Beyond the Clinic: How Communities Shape Health

Episode Summary

In this episode of Amplify: Elevating Patient Voices, hosts Ursula Mann and Brent Korte speak with Reg Joseph, CEO of Health Cities, about how community-based care, patient empowerment, and system design shape real healthcare outcomes.

Reg shares insights from his background in biotechnology, finance, and healthcare innovation, explaining why technology alone cannot fix healthcare challenges. The conversation highlights the importance of redesigning care models, supporting patient self-management, and integrating healthcare into communities—especially in rural and underserved settings.

Drawing from real-world examples and personal experience as a patient, this episode explores prevention, data use, access to care, and why the future of healthcare must extend beyond hospitals and clinics.

Why You Should Listen

• Learn why community-based healthcare is critical to better outcomes
• Understand how innovation should be driven by patient and system needs, not technology
• Hear practical examples of remote monitoring and self-management in action
• Gain insights into rural healthcare access and decentralized care models
• Discover how patients can self-advocate and partner with clinicians
• Explore how responsible health data use can improve community wellness

Episode Highlights (with Timestamps)

• [00:00–01:36] Introduction to Reg Joseph and the focus on community-driven healthcare
• [02:06–04:21] Reg’s transition from biotech and finance into healthcare systems
• [04:21–05:14] Why healthcare innovation often fails due to system complexity
• [05:47–07:18] Designing care models before introducing technology
• [07:18–08:21] Meeting patients where they are to improve outcomes
• [08:36–11:22] Remote monitoring, rural care challenges, and patient self-management
• [11:22–12:32] Prevention, education, and long-term wellness
• [12:46–14:17] A personal patient experience inside the healthcare system
• [14:40–17:35] How patients can self-advocate and engage clinicians effectively
• [17:35–19:46] What healthcare can learn from banking and consultative models
• [20:01–22:31] Simplifying complex systems through community collaboration
• [22:31–24:37] Rural Alberta as a model for integrated community care
• [25:32–29:10] Decentralized care, technology, and access beyond urban centers
• [29:55–31:03] Looking ahead: leadership, recovery, and personal goals
• [31:03–32:01] Final reflections on patient-centered, community-based healthcare

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Medical Disclaimer:

The content shared on Amplify is for informational and educational purposes only.

Nothing discussed on this podcast—including stories, experiences, perspectives, or commentary from hosts, guests, or contributors—should be interpreted as medical a

Transcript

[00:00:00] Ursula: Welcome to Amplify Elevating Patient Voices, a podcast powered by Patient Voice Partners, where real stories spark bold conversations. I’m Ursula Mann. 

[00:00:12] Brent: And I’m Brent Korte. Together, we’re talking with patients, caregivers, and the healthcare changemakers who are listening and taking action. 

[00:00:21] Ursula: From personal journeys to policy shifts. 

[00:00:24] Ursula: These are the voices shaping a healthcare system that listen. 

[00:00:32] Brent: Hi, I am Brent Korte and here today with Ursula Mann, my co-host. How are you doing, Ursula? 

[00:00:37] Ursula: Doing great, Brent. How are you? 

[00:00:39] Brent: I’m doing very, very well, looking forward to the podcast we have today and having a lively discussion with a good friend of mine and someone that I’ve known for a long time, with Reg Joseph. 

[00:00:51] Brent: But I think that one thing that is very interesting for me is his role in the broader health ecosystem right across Canada. He was based in Edmonton and has a role there about really that intersection of health, technology, innovation, and being a catalyst in that way. 

[00:01:03] Brent: But what are you looking forward to the most? 

[00:01:05] Ursula: I think every time I talk to Reg, I get to walk away with a big smile on my face. I learn something new personally and professionally. I feel motivated and inspired. 

[00:01:15] Ursula: I got to meet Reg a while ago, and you’ve known Reg for a long time, but you didn’t introduce me to him. 

[00:01:19] Ursula: I had to go say hello on my own, and afterward I think I said to you, Brent, how come you didn’t connect us? 

[00:01:25] Brent: Well, there are reasons for that, but we can’t get into that here. 

[00:01:28] Ursula: Okay, well,  so I was feeling left out, but I found Reg and said hello, and it was a love at first sight ever since. 

[00:01:36] Brent: Yeah, I know you guys certainly hit it off, and there’s one thing you’ll probably hear today too. He is good at telling stories, and always says, I’ve just got a quick story on this, I’ve got a quick story on that. Love that, and I’m sure we’ll get some of that today. 

Brent: So let’s bring Reg in. Reg, thank you for joining us. Maybe I can do a quick intro of you. I know you’re the CEO of Health Cities. 

Brent: You have a number of different hats at Grant MacEwan and a role at BioTalent Canada, and among other things, but your role within the health community. 

Brent: But maybe just give a quick, high-level overview that could be way better than I can. 

[00:02:06] Reg: Yeah. Wonderful. Thanks to you both for having me on, and really excited for the conversation we’re about to have. 

Reg: In terms of my background, Brent, you covered some of the highlights already. 

Reg: I’ve been playing in health and healthcare for a number of years. 

Reg: One thing that may be worth noting, which is not quite on the professional side, but demonstrates my tie to Edmonton and Alberta, I was born and raised here in Edmonton at the University of Alberta Hospital many, many years ago. 

[00:02:31] Brent: When babies were still born there, because they don’t do . 

[00:02:34] Reg: I’ve traveled a lot, worked in the U.S. for a number of years, Edmonton’s home, and I’m really happy and proud to be able to raise my family here at home and continue to do what I love to do right here in Edmonton. 

Reg: That’s one piece that doesn’t usually come in professional bios. 

[00:02:51] Brent: Yeah. Thank you for that. I think you touched on some of your background and the fact that it’s rooted in Edmonton. Maybe just talk really quickly, as we talk about your background, about some of the finance component and how that helped shape your leadership. 

Brent: And we’re going to get into leadership in healthcare a little bit, but how that experience in finance and your time in Edmonton, both with the companies you were working with and with Alberta Innovates, shaped where you are. 

[00:03:13] Reg: Yeah, absolutely, Brent. 

Reg: I didn’t actually start out in healthcare. I was more of a tech guy, more on the biotechnology side. 

Reg: I actually started in academia doing out-licensing of university-based technologies to industry. 

Reg: That was my first touch into innovation, technology, academia, and industry. 

Reg: I played in that world for a long time, including the startup world. 

Reg: I did a couple of startups here, moved to the States, worked for a large multinational in the biotech sector, did a lot of work around finance in that company, and then got pulled into investment banking in the U.S. as well for a little while. 

Reg: I came back home and stuck with the entrepreneurial side. 

Reg: I did a diagnostics company that we took the product to the U.S., and then I got pulled into healthcare, realizing the big challenges around where biotechnology and other technology pieces try to intersect with healthcare. 

[00:04:10] Reg: Seeing that intersection wasn’t quite a perfect fit and realizing that there is a bigger challenge around how we look at healthcare. That’s what got me hooked.  

[00:04:21] Ursula: I love that. What do you think most entrepreneurs don’t know as you got into health? 

[00:04:25] Reg: I think a lot of folks don’t appreciate the complexity of the healthcare system. I think that’s definitely one. 

Reg: The second thing is, and it’s tied to the complexity, is when you’re looking at innovation and adoption of innovation, you have to adopt that into a very complex system. 

Reg: It’s not selling an app to a physician, for example, because how does that data get into the electronic medical record? 

Reg: How does that get into any sort of central database where you can use that for decision making, whether it’s for the individual’s own clinical health or for system betterment? 

Reg: It’s a complicated system, and one needs to understand the system drivers to be able to look at how those kinds of technologies can be adopted into the health system. 

[00:05:14] Brent: Totally. And when you talk about system drivers, as much as I guess you’re talking about system readiness and to adopt innovation and that sort of thing, can you maybe just talk a little bit more about that? 

Brent: And then also part of the role that you’ve played, or just your experience has been over your roles, but certainly within Health Cities. 

Brent: Because you and Health Cities are seen as a catalyst, a real driver in bringing those together, and people come to you. 

Brent: But at the same time, you can come with innovation X or a digital app or something like that, but if the system’s not ready, how do you match those? 

Brent: So maybe if you could talk about that for a bit. 

[00:05:47] Reg: Yeah, and that’s a great question, Brent. 

Reg: One of the things that I love getting into is this conversation around what role does the health system play in innovation. 

Reg: Quite often that’s paired up with economic development. 

Reg: I’ve been in a number of conversations where there are questions around the health system in Alberta and what role it should play in validating new technologies and new innovations, and thereby spurring economic development and even GDP growth. 

Reg: My perspective on that is that the healthcare system is complicated enough. 

Reg: We need to focus on healthcare, but what I really believe is that if the system is focusing on constantly improving how we deliver healthcare in a better, more efficient, more patient-friendly way, then innovation has to happen. 

[00:06:37] Reg: That’s when you create a pull from the innovation system where they’re trying to address challenges. 

Reg: And that’s where I think there’s a very interesting play between the innovation sector and the health system. 

Reg: But it has to be driven by needs in the health system. 

Reg: It’s very challenging to review a list of technologies and try to decide where they fit, as opposed to looking at key challenges that you face, whether it’s in a hospital or in a primary care setting. 

Reg: And then looking for ideas or ways to better access patients, better manage your practice in terms of overhead. 

[00:07:18] Reg: How do you reduce workflow challenges for clinicians? 

Reg: Those are the kinds of problems where they’re multifaceted, they require innovative thinking, and they will often pull in new ideas and technologies. 

Reg: But the one thing that we do have to recall is technology is usually a secondary piece. 

Reg: We really need to look at how we’re changing the clinical model or how we’re changing the care model first. 

Reg: I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of clinicians who put their patients first, who say we’re missing our patients, we’re not connecting with them enough. 

Reg: And we need to flip our model, our clinical model, so that we can meet the patient where they are. 

Reg: And if we do that correctly, then we know that we’re going to drive better health outcomes. 

Reg: And often you’re also going to get reduced overhead in your clinic. 

Reg: It was really fun to work with clinicians to strip everything away and say we would like to meet patients this often and do it in a way where they don’t necessarily have to come into the clinic. 

Reg: But we can effectively manage them remotely. 

[00:08:21] Brent: And they feel connected as well. The patients feel connected, the doctor feels connected. 

[00:10:38] Brent: Reg, maybe we really quickly talk about that a little bit more. 

[00:10:45] Brent: I know some of the remote experiences you have, and I know you’re working on a couple of other projects right now. 

[00:10:52] Brent: Can you quickly highlight that for our listeners, just so they have an example? 

[00:08:36] Reg: Absolutely, Brent. 

Reg: One example I was referring to is this idea of home health monitoring. 

Reg: We were able to successfully deploy it in Central Alberta a few years ago. 

Reg: It was really around clinicians realizing that they weren’t effectively managing their patients. 

Reg: These were people who were already registered, had a family physician or were connected to the clinic, but even they weren’t being effectively managed. 

Reg: And secondly, then realizing there were a lot of folks that weren’t connected, what we call unattached to the clinic. 

[00:09:09] Reg: They definitely weren’t being managed because the only time they touched the health system was when they went to merge. 

Reg: These clinicians wanted to figure out a better way of connecting with them. 

Reg: And it came down to scheduling and challenges around travel in rural Alberta. 

Reg: Even if you’re going to a rural-based clinic that’s not in a large urban center, there’s often an hour-and-a-half one-way trip. 

Reg: And if it’s in the middle of January and you have to drive three hours total for a five-minute appointment, we know how often that happens. 

Reg: So flip the model. 

[00:09:43] Ursula: And how stressful that is. 

[00:09:45] Reg: And it is stressful. 

Reg: It also doesn’t take into consideration the kind of work that’s still happening in rural Alberta. 

Reg: You’ve got farmers, you’ve got ranchers. 

Reg: You don’t know if it’s calving season or harvest. 

Reg: These kinds of things occur. You get a letter in the mail that says you’ve got an appointment six months from now at 9:17 a.m. in this clinic. 

Reg: Nobody knows what’s going to be happening that day. 

[00:10:407] Reg: The interesting piece is not only is it inconvenient for the individual to drive into clinic at these odd times,  which is not opportune for them from a scheduling perspective, it’s actually extra overhead for the clinic. 

Reg: Having a patient come in versus managing that individual remotely actually costs more to have that individual come in. 

Reg: If we can figure out a mechanism where people where people who are coming in, need to come in for a specific reason do so, and others are managed remotely, we find a few things. We find that 

Reg: Compliance is a lot better, but beyond compliance.  What's really interesting here is we're getting into what we get self-management. 

Reg: Where individuals truly understand their chronic condition and are able to self-manage. 

Reg: Once you have knowledgeable individuals that are self-managing, that’s a big boon for the healthcare system. 

Reg: That’s how you maintain wellness. That’s how you can control and effectively manage chronic conditions. You want educated individuals, self-managing, asking questions, and using the health system in a consultative way. 

[00:11:20] Ursula: And finally getting to preventative health as well. 

[00:11:22] Reg: Which is where we really want to get to. 

Reg: Right now we’re just seeing some early points of how effective management is working. 

Reg: Your point is can we work backwards to true education, behavioral change, and understanding early on so we can actually prevent as well. 

Reg:  So that's what gets me excited about as we start looking at these new models. 

Reg: It gets to the heart of what our healthcare system is trying to address. 

Reg: Then technology on top is the enabler. 

Reg: Once clinicians say we want our patients to self-manage, that’s a big fundamental shift.  Once you do that. I'll never say anything in healthcare is easy so I won't but it's relatively straightforward once you've established that kind of mindset to then say, okay, what kinds of technologies could help in the back office at the clinic between interactions between patient and clinician or when patients on their own right and. 

[00:11:20] Reg: Those are how we start to look at building an innovative health system that's constantly evolving to patient's needs and their requirements to be frank in terms of how they interact with the health system. 

[00:12:32] Ursula: Throughout all of this, Reg, you’ve pushed for and you do an amazing job bringing people together and moving forward through bold changes. 

Ursula: You’ve also had some personal experience within the health system. Can you tell us a little bit about that? 

[00:12:46] Reg: I have, and it’s quite interesting. 

Reg: I had a major surgery a couple of years ago, and it proved to me, and I know that there are a number of stories and challenges around where people’s connections with the health system aren’t always the best. 

Reg: I was lucky. First of all, it was really tied to our acute care center, our hospitals. 

Reg: I have to honestly say that the interaction went really well. 

Reg: The surgery went well. Pre- and post-engagement with various clinicians and admin staff went really well. 

Reg: They were actually very aware of the work that I do - in terms of accommodating my schedule - which I found very interesting. 

Reg: Acute care systems are very transactional, and it’s hard to accommodate, but they did a wonderful job on that front. 

[00:13:30] Reg:  And I'd have to say that from an experience perspective, but more importantly from an outcome's perspective, it was a great interaction. 

Reg: I am healthy and well and really excited for the future right now. It was good. 

Reg: Maybe the question could be, are there things that could have been done better from a prevention standpoint, meaning before. 

Reg: That gets me thinking in terms of what we do in community, what we do in primary care  before you have to have that kind of acute care intervention. 

Reg: That gets my mind going in terms of genetic influences, behavior influences, and how we start looking earlier on so you’re more aware and can drive better health. 

Reg: Interestingly enough, my engagement with the healthcare system was actually quite wonderful. 

Reg: I hate to say it, but I was a little surprised - but it was great. 

[00:14:17] Ursula: I appreciate the honesty, and that’s so lucky. 

[00:14:20] Brent: The fact that you were surprised. 

[00:14:21] Ursula: Do you think there’s any advice out there for people that are currently engaging in terms of how to possibly self-advocate or possibly have such a great experience and have a lucky surprise like you did with things going really well? 

Ursula: Is there anything that they should think about or could possibly help support themselves with? 

[00:14:40] Reg: Yeah, really good pointers. 

Reg: Sometimes there is a component of luck in terms of the individual that has an opportunity to interact with or the team. 

[00:14:47] Reg: I think the key part is being knowledgeable as much as you can. 

Reg: This is not about Dr. Google per se in terms of trying to diagnose issues that you may have, but more about if you know that you're going down a particular path, it's a chronic condition that you're trying to manage, or there's an acute scenario that you're trying to manage, read up, understand. Ask questions. 

Reg: If you’re at that level, the interaction from the clinician will also be at that level. 

Reg: Because they look at you as an individual and say, okay, you are taking this seriously. You want to drive better health outcomes, which is what your clinician wants as well. 

Reg: Now you see each other as a team. 

Reg: The more confidence you build in your clinical team, the more willing they are to say there are things you can do on your own to help this interaction go far better. 

Reg:  And I think that's a key thing that often we forget. 

Reg: It’s challenging because when you’re dealing with a health issue, that’s on your mind. you might not be thinking about how best can I be organized? How can I ask the right questions? 

Reg: That’s where family comes in, friends come in, others can come in to say here are some fundamental things you need to focus on. 

Reg: There are a lot of folks out there  and speaking to two right now that I think if someone came and talked to either one of you, you'd be able to provide them a little bit of guidance or a little bit of direction at the very least.  And we need to do that. And it's hard to do that.  

[00:16:16] Brent: What do you like to hope so? 

[00:16:18] Reg: It’s hard when you’re dealing with something, but the more you can, I’m going to jump into an analogy, which I often do. And, Brent's going to laugh. 

[00:16:26] Brent: Just one of those stories. 

[00:16:27] Reg: One of those stories. 

Brent: He is good with the quick story. I like that. 

Reg: I see a lot of opportunities for the health system to learn from banking. Which is really interesting. 

Reg: If you’re going to renew your mortgage, you tend to do research beforehand. before you go and you understand what the mortgage rates are.  

Reg:  You understand what competitive mortgage rates are. You're usually going into your mortgage broker with a bit of knowledge. If you're not going in with knowledge of the first time, you're coming out of that. Engagement with knowledge, and then you have a lot of questions. 

Reg: And I think that's where you get that sort of teamwork happening.  The other piece on that too is that it is fun for us to think of a health system as being consultative, as opposed to being prescriptive.  

Reg: And I think we can learn a lot from those kinds of interactions. And so even from that perspective, I look at the banking model to say,  

Reg: hey, the bank manager in my dad's day versus how we engaged banking today is different. And it's much more consultative than it is perspective. 

[00:17:35] Brent: And also, with a number of different modes. Like a different modality that are used to engage banking and find out, as you say, research, find out information or engage and invest or move money around that, all that whole component has evolved. 

[00:17:48] Reg: To take the analogy just a step further, back in the day, i again, if I can reflect back on say my parents' generation, they worked at a job, they got a pension. That was it. We have options today. 

Reg:  We have RSPs, TFSAs, we have this, we have all kinds of ways and mechanisms to be able to build, for our retirement, for our savings, for our family in the future. 

[00:18:10] Reg: But, the fundamentals are still there, you might still have a pension, but you're still looking at other financial instruments 

Reg:  I see the health system should be and could be very similar to that, if you need an emergency surgery, you'll go to an acute care facility and you'll get the surgery 

Reg: but there's a whole bunch of other pieces there that we need to link the last piece on that end, because I know I beat the banking model to death here. 

Reg: The last piece is data. Because it’s a passionate topic for me in healthcare. 

Reg: If banking can figure out data, there’s no reason healthcare can’t. 

Reg: I am less worried about someone seeing my urine test than I have about somebody seeing my RSP. 

Reg: And there's a risk. We know there's a risk. As we are doing online banking, we're doing all kinds of transactions online. We understand what that risk is we understand what we can put into place to help mitigate and manage those risks. But we still take those risks. And I think when I speak with folks 

Reg: In the community around health and talking about how we could use data to drive better health, decision making and so forth. Inevitably, the answer I get back is, you mean you're not doing that already? So, it's quite interesting in terms of that versus if you say, hey, we want to take your data and do stuff. 

 Reg: It's very different. Right. And, itwas aroundwhat is the purpose of using the data? And if you're trying to drive better health in communities, you'll find a lot of support in individuals to say, yeah, I want my data to contribute to the wellness of my community, my region, my province. 

[00:19:46] Brent: I've had that same conversation with so many people, how has that shaped like how you approach things as health cities? The tables that you and health cities are at. And those discussions that you're a part of. Interested in your thoughts on how that's helped shape where you are at health cities. 

[00:20:01] Reg: Wonderful question, Brent. 

Reg: I spoke earlier in this conversation around the complexity of the health system, and it is complex because there are many parts that must work together and all those parts have to work in sync. 

Reg: I have the opportunity to work in primary care, which is about care in communities  and working with both individuals, patients, administrators, clinicians, and while we do have a complex health system. 

Many systems are complex. It's interesting that you can break it down into something pretty simple. And when we were looking at innovative solutions, to drive, new ways of looking at care, it was really some fundamental questions on 

[00:20:47] Reg: Clinicians asking how to reduce steps between clinicians, patients, and diagnoses. 

Reg: How do we reduce steps between diagnosis and treatment? 

Reg:  Fundamental, basic one-on-one questions. Yeah. We understand that the background is very complex, but if you just ask simple questions, quite often you'll find a simple path forward and we're finding that time and time again. 

Reg: But what's fun now is that communities are getting far more involved and they're coming up with these simple solutions. And that's why I love what's happening in rural Alberta right now because I'm going to bash next week.  

Reg: And they have done an amazing job of connecting clinical care doctors, nurses and other, clinical folks with the community, with schools, with, community social serving organizations with the RCMP, they've built a community network here where we start looking at the wellness of the community is so much more than a healthcare transaction. 

Reg: And these communities are getting it. And it's wonderful to see this growth, and this view and this mindset. What's even more exciting is that. This current government is open to looking at those kinds of models. And so, I think we have a really exciting opportunity here where we can reinvent but almost go back to how we looked at healthcare maybe 50, 60 years ago where it's a community based, approach and wellness chart within the community. 

[00:22:31] Reg: I talked about transactions in the acute care system. I actually believe acute care needs to be transaction-based because you want to touch that acute care, that hospital facility, as little as possible. And when you touch it, you’re in and you’re out. 

Reg: The rest of it should happen in the community. We are now seeing that trend not only building up here in Alberta, but around the nation and around the world, where people are starting to see that health and wellness has to happen in the community with the self, with the family first. 

Reg: Then you interact with the health system ideally in a consultative way. 

[00:23:08] Ursula: It takes a village. There was a patient I was chatting with years ago; this was as I was starting to engage within market access. 

Ursula: I made an incorrect assumption. She had mentioned that she was moving. She lived in one province and was in the process of moving, and she was in her late seventies. 

Ursula: She was managing cancer, and I assumed she was moving to live closer to her family, maybe grandkids, and have some fun with them. 

Ursula: In fact, that was not the case. She was uprooting her life, leaving her entire social network, and moving just because she had access to a treatment that she wanted in the other province. 

Ursula: She didn’t have in her own province. I was taken aback. My stomach dropped. I felt really sad for her. 

Ursula: I thought of that example as you were talking about community, because she certainly felt on her own to not be able to have the right tools to take care of herself and move forward in her treatment the way she wanted to. 

Ursula:  So I loved your example and really thank you for sharing that within innovation in healthcare and adopting innovation. 

[00:30:40] Reg: Yeah, no, absolutely. 

[00:24:11] Brent: Reg, as you talked about Bashaw, it takes me back to when I was a pharmaceutical sales rep, going to small towns in Alberta. 

Brent: Like 15, 20 years ago. Everybody in the community was connected. 

Brent: The pharmacist was connected with the doctor, the community center, with maybe plus or minus the RCMP, I think like various community people. 

Brent:  Now you're getting city councils involved or town councils. In some of these places involved. 

[00:24:37] Brent: We’ve also seen the evolution of specialists coming into smaller communities, which enhances care. 

Brent: in Calgary, to me it seemed like a small town approach. Where you get as many, more people that are part of a community, and we're going to help you and be a central point for your care. 

Reg: And I think what you're talking about is that evolution to how is there more self-directed care? And here are my resources that are community based. 

[00:32:15] Ursula: I love it. Those are a lot of Alberta little villages and towns. 

Ursula: But for those people that are listening that are outside of Alberta , how do you contextualize a small community? 

Ursula: What does a small community mean and what are the, some of the specific challenges that you see in healthcare? I know you mentioned it. Driving takes a long period of time to get to care for that five minute. But is there something else that really comes to mind that you're really seeing, and, what does air quote small look like? What does that mean? 

[00:25:32] Reg: That’s a really good question.  don't know if I'm going to be able to, define what small means from that perspective, but I'll take a bit of a different angle. 

Reg: And it's something that technology in general has offered an opportunity for us to explore. So, from a health system perspective, one understands why you would look at centralizing it. 

Reg: It enables you to actually develop a system where there is the highest end of technology tools, innovation, clinical practice ideas, all centered in one location, and then using that one location to then be able to reach as many individuals as possible. 

[00:26:12] Reg: It's great, but then you cause this problem, okay, how does one get to care? And if care is not in community, then how does that change in terms of, accessibility to care and then of course individuals, outcomes. What's exciting about today is that so much technology that's being developed. 

Reg: Actually democratizes access, for individuals so that, whereas before it truly did make sense to try to centralize just because you needed to put technology pieces together in one system and have that work in a certain way. What technology's enables us to do now is you can have disparate systems. 

Reg: Communicate very effectively with one another, to drive better health outcomes. And they don't need to be centralized. And that's where the big opportunity is for us in Western world, and particularly in Canada and Alberta, to take advantage of, to say, okay, there are a number of new devices, tools, technologies, individuals that we're using on a daily basis that actually has a lot. 

Reg: To contribute to the picture of our own healthcare and wellness, but we aren't using any of those tools as part of our system. And so, the next opportunity here is for us to figure out in a safe, smart, efficient way, how do we start using those pieces of data that we're all collecting ourselves in a way that drives towards. 

Reg: Better health, better wellness for ourselves and how does that plug into the system? And we talk a lot about health data. It's gonna be interesting to see the flip on where that data is being collected today versus where it might be collected even two to three years from today. Right. And that's going to be really interesting. 

[00:27:59] Reg: Our health systems are able to, address that, manage that. So those are going to be really interesting. They're fun challenges, but I look at them as opportunities because it's the kind of access, the kind of patient engagement. That from a technology perspective might have been hard to do 20 years ago, but we can do that much easier today. 

Reg:  And what we're finding, which is really interesting, is we're finding models of care that are being developed in low resource environments around the world or where they don't have as developed healthcare systems as we do in, in, in the Western world that we can learn from.  

Reg: The amount of diagnostics that are happening on a cell phone in Sub-Saharan Africa will blow your mind. Compared to what we do here, it's out of necessity. Like we have nothing else. And so the only way we can reach these individuals is through a cell phone, through using this, through using that.  

Reg: So they use it now. We have a very developed system in terms of standards and protocols and so forth. And I'm saying we need to keep all of those, but how do we use those times and protocols to evolve so we can use these new technologies to drive human better health and wellness in our community? 

[00:29:10] Reg: So it's a fun time, which is why I love what we're doing here right now. And there's a lot more to do and, it's exciting because there's a lot of folks are rowing in the same direction right now, and we want to just capture that wave, if you will, and, drive some really interesting new models of healthcare in Alberta. 

[00:29:28] Brent: I know you're so passionate about it too, reg, and, you're definitely seen as a driver in Alberta and, not just health cities, but you yourself as a driver in Alberta and a catalyst right across the country.  

Brent: We’re excited for the future of Health Cities. 

[00:37:53] Brent:  So we're just coming to the end of our time, really want to thank you for sharing everything you did and the great conversation. If there's something personally, something you're looking forward to that you'd like to share. Something fun. 

Brent: I know you talked a little bit before about a good physical challenge ahead. Maybe you'll talk about that. 

 [00:29:55] Reg: Yeah, sure. Personal story. Probably about 10 or a bit more years ago, a few buddies of mine, from my MBA school, we, summitted Kilimanjaro, and it was. 

Reg: Awesome experience, which is a whole other podcast on its own, a podcast episode. But, post-surgery and recovery, my buddies want to go climbing again. And so we're getting our eyes set on three sisters, in the Canmore area and want to do some scrambles this summer. 

Reg: As Brent knows, I've been focusing, on getting myself back into shape. So, I'm going to be able to do that. 

[00:39:05] Ursula: That’s cool. 

[00:39:06] Reg: Looking forward to it and hopefully we’ll hit it this summer. 

Ursula: I want to see these pictures after. 

Reg: Absolutely. 

[00:30:31] Brent: Yeah, that'll be fun.  As the training towards the goal, often the journey is a big part of that as well. 

Brent: I look forward to watching your transformation as you go towards that goal too.  That'll be fun and of course encouraging you along the way. I'll be a good cheerleader along the way. So, thank you very much. We covered a lot. 

Brent: We covered, talked about health, innovation, the role of health cities, but really got a lot of your thoughts and insights on leadership in the healthcare system on different opportunities that are available in the role that you and health cities and we all can play in that. 

Brent: Ursula, anything you’d like to say as we wrap up? 

[00:31:03] Ursula: Reg, I want to say thank you for joining us today. What was meaningful to me is talking about meeting the patient where they are. And as we think about innovation, one of the challenges that we still continue to have is twofold. 

Ursula: One is asking the end user too late after innovation is developed, what do you think? So there are misses along the way. And the other thing is not asking the right questions and having smarter, better questions that are interpreted the right way. If you ask people a question, they'll give you an answer. 

Ursula: But if you're not asking a question that resonates to actually answer what you're intending to learn, that's a little bit of a problem because your data's dirty and you're learning the wrong thing and acting accordingly. So I really appreciate you, you sharing all of that. And, I share your passion for innovation. 

Ursula: So I look forward to more glasses of wine and more time together. Thanks, Reg. 

[00:31:50] Reg: Wonderful. Thanks for having me on today. A wonderful conversation. 

Brent: Awesome. Thank you, Reg. 

[00:32:01] Ursula: Thanks for tuning into Amplify, a podcast powered by Patient Voice Partners. If today’s story moved you, share it. Leave a review and help us amplify more voices. 

Brent: If you’re a patient or caregiver, you can join Patient Voice Connect to share your experience and help shape research and care. Visit patientvoicepartners.com to sign up or learn more. 

Ursula: If you’re a clinician, innovator, or system leader and you’d like to be a guest on the show or share a story, reach out through the contact form on that same page. You’re also welcome to join anonymously if preferred. 

Brent: Follow us on LinkedIn at Patient Voice Partners for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and upcoming guests. 

[00:41:46] Ursula: Until next time, stay connected. Your voice matters.