YORKTON, Sask. — People living with heart failure in Yorkton and surrounding communities now have access to specialized care closer to home through the Saskatchewan Health Authority's Heart Function Clinic.
The clinic, which operates out of Cornerstone Therapies, began seeing patients through a soft launch in July and is now fully operational. Multidisciplinary clinic days are held twice monthly, while follow-up support and care co-ordination are available throughout the week.
The program serves patients from Yorkton and across east-central Saskatchewan who are living with heart failure and other complex cardiac conditions. By bringing a range of health-care providers together, the clinic aims to simplify access to care for patients who often require ongoing monitoring and support.
"It's a multidisciplinary clinic," said Jacquie Holzmann, executive director of primary health care with the Saskatchewan Health Authority. "Typically when you have heart failure, you end up needing to see multiple providers to manage your condition. The clinic brings everyone into one location."
The team includes family physicians, nursing staff, pharmacy support and administrative personnel, with access to additional services such as dietitians, cardiac rehabilitation and pulmonary rehabilitation programs. Four Yorkton physicians currently rotate through the clinic.
Holzmann said the initiative was developed locally in response to the region's high rates of heart disease and the challenges associated with managing chronic cardiac conditions.
"So these local physicians, this idea came from a local physician to better coordinate care and to put all the services in one location," she said. "Patients just have to come to one visit."
Patients who require specialist assessment can be connected to cardiology and internal medicine services through the clinic, with additional supports available in Yorkton as well as through tertiary centres in Regina and Saskatoon.
Holzmann said the model is expected to reduce the burden on patients, particularly those travelling from rural communities.
"Instead of having to travel in for a bunch of separate appointments to see a pharmacist, a dietitian, a nurse, a doctor, you actually have one appointment and they get access to all of those providers in that one visit," she said.
Referrals are accepted from physicians, nurse practitioners and other health-care providers. Holzmann said there is currently no wait list for new patients, and the SHA is prepared to expand the clinic as demand grows.
"Right now it's two times a month, so they could do it once a week as their kind of expansion plans," she said. "Right now they're seeing new referrals and then they also have space for follow-up patients."
Holzmann said the clinic's primary goal is to help patients better manage their condition while reducing avoidable emergency department visits and hospital admissions.
"The Heart Function Clinic is really about supporting patients in managing their condition," she said. "Improving their quality of life and also reducing the need for emergency visits and hospital stays."
