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CBC
4 hours ago
- CBC
Alberta 811 health line hits milestone in redirecting non-urgent calls
Public health officials are celebrating a milestone for a provincewide health hotline. Two years ago, Alberta Health Services created a program that lets 911 operators offload non-urgent calls to Health Link 811, a separate health line that lets people speak with a registered nurse and other health-care providers. AHS reported on Wednesday that the program had now redirected more than 50,000 calls. " It's all about helping to free up those ambulances," said Edith Friesen, a manager with Health Link. She said it's been a priority to make sure people receive the right kind of response, in order to properly manage resources. According to AHS, the program is meant to help take pressure off of emergency responders and helps people with health issues who aren't sure what to do. When the program started, AHS estimated that up to 20 per cent of 911 calls didn't require an ambulance. On top of nurses, Friesen says Health Link is also equipped with mental health professionals, social workers, and teams that deal with dementia, rehab and Indigenous health. The 50,000 milestone comes slower than initially thought. When the program launched in February 2023, the provincial health provider said the program would transfer over 40,000 calls each year. While it took longer to reach the 50,000 milestone, Friesen said the program has been making a difference in saving up ambulances for life-threatening calls. "It really has been successful," Friesen said. "In terms of we know right now that over 50,000 ambulances were used for life-threatening emergencies and not for situations where it wasn't."
CBC
4 hours ago
- CBC
Motorcycle ride raising awareness of PTSD rolls through Winnipeg
Social Sharing Dozens of motorcycles rolled through Winnipeg on Saturday, as riders cross the country to raise awareness about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (PTSD) "We're trying to fight the stigma, and make it a little easier for people to come forward and get some help when it's needed," Warren Cave, one of the directors of the Rolling Barrage PTSD Foundation said on Saturday. The Rolling Barrage, an annual cross-country motorcycle trip now in its ninth year, that sees motorcyclists ride over the course of approximately three weeks from St. John's, N.L. to Aldergrove, B.C., made a stop in Winnipeg on Saturday. The journey, which also raises money for PTSD programming and supports, saw more than 40 motorcyclists cruising through downtown Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon, before ending their day in Neepawa. Cave, who lives in Alberta, and spent years serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, said he knows how hard it can be for many who serve in uniform in different capacities to come forward when issues of mental health and PTSD surface, due to some of the things they see in the line of duty. "We've got folks, whether it's fire, ambulance, or police that have experienced some pretty traumatic events in their careers," he said. He added he's had his own struggles with PTSD, and found it difficult to reach out for help the first time he felt he needed it, a fear he says many share. Cave also said the ride is a chance for those who have dealt with trauma to meet people who have had similar experiences. "The ride itself is therapy for so many people," he said. "You're with a group of like-minded people that may have different experiences, but they're similar. "Folks just talk and bond, and by the time this all ends, we've got a family, and that makes another network of people that can help each other." Kevin Martin of Winnipeg, who spent years working as a paramedic, was part of the Rolling Barrage that made its way through Winnipeg on Saturday. He said in an email his years as a first responder in Winnipeg, and the things he experienced on the job, led to him being diagnosed with PTSD. "I spent years as a paramedic in Winnipeg — proud to serve, but carrying calls that stayed with me long after the sirens stopped," Martin said. "Over time, those calls added up, and PTSD became a part of my life I couldn't ignore." For Martin, the Rolling Barrage symbolizes moving forward, while living with PTSD. "Every stop is a reminder that none of us have to carry the weight alone, and that help is out there," he said. "This ride is my way of taking back ground from PTSD, one kilometre at a time, and carrying that message from one side of the country to the other." The Rolling Barrage will continue west on Sunday morning, and was expected to reach Saskatoon later in the day on Sunday, before continuing its journey west to B.C.
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
How digital health startup VitalHub became one of the hottest tech stocks on the TSX
When Dan Matlow was trying to raise money for his fledgling company, he jokingly asked his wife if he came home smelling like weed. It was mid-2017 and the cannabis craze was in full swing on Canada's public markets. Mr. Matlow was trying to finance something totally different: a digital health startup called VitalHub Corp. VHI-T He had a strategy to buy up other small health care IT companies, cross-sell their products to each other's clients and offshore software development. He'd even struck deals to buy two companies, including one with a low-cost development shop in Sri Lanka. But as investors poured into cannabis stocks, Mr. Matlow struggled to raise $10-million. Trading in VitalHub's TSX Venture Exchange-listed penny stock was halted for six months. 'It was a tough slog,' he said in an interview. 'We had some pissed-off shareholders.' VitalHub raised one-third of its target that October and had to defer one acquisition for a few months. It wasn't the most auspicious start, but VitalHub wasn't blowing smoke. Eight years and 21 acquisitions later, Toronto-based VitalHub is one of Canada's strongest-performing tech companies. Its stock has appreciated by 25 per cent this year and quintupled in the past 24 months, giving VitalHub a $775-million market capitalization. The company, now listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has built a reputation as a disciplined health care IT consolidator, specializing in software that organizations in single-payer markets such as Canada, Britain, Australia and the Middle East use to manage the flow of patients from admission to discharge. It has steadily grown annual recurring revenues and delivered 11 straight quarters of operating-earnings growth. Analysts liken it to Descartes Systems Group Inc., which is worth $12.5-billion. 'If you're an investor that already owns Descartes there's no reason why you don't look at VitalHub,' said National Bank of Canada financial markets analyst John Shao. VitalHub is now 70 per cent owned by institutional investors, including Mawer Investment Management and Burgundy Asset Management, and has doubled its analyst coverage in the past year. 'They fit with our philosophy and tagline, which is, 'Be boring, make money,'' said Samir Taghiyev, portfolio manager of Mawer's Canadian small-cap fund, which owns 14 per cent of VitalHub stock. League growing rapidly as digital health care company seeks to raise US$100-million Now, investors hope VitalHub can continue that streak after a slew of big deals. Having previously paid $10-million or less for most acquisitions, it has made its four largest deals in the past 10 months, shelling out $30-million-plus apiece for three of them. That includes $43.6-million last month for Kingston-based Novari Health, a vendor of referral and wait-time-management software. The four deals have doubled VitalHub's ARR to $90-million-plus in 18 months and account for most of the $175-million it has spent on deals. Mr. Matlow expects to face questions when VitalHub reports results Thursday about its two most recent deals, Novari and Britain-based Induction Healthcare Group PLC, which boosted ARR by a combined 25 per cent. Both were losing money and are expected to drag on VitalHub's operating profitability. 'I think the big discussion points will be Induction, Novari, how much will it hurt your bottom-line profile, how long will it take to clean it up,' he said. Like other successful consolidators, VitalHub has a playbook it follows closely. It targets companies within its core markets that generate between $2-million and $20-million in revenue, of which at least 60 per cent must be recurring. It prefers owner-operated businesses that are breaking even or profitable, paying between 1 and 2.5 times revenue. VitalHub then works to increase operating profitability to 20 per cent of revenues, primarily by shifting development to its Sri Lankan operation, which houses 200 of its 500 employees. VitalHub has a pipeline of 400 potential deals and believes it is competing for a potential market of $10-billion of revenues. Its main rivals are DrDoctor in Britain and Wellstar Technologies, a Canadian-focused subsidiary of TSX-listed Well Health Technologies Corp. This little-known Canadian stock is soaring and fund managers are taking notice. Here's how its CEO expects to deliver growth But VitalHub also sets itself apart from other consolidators such as Constellation Software Inc. and OpenText Corp. by not just bulking up sales through acquisitions but also driving robust organic growth from existing businesses. Its organic revenue growth typically runs at around 15 per cent, and its adjusted operating margin has been above 25 per cent of revenues since 2023. That makes it similar to Descartes, which also acquires in a core area – transportation and logistics – while generating organic growth. A key driver of VitalHub's revenue growth is its deep relationship with Britain's National Health Service. The company also counts Nova Scotia Community Services, the Ontario correctional system and Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children among its 1,000-plus customers. Mr. Matlow, 62, is a born hustler from Kitchener, Ont., who regularly won sales contests starting with chocolate-bar drives during his school years. After earning a business degree from York University, he sold education software, then got his first exposure to the health care system while working for a Boston startup that was bought by OpenText in 2003. He led OpenText's health care division before leaving a year later to join TSXV-listed health care IT startup Medworxx, staying until 2016, a year after Vista Equity Partners bought it for $20-million. Influenced by his experiences at OpenText and Vista, he set out in 2016 with Medworxx chief financial officer Brian Goffenberg – now CFO of VitalHub – to build their own consolidator. They bought VitalHub, a Toronto startup, and took it public in a reverse takeover of a TSXV-listed shell company in 2016.
