TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Durham Ontario Health Team (OHT) and Community Care Durham (CCD), in collaboration with Health Espresso and with support from the OBIO® Life Sciences Critical Technologies & Commercialization (LSCTC) Centre of Excellence, are proud to announce the launch of a cutting-edge, digital community engagement tool. This strategic initiative marks a significant step forward in modernizing patient care, streamlining information access, and enhancing communication across the healthcare continuum.
Accessing and navigating health and social services remains a major barrier for many Ontarians, leading to fragmented care and poor patient outcomes. This partnership brings together Durham OHT’s commitment to community-based, integrated care and Health Espresso’s advanced digital health technology to provide patients with tools to navigate the right services for them.
Key objectives of the platform include:
- Digital Access – Navigation of local health and social services to simplify and accelerate access to care.
- Communication – Enabling seamless sharing of educational content and providing secure messaging between residents and their community health and social services partners, promoting better-informed, engaged patients.
- Navigation – Helping residents navigate local services such as walk-in clinics, urgent care centers, and pharmacies.
“At Health Espresso, we’re proud to launch a powerful Community Engagement Tool that puts patients at the center of their care journey,” said Rick Menassa, CEO of Health Espresso. “This tool bridges the communication gap between patients and their care teams by enabling real-time updates, personalized education, and secure two-way messaging. It’s a major step forward in delivering coordinated, compassionate, and data-driven care.”
“This partnership exemplifies how innovation and collaboration can reshape healthcare delivery,” said Lisa Kitchen, Director of the Durham Ontario Health Team. “With Health Espresso and the support of OBIO®, we are creating a more connected and responsive health system that places the patient at its core.”
“At OBIO®, we’re proud to support the Durham OHT and Health Espresso in bringing this innovative solution to life,” said Dr. Maura Campbell, President and CEO of OBIO®. “Empowering patients with seamless, digital access to care not only improves health outcomes—it also strengthens the resiliency of our healthcare system.”
“In a time when digital transformation is essential to the sustainability of healthcare, tools like ours are helping health teams stay proactive, not reactive,” added Menassa.
“We congratulate the Durham OHT, CCD, and Health Espresso on their cutting-edge collaboration. This partnership demonstrates the tangible innovations that can come to market when digital technologies are used in the life sciences sector,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “By investing in organizations like OBIO®, our government is committed to strengthening this sector and ensuring that we are laying the foundation for generations to come. We look forward to seeing their innovative community engagement tool help people across Ontario.”
“Empowering communities through digital tools is about transforming community-based care, making it accessible, coordinated, and person-centred. Community Care Durham is proud of this innovative collaboration with the Durham OHT and Health Espresso,” said Jennifer Hammond, Community Care Durham Interim CEO, Vice President, Client Services.
Health Espresso invites healthcare organizations and OHTs to explore how this community engagement tool can support population health goals and improve the care experience for both patients and providers.
The OBIO® LSCTC Centre of Excellence played a pivotal role in supporting this commercialization effort, helping to scale this critical technology and make it accessible to communities across Ontario. This community engagement tool will be rolled out in phases across Durham OHT member organizations, with ongoing evaluation and refinement based on patient and provider feedback.
About Health Espresso
Health Espresso is a Canadian digital health company dedicated to improving healthcare outcomes through innovative technology solutions. The Best-in-class platform connects patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals in real-time to ensure seamless communication, efficient care coordination, and proactive health management. Health Espresso’s secure, cloud-based system offers features such as Tele-monitoring, secure messaging and video, digital care planning, and comprehensive reporting tools, empowering users to deliver timely, informed, and person-centered care. With a commitment to accessibility, integration, and compliance with Canadian healthcare standards, Health Espresso is transforming the way care is delivered across community, clinical and hospital at home settings.
For more information, please visit: HealthEspresso.com.
About Community Care Durham
Community Care Durham (CCD) is a multi-service registered charitable organization providing a broad range of support services for people over the age of 16 and their caregivers. The organization is dedicated to Building the Community You Want to Live In by providing compassionate, community-based support services delivered by integrated care teams that empower individuals to lead their best lives. Because what matters to our clients, matters to us.
For more information, please visit: www.communitycaredurham.on.ca
About Durham OHT
The Durham Ontario Health Team (OHT) is a collaborative group of organizations and patient, family and care partner advisors working in partnership to improve access and delivery of coordinated health services. The group is comprised of partners from across the care continuum, including primary care providers, hospitals, mental health and addiction services, social support services, home and community care support services and long-term care.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced the province’s first OHTs in December 2020. The Durham OHT was among this group.
While the core Durham OHT partnership group is comprised of 18 signatory organizations, there is broad support from more than 70 health care partners across Durham Region, representing various organizations in the health, social, education, and private sectors.
For more information:
Durham Ontario Health Team is supported by funding from the Government of Ontario.
About OBIO®
OBIO®, a not-for-profit, membership-based organization dedicated to advancing health technology innovation and commercialization, is prioritizing the evaluation and implementation of new solutions using critical technologies through its Life Sciences Critical Technologies & Commercialization (LSCTC) Centre of Excellence, supported by the Government of Ontario. OBIO® is engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to address the needs of the next generation of companies developing innovative human health products.
For more information, please visit OBIO.ca and follow OBIO® on LinkedIn and X.
Contacts
Media Contacts
Health Espresso
Taylor Richardson
Sr. Product Manager
trichardson@healthespresso.com
Community Care Durham
Ian McMillan
Communications Specialist
905-430-1863
imcmillan@communitycaredurham.on.ca
Durham Ontario Health Team (OHT)
Lisa Kitchen
Director, Durham OHT
submissions@doht.ca
OBIO®
Doriane Rey
Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications
dorianerey@obio.ca
