IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Seriously. Would patients willingly unburden themselves about a profound mental problem while sitting alone in a room, in front of a camera, miles from the shrink’s couch?

Yes, it turns out.

Whether a sign of our evolving sensibilities in this digital age or just evidence of a huge practical advantage, remote psychiatry is booming at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.

The Ontario Telemedicine Network uses two-way computer videoconferencing to provide patients with access to care in hospitals and health-care locations across the province, as well as enabling educational programs and meetings for health-care professionals and patients.

Across the Central East Local Health Integration Network, 20 telemedicine nurses have been recruited and the service has been made available at more than 80 sites.

More people are accessing cancer care in Sudbury without having to travel long distances to do so.

They're gaining access to critical health care through video teleconferencing, said Tamara Shewciw, the chief information officer with the North East Local Health Integration Network.

The video network connects cancer patients from rural and remote areas to doctors at Sudbury's Regional Cancer Centre.

Skyping, texting and messaging are all second nature to the younger generation.

It's with this trust and comfort with technology that the Central East LHIN has taken a technological step to making sure Durham residents, especially younger ones, have access to health specialists from across Canada.

At least, that’s the hope for Dr. Edward Brown, founder and CEO of the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN). He was one of the speakers at the Mobile Healthcare Summit on Tuesday, a two-day event bringing together healthcare professionals and IT solutions providers in downtown Toronto.

Telemedicine patients also proved to be more engaged in their health management.

That’s why, over 10 years ago, a Telemedicine pilot project launched as a joint venture between Providence Care and Queen’s University Department of Psychiatry with the mandate to bring mental health supports to rural communities in Eastern Ontario through video-conferencing technology.

Cities around the world have been paying very close attention to Sidewalk Labs’ efforts to win approval for a smart-city development in Canada’s largest city.

After months of negotiations with the tri-government agency responsible for the Toronto project, and an initial plan that was met with significant pushback on issues around real estate, intellectual property, data privacy and community engagement, the Google sister company has produced a new, more limited proposal that addresses Torontonians’ major qualms about the Quayside project.

ASL interpreters are available at the Health Sciences Centre to help culturally deaf patients communicate with their care team as needed. However, finding an interpreter after hours in emergency situations can be a challenge. Ontario Interpreting Services (OIS) in Oshawa, operated by the Canadian Hearing Society, allows an interpreter in Oshawa to be “present” via videoconference within minutes through the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN).

More than 100 people have reached out to Tillsonburg’s mayor to voice concerns about the town becoming a Smart City or 15-Minute City.

The problem, says Mayor Deb Gilvesy, is their concerns are based on misinformation.

“There is misinformation circulating about the town that is unequivocally untrue, and it is actually scaring some of our residents,” said Gilvesy at a council meeting on Feb. 27.

New details on Toronto neighborhood’s streetscape, affordable housing, and privacy protection

Sidewalk Labs, the urban innovation unit of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, will present a new plan for Quayside, its pioneering smart city development on Toronto’s east waterfront, further demonstrating how it aims to improve how cities operate with a bottom-up reimagining of tech’s place in urban living.

When Sidewalk Lab's shared their vision of a smart city that would be a vital societal endeavour and "meaningful contribution towards tackling affordability and sustainability problems in urban areas" (Cecco, 2020), Torontonians may have listened in awe and anticipation. However, as the project fleshed out, many began to see that there was a thin line between Sidewalk's proposed smart city and a city of surveillance, and that the Quayside Project was leaning concerningly close to the later.

As the Privacy consultant of Sidewalk Labs prior to her departure in October of 2018, Dr Ann Cavoukian made it very clear that there was no wiggle room around enforcing the de-identification of personal data in the Quayside Project from the get-go, to ensure the creation of a smart city of privacy. Dr Cavoukian’s insistence steamed from her expert opinion that data would need to be stripped of personal data (de-identified) at its source to ensure that the personally identifiable data collected was not exploited and that Toronto’s Waterfront did not become another model of the surveillance cities of Dubai and China. (Bloomberg News, 2018)

Torontonians deserve effective digital services. To make it happen, the city can’t rely on legacy systems or private tech vendors that lobby it daily.

In 2022, residents expect high-quality digital services from their governments. Is the City of Toronto falling short of those expectations? And if so, what can be done about it?

In the heart of Markham, where history meets innovation, a digital revolution is underway. The city is poised to embark on a remarkable journey, one that promises to redefine the very essence of urban living.

With technology as its compass and sustainability as its guide, Markham is charting a course toward becoming a leading global smart city.

And despite repeated assurances from the government, that progress is being made, many doctors still struggle to get timely access to basic medical records and patients continue to face needless risks and treatment delays the program has failed to deliver what the public was promised - efficient access to electronic health records.

“I strongly believe this is a first in Canada; it’s definitely a first in Ontario,” said Dr. Derek Manchuk, critical care lead for the North East Local Health Integration Network and the project’s lead.

With the advent of the Internet of Things and other technologies, Toronto and other urban areas are looking to be “smarter cities” when tackling critical issues – from climate change to affordable housing.

There’s just one problem.

“Smart cities are only smart if they have relevant data,” says Mark Fox, a professor of industrial engineering in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and a distinguished professor of urban systems engineering.

In an effort to make the province's best doctors and treatments available to Windsor-Essex residents with less hassle and cost, local health care providers are offering telemedicine - consultations with specialists far away via teleconference with the help of a specialized nurse.

Think of it as a doctor's visit via Skype... but with a hack-proof, ultra-quick network connection.

eleven-x tapped for wireless, real-time monitoring of 5,000 parking spaces in Arlington VA.

Arlington County in Virginia has selected the Waterloo-based startup eleven-x for one of the biggest deployments of smart-parking technology in North America.

Eleven-x will embed 5,000 sensors in the pavement of on-street parking spaces in Arlington’s commercial district. The sensors will communicate with the eleven-x software platform, eXactpark, that provides real-time information on whether a spot is vacant or not.

London politicians approved the draft strategy at the city's Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee

A "Smart City" uses technology and data collection to enhance the lives of its residents and increase its competitiveness with other cities.

And now, London, Ont., could become just that.