Focus on Continuing Care September Newsletter

September 2019

I am pleased to share the latest edition of our newsletter. We welcome any and all comments. Please send us your feedback as well as ideas, stories and information we can share.

Each month we will share news and information about home care, long-term care, community supports and services and shed light on the wonderful people and services that contribute to continuing care in our province.

Susan Stevens

Senior Director, Continuing Care, NSHA

Continuing Care Month

Last year almost 42, 000 Nova Scotians received care and support through one or more of our continuing care programs and services. I visited with one family who with home care are keeping their parents, whose love story is in its sixty-ninth year, together at home as they near the end of their lives. They told me what it means to them and how grateful they are to have their remaining time together in their own home. I talked to a daughter who over the past year lost both her father and mother. Her mother received home care for several years until her dementia progressed to the point where care at home was no longer possible. She told me how looking back those last years at home were so important and that her mother’s move into long-term care allowed her father to be her husband again. To her surprise they found a new community of understanding and caring people and their family became a part of the facility’s family.

We often hear about all the challenges we face in health care. They are many and complex. Yet every day you come to work, you share your passion and expertise with the people we serve to relieve their suffering, to improve their quality of life and to support them and their families through some of the most challenging times of their lives. Every day with every person, you have the opportunity to have a powerful impact on your clients, residents and their families. Many individuals and families have told me you are their heroes.

Thank you doesn’t seem like enough. Please know what you do and how you show up makes a positive difference in the lives of many people. It has in my own family. A sincere thank you for all you do and a wish that during Continuing Care month you take some time to celebrate your contributions to our province.

Susan Stevens

Patient/family advisors challenge system to improve

Larry Baxter looked after his father for four years. He’s also been a part-time home care worker for 12 years. That experience, as well as his background working in the non-profit sector, made him an ideal candidate to be a volunteer patient family advisor (PFA) with NSHA’s Continuing Care team.

Baxter sits on the provincial Continuing Care Quality Council. There are a total of 13 continuing care PFAs—two PFAs who sit on the provincial quality team and the remaining 11 sit on the quality councils for the geographical zone that they live in. Their role is to bring the client/family perspective to the table, helping Continuing Care to make decisions and improvements that best meet client and family needs.

“Last year we did a priority study (of) what we saw as the things that needed to be improved or changed within the continuing care system. And we came up with a list of priorities, which serves as a guide to staff in their work and setting their operational plan,” said Baxter.

Cynthia Stilwell is the management representative on the provincial Continuing Care Quality Council. She says input from PFAs, at both the provincial and zone levels, is invaluable. “We have patient/family/community advisors embedded and participating in all levels of that quality structure. They've been able to actually help us to prioritize what kinds of quality initiatives we need to undertake.”

Stilwell offers an example. “One provincial working group is looking at the transfer of information that happens when a person moves from one point in our continuum of care to another. Say for example a person who is receiving care in Halifax and goes to Cape Breton for the summer to the cottage—we need to transfer their care, or if they go from a hospital to the community, we need to transfer that information. These are areas where improvement leads to better outcomes for people and their families.”

Larry and others play a critical role as active members in the development of the Social History profile that will provide guidance to clinicians and family when transferring information from one provider to another. This valuable information helps develop a meaningful people-centered care plan.

Stilwell says one of the benefits of having PFAs at the table is that, “They make it real. They challenge us to think differently about what we're doing and why. We engaged them in developing caregiver experience surveys and presentations to staff about home first initiatives. They bring a critical perspective to our work, one that is unique to their wisdom and experience. We value their perspectives on what’s working well and what needs to be improved. While it can be difficult to hear about where the system is not meeting the needs of those we serve, this is exactly what we need to know in order to do better."

“As a patient and family advisor, I can continue to contribute even after my father has passed away. I'm still associated with the Family and Friends Council at Mountain Lea Lodge where he lived. From that experience I can connect both the personal and local to the provincial level in my role on the provincial Quality Council,” said Baxter. (Written by Nayo Upshaw)

If you have experience with Continuing Care (such as client, caregiver, family member), your perspective is important to help us make decisions that meet the needs of the individuals and families we serve. To learn more about volunteering to help shape the future of Continuing Care – please contact us at CCVolunteer@nshealth.ca

Share the Care

We invite you to visit the new Share the Care website, a platform to share the many positive experiences of people benefiting from continuing care services. The website features a variety of good news stories that reflect the heart of the people delivering care, the experiences of those receiving care, and the point of view of family members involved in the care of their loved ones.

We encourage you to visit the website at www.sharethecarens.ca/ and share your story!

We want to share a story from our partners in care at Shannex featured on the Share the Care website

It is no secret that music has a powerful effect on our emotions. The right song can get your toes tapping, take you back to a specific moment in time, calm you down or even help carry you off to sleep. Music is also a wonderful way to connect with people. Here is a story about a continuing care assistant (CCA) who learned to play guitar so he could perform for residents and help them find comfort.

Darryl Finney, a Continuing Care Assistant at Shannex’s Celtic Court in Sydney, Nova Scotia, works very closely with residents. Through his regular interactions, he realized that there was an opportunity for more recreation activities in the late afternoon, a time of day when some residents, and one in particular, sometimes become agitated. Darryl also knew that residents respond well to music, so he came up with a plan.

His plan was to learn to play guitar and share his love of music with the people he cares for and, whenever possible, take time at the end of his workday to play a few songs with the residents who have particular challenges in the afternoon. The results are heartwarming.

Darryl’s dedication to creating musical connections not only benefits the residents he performs for, but has also turned him into a bit of a community celebrity. He now organizes “pub nights” and even helps one resident keep his guitar in tip-top shape.

Darryl may be the one with the guitar, but he benefits just as much as residents do from the time they spend together. Written by Cat LeBlanc

Stay Tuned

Department of Family Practice Newsletter

Perioperative Focus Newsletter

The Wave monthly newsletter from NSHA

Continuing Care Access and Flow Bulletin

Please submit story ideas, photos and feedback to:

Jaimee Dobson, Communications Advisor,

Continuing Care

Jaimee.Dobson@nshealth.ca

Visit our Continuing Care page, for more information.