Delivering Better Care for Adults Living with Dementia.
MINT Memory Clinics help people stay at home longer resulting in lower costs to the healthcare system by decreasing hospitalization and emergency department visits.
For people living with a neurodegenerative disorder such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia (estimated to be 285,000 people in Ontario alone), better care, with better outcomes, is worth a MINT.
MINT (Multi-specialty Interprofessional Team) Memory Clinics is a grass roots not-for-profit initiative providing older adults living with dementia and their families with access to complete, continuing care right within their own communities. This unique model integrates primary care with specialists and community services, for faster evidence-based, patient-centered care.
Approximately 25% of Canadians over the age of 65 experience pathologic memory loss (mild cognitive impairment and dementia). With MINT Memory Clinics, 90% of these people’s healthcare needs can now be met in primary care, without requiring patients to travel to specialists.
“The growing community of practice across Ontario has greatly benefited from OBI’s support. MINT clinics are helping our province build capacity for high-quality health care for people with dementia and helping them stay at home longer.”
A third-party provincial evaluation found that care in MINT Memory Clinics are associated with significant cost savings, reduced wait times, fewer hospital visits, and improved quality of life for both patients and caregivers.
Early on, OBI supported the spread of MINT Memory Clinics across Ontario and locations have since blossomed to over 100. Now the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative has established a partnership with MINT to help embed their research into primary care. As our population ages, the number of people affected by a neurodegenerative disease is expected to rise dramatically and new models of care are being developed so we can better treat and support these individuals.
Interventions such as MINT that are commitments to real-world improvements in care are bound to continue to be a critical part of Ontario’s health care infrastructure.
