Toronto - A $260,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation will enable the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation to provide peer support to a wider breadth of Ontarians requiring bone and joint surgery to restore their mobility.

Launched last spring, the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation’s free Ortho Connect peer support program matches people needing bone and joint surgery with trained volunteers who have had the same surgery.  All types of orthopaedic surgery are covered, from hip and knee replacements to spine reconstruction to ACL repair and beyond.  Client-volunteer matches are made by phone, based on surgery type, languages spoken, geography, and more to offer new patients a real-world view of what to expect and how to prepare for surgical treatment and recovery.

“The greatest value in Ortho Connect is that it levels the playing field for orthopaedic patients to learn about their surgery,” says Dr. Dana Fleming, President of the Ontario Orthopaedic Association.  “No matter where a patient is having their surgery – in a major city or a small community – support is available anywhere there is a phone.  This grant takes the program to a deeper level, recruiting peer support volunteers who speak Ontario’s ethnic languages, and raising awareness across the province to communities large and small.”

“At the Ontario Trillium Foundation, our mission is about building healthy and vibrant communities," said L. Robin Cardozo, CEO of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.  “We're pleased to support the Ortho Connect program. It will improve the quality of life for many Ontarians who require bone and joint surgery."

The grant will also enable the launch of a new educational website to supplement the Ortho Connect service, and an on-line community. Booklets that guide patients from family doctor referral right through to surgery and recovery round out the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation’s patient-focused resources. Such resources are provided free to hospitals, surgeons, and to the public directly.

“As surgeons, we see that the better informed and prepared a person is for their surgery and recovery, the better their results,” says Dr. James Waddell, Chair of the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation. “Ortho Connect helps patients to learn, remember, and to actively participate in their care and recovery beyond our clinics and hospitals.  The Ontario Trillium Foundation grant makes Ortho Connect accessible to more Ontarians so they can participate in their best possible results.”

Expanding the peer support program’s diversity – specifically acquiring volunteers who speak ethnic languages - is integral to this project, as well as welcoming all new volunteers.  Says volunteer Wendy Soden: “Being a volunteer is so rewarding.  I was apprehensive before my knee replacement and so elated with my results.  Ortho Connect is an opportunity for me to share my experience with others, to help them through that apprehension and to approach their surgery and recovery with confidence.”

Services and volunteering
Orthopaedic patients interested in peer support service as clients or volunteers can access Ortho Connect via www.orthoconnect.org or by calling 1-800-461-3639 x 3.  Both clients and volunteers provide responses to screening questions to ensure the most suitable match. Training is provided to all volunteers.