For People Like Leorah, Virtual Care has Never Been More Critical

For Leorah, virtual care brings peace of mind every day. SPONSORED CONTENT

Leorah Setton couldn’t stop throwing up.

Her abdomen ached. Her ankles were swollen. Something wasn’t right.

It turned out that her heart wasn’t pumping blood properly. In 2019, at the age of just 25, Leorah was diagnosed with a number of serious heart-related conditions. Her health continued to deteriorate. She was visiting the hospital multiple times a week.

Leorah underwent surgery at Toronto General Hospital, part of University Health Network (UHN), to have a special monitoring device implanted in her pulmonary artery. At night, when she rests on her pillow, a sensor takes a reading and sends data back to her care team.

An app known as Medly, developed at UHN’s Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, enables remote monitoring for patients like Leorah. Through the app, she records daily metrics such as blood pressure and heart rate, allowing her care team to continually assess her condition – and know if something is wrong, even before she does.

For Leorah, virtual care brings peace of mind every day. It’s also helping her stay safe during COVID-19, doing her followup appointments from home instead of at the hospital.

Leorah uses the Medly app to track daily metrics such as blood pressure and heart rate.

 

PIVOTING FOR THE PANDEMIC

UHN has been providing virtual care for patients like Leorah long before COVID-19 shook up the healthcare system. This enabled UHN to adapt to a virtual environment at lightning speed – minimizing the number of people inside the hospital, and protecting patients and staff from the virus.

UHN’s virtual COVID-19 assessment rooms enable people coming to the hospital with symptoms to be assessed from the other side of a wall. For patients whose symptoms aren’t severe enough to require a hospital stay, a COVID-19 virtual clinic is tracking vital signs remotely through an app.

As this pandemic continues into the new year, more patients will need care virtually. But even when it’s over, virtual care will be here to stay.

YOU CAN HELP TAKE HEALTH CARE TO THE NEXT LEVEL

COVID-19 has forced a virtual healthcare world. It’s also opened up a world of hope.

Imagine being screened by a healthcare team before even heading to the Emergency Department – drastically reducing wait times and helping eliminate hallway medicine.

Or caring for fragile elderly patients remotely – avoiding the risk of falls and infections while in transit to the hospital. The possibilities are endless. Donor support can help bring them to life.

Support the future of health care: tgwhf.ca/answerthecall