Behind the scenes with Care Coordination Centre’s Transfer Hub clinical operations lead, Katou Gabanna  

Smoother hospital transfers, reduced delays and coordinated care begin with people working behind the scenes.

“Most patients will never know the Transfer Hub exists, and that’s okay,” says Katou Gabanna, one of Nova Scotia Health’s clinical operations leads with the provincial Care Coordination Centre’s (C3) new Transfer Hub.  “A smooth transfer often depends on a lot of work patients never see. If they feel informed, supported and moved safely without unnecessary delays, then we know the system is working.”

The C3 Transfer Hub operates as a behind-the-scenes team coordinating patient transfers between Nova Scotia Health facilities, supporting patients who require specialized care in another location and helping others return to their home hospital or community once that care has been completed.

By streamlining communication and planning across the system, the Transfer Hub helps reduce delays and create smoother transitions, with a focus on getting patients closer to home and their support systems whenever possible.

Katou’s role focuses on patient flow, transfer coordination and escalation management, working closely with hospitals, Emergency Health Services (EHS) and healthcare teams across Nova Scotia to remove barriers and support timely access to care.

Before joining C3, Katou spent more than a decade as a paramedic and later worked in a provincial patient flow coordination role with EHS. There, she helped support the daily operations of Nova Scotia’s provincial transfer system, including ground and non-critical care air transfer resources. That experience provided a unique perspective on the complexity of coordinating patient movement across multiple hospitals, zones, transport resources and levels of care.

That background now informs her work with the Transfer Hub, where collaboration, innovation and system-wide thinking are essential.

Since the launch of the Transfer Hub, Katou has seen significant improvements in visibility and coordination “We now we have a provincial view of pressures, transport resources and capacity, which allows us to plan earlier, align across zones and make more informed decisions.”

The centralized model has also created opportunities for more creative, patient-centred solutions.

“We’re not just moving names on a list,” says Katou. “Every transfer is a patient, a family, a bed, a crew and a team trying to do the right thing. The Transfer Hub helps bring those pieces together so we can look at the whole system and ask what makes the most sense for the patient and the capacity around them.”

Katou is particularly proud of how quickly the Transfer Hub has built trust across the province. “Teams now reach out proactively because they know we can help with planning, not just react to issues,” she says. Seeing that shift, from ‘who do I call?’ to “’C3 will help coordinate this’ feels like real progress.”  

In addition to her operational work, Katou has participated in several provincial committees focused on patient flow and system improvement, helping advance collaboration between healthcare partners and identify new opportunities to improve patient movement across the province. “Healthcare is complex, and patient transfers are one of the places where that complexity shows up every day,” says Katou. “The Transfer Hub has allowed us to work collaboratively across the province to find solutions. That might mean coordinating a transfer, arranging accommodations to avoid a weather-related delay, exploring community transportation options, or finding another approach that better supports both the patient and the system. That’s the kind of innovation healthcare needs.”

The Transfer Hub continues to demonstrate what is possible when healthcare teams work together with a shared provincial perspective. By improving coordination, reducing delays and keeping patients at the centre of every decision, the team is helping create a smoother, more reliable experience for patients and families across Nova Scotia.

To learn more about how C3 is working to get patients the care they need when they need it visit: Care Coordination Centre (C3) | Nova Scotia Health.   

Photo of Katou Gabanna, Clinical Operations Lead with the provincial Care Coordination Centre (C3) Transfer Hub.