The Hospital at Home programs at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Providence Health Care (Providence) are reimagining health-care delivery, particularly around how alternative modes of transportation can be used in urban settings.
The programs bring hospital-level care directly to patients’ homes, improving outcomes and freeing up valuable hospital beds. A key factor in the success of these programs is the strategic use of Evo Car Share, which enhance efficiency and contribute to a greener health-care system.
We’re not just driving to patients—we’re driving change, with a private fleet that cares for both the patient and the planet.” Alexia Simeoni, Clinical Operations Manager for the VCH Hospital at Home Program.
Both VCH and Providence use Evo’s private fleet vehicle program and its public carshare program to ensure nurses and physicians can efficiently visit patients in their homes and provide timely care.
Parking challenges pose a real operational obstacle to the program. When using personal vehicles, health-care providers have to deal with permit restricted areas, time limits, and a general lack of public parking availability.
Using car sharing is a game-changer for our Hospital at Home program—it gets our teams to patients faster, makes navigating the busy downtown core easier, and supports a healthier planet. It’s not just smart and simple—it’s how we keep care moving forward.” Barbara Drake, Patient Care Manager for the Providence Hospital at Home Program.
Using a car-sharing model offers multiple benefits:
- Efficiency: Health-care providers can quickly access a vehicle and navigate the city while taking advantage of the carshare programs’ parking perks. This allows for more time spent with patients.
- Flexibility: Evo’s extensive network of vehicles and parking locations allow providers to reach patients across a wide area of service.
- Recruitment: Not relying on health-care providers bringing their personal vehicle to work makes the position more accessible, as not all providers may own a car or rely on transit to commute to work.
- Cost-effectiveness: The car-sharing model eliminates the need for dedicated health organization fleet vehicles and associated costs like parking permits, maintenance, and repair.
- Environmental Sustainability: By using Evo’s hybrid vehicles in place of typical gas vehicles, the programs reduce air pollution and carbon emissions by 3.45 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is the same as taking a car off the road for an entire year! Additionally, by enabling staff to commute to work without needing their own vehicles, the programs further minimize their environmental impact.
These programs demonstrate how innovative health-care solutions can go hand-in-hand with environmental responsibility.
