Media.Knet.Ca

The Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) Telehealth initiative and the KO Research Institute are working a number of different unversities to conduct research and produce an evaluation of the KO Telehealth project. Working with faculty and graduate students from Laurentian, Lakehead and Guelph universities, Kevin Houghton (KO Telehealth Project Manager) and Brian Walmark (KO Research Institute Coordinator) will be involved in a number of initiatives to support the development and sustainability of telehealth services in partner First Nations across the region. The research team will be involved  in participatory research (also called action research) in which the communities and primary stakeholders will have an active role in defining the evaluation objectives, setting priorities and in designing the tools.

The evaluation component of the KO Telehealth project is designed to fulfill three primary requirements:

1. ensure that the evaluation meets the needs of the First Nations communities and the First Nations political organizations;
2. assist First Nations communities, their political organizations, and other stakeholders in the use of the data and results arising from the evaluation including ensuring that the communities will have the means to continue to collect, analyze and use data in the years after the formal evaluation program has ended;
3. meet the needs of the main funding agencies, principally, the Primary Health Care Transition Fund: Aboriginal Envelope, FedNor (Industry Canada), and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

The partners in this important project component include:

• The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD), University of Guelph - Dr. Ricardo Ramírez, Dr. Don Richardson,