The Regional Chronic Diseases (RCD) program helps Northerners in the area of chronic diseases. With a mandate to work in collaboration with key stakeholder groups, the RCD provides and stewards NH’s response to chronic diseases for the entire population of the North. Presently, there is a focus on four specific diseases. They include, cardiac and stroke care, cancer care, kidney care and HIV and Hepatitis C care.
The program gathers information, creates tools, develops policy and helps create change to the health care system in order to directly deliver or support the delivery of “closer to home” chronic diseases health services where people live, learn, work and play.
RCD promotes well-being in the North by collaborating with others to:
- Prevent the development of serious chronic diseases
- Support chronic disease management in communities
- Improve specialized care
- Help people living with chronic diseases to have better outcomes
RCD provides leadership in chronic disease prevention and care by:
- Creating policies, protocols and procedures that are used regionally to provide consistent care
- Monitoring and evaluating services to be sure they are operating in a high quality manner and helps health programs and services improve
RCD either operates or supports the operation of specialized services, in close collaboration with Provincial Health Services Authority, in the areas of:
- Cancer care
- Cardiac and stroke care
- HIV and Hepatitis C care
- Kidney care