Five secrets of Toronto’s medical system that will make your life easier

By Lauren McKeon | Illustrations by Jack Dylan

Landing a good family doctor can be like finding a soulmate—and the ensuing relationship even more intimate. openCare, a website founded by a Torontonian named Nikolai Bratkovski, provides a database of doctors who are taking new patients, organized by postal code. Opencare.com.

The days when a GP, medical bag in hand, made house calls aren’t over. MedVisit has over a hundred doctors and will send one out to you, anywhere in the GTA and usually within four hours, for a non-emergency medical problem. Their doctors will write prescriptions, and the cost is covered by OHIP. 416-631-3000.

In 2012, St. Joseph’s opened an expanded family birthing centre that’s the closest thing to having a baby at an all-inclusive resort. The facilities include yoga classes, dad-only workshops, a hydro­therapy tub for pain management during labour, and free, freshly made snacks for patients and visitors.

There are few ordeals as miserable as sitting for hours in a hospital emergency room. Wait times at St. Mike’s have been reduced by almost 20 per cent since the spring 2013 introduction of a triage process that includes sending patients with less serious problems to a  nurse practitioner instead of a doctor.

Patients of Women’s College Hospital can take advantage of a service that sends a co-ordinated medical team, including doctor, nurse and pharmacist, to your home. The program has drastically reduced readmission rates.