In support of improving care with better communication, Voyce Canada recently partnered with St. Mary’s General Hospital (St. Mary’s) on a commercialization project funded by the Coordinated Accessible National (CAN) Health Network to provide a service that brings live interpreters into healthcare settings in seconds.
Located in Waterloo Region, St. Mary’s identified that its diverse patient population was facing language barriers, impacting the ability to deliver timely and equitable care. Its traditional over-the-phone interpretation service provider was limited in the languages it offered, was slow to connect, inconvenient, and costly.
As a CAN Health Network Edge (the term used for health-care operators in the Network), St. Mary’s was able to bring these challenges forward and receive funding to launch a commercialization project, a three month to one year process that embeds a qualified Canadian company within an Edge to solve a specific issue, providing them access to a real-world environment to apply and tailor their solution.
Voyce Canada is a technology-driven company providing live, on-demand, Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA)-compliant language interpretation in over 240 languages and dialects, including American Sign Language (ASL) and Indigenous languages Cree and Ojibwe.
Using Voyce Canada’s technology throughout the project, St. Mary’s over 1,600 physicians and staff could simply select their preferred language on a tablet or other mobile device, and connect with a medically trained interpreter, often in 20 seconds or less. This cost-efficient solution offers patients a choice between a male or female interpreter and, through video, allows for better interpretation through gestures and facial expressions.
At project completion, purchasing the solution was a no brainer for St. Mary’s. They were overwhelmed by positive feedback by clinical staff.
“This was one of the easiest projects I have ever rolled out in 20 plus years,” says Danny Veniott, Project Innovation Lead, at St. Mary’s General Hospital. “We gained 100% satisfaction from patients, and over 90% satisfaction from staff.”
Since completing the project, Voyce Canada has become a validated solution in the CAN Health Network and is working with other members including Grand River Hospital and SterileCare to implement its technology.
“The CAN Health Network model supports the growth of Canadian companies by de-risking the procurement process and making it easier for domestic health-care providers, like St. Mary’s, to adopt innovative homegrown solutions,” says Dr. Dante Morra, Chair of the CAN Health Network.
In addition to its success within the Network, Voyce Canada recently announced its partnership with Ottawa-based CHEO, the first pediatric hospital in Canada to use the solution, as well as its work with Alberta Medical Imaging clinics.
“Partnering with St. Mary’s and the CAN Health Network gave Voyce Canada a valuable opportunity to continue offering patients across Canada a simple and reliable solution that bridges language and cultural barriers to instantly give them a voice in their health-care,” says Andrew Royce, CEO of Voyce Canada. “There is nothing more personal to any of us than our health, and no matter where in the world a person is from, we want them to feel at home when seeking care.”
In reflection of their rapid success, CAN Health Network partner Communitech recently welcomed Voyce Canada to Team True North, a roster of Canadian innovation companies that represent the one per cent of highest-performing global private companies in Canada. Along with Voyce Canada, two other CAN Health Network companies made the list.