Dr. Ken Kasper is one of the innovative minds behind Manitoba's Virtual COVID Outpatient Program (VCOP) - a remote monitoring program that supports stable patients while they recover at home, with regular connection with their healthcare providers. Stats are one of the best indicators, for both hockey players and healthcare workers, to know if their planned strategies are working. For Kasper and his team, the numbers show that VCOP has been well worth the effort.
In total, 515 Manitobans have received care through the program to date, not only allowing them to recover in the comfort of home but also freeing up approximately 4,000 hospital bed days for other Manitobans whose care needs required them to stay in hospital.
But numbers are only one indicator of VCOP's success. The stories and testimonials of patients who have been positively impacted by the program are additional justification of just how big a difference VCOP has made in the lives of its patients and their families.
"To have our family member be able to come home and recuperate at home with us meant she got better quicker. Having the oxygen at home and all the monitoring gave us all peace of mind. Having contact with both nurses and doctors was awesome to have any and all questions answered." VCOP Patient Family Member
"I felt secure in knowing I would still receive care if I needed. You are to be congratulated on a wonderful program and we hope it continues to help many patients recover from this terrible virus in the comfort of their home with less stress on the healthcare system. The VCOP is one of the great success stories of this pandemic." VCOP Patient
"As healthcare providers, we all wanted to do what we could to help the healthcare system, and I felt that this was probably the best way that I could add some expertise. I was motivated by the tireless workers in the healthcare system, and we needed to find ways to improve healthcare delivery in a pandemic." - Dr. Ken Kasper, Clinical Director, Virtual COVID Outpatient Program
