontario Ministry of Health, the Ontario Telehealth Network, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Assembly of First Nations, Chiefs of Ontario and Nishnawbe Aski Nation to attend the meeting. KOTH is dedicated to improving health for all First Nations communities through a sustainable First Nations Telehealth program that is holistic, community driven and culturally appropriate.