Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital hopes to treat more patients with Treatment Resistant Depression thanks to a funding boost from the provincial government.
Back in early 2024, the HDGH Foundation and the hospital funded a state-of-the-art BrainsWay Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation machine. It uses magnetic pulses to stimulate targeted areas of the brain.
Over the past two years, it's treated 38 patients with Treatment Resistant Depression through its Neuromodulation Program. The program also offers electroconvulsive Treatment.
The funding from the Ontario government will support rTMS programs at 15 sites across the province. It'll buy another 18 rTMS devices to help up to 2,250 patients a year.
Patients need to be referred to the local program by a doctor, nurse practitioner, or psychiatrist.