Taking the guesswork out of long term care
Written by Adam Zarboni Produced by Rey Mendoza
Jean Abrams* was conflicted when she turned up for a tour at The O’Neill Centre in Toronto. She could no longer care for her aging mom, *Bella, but she felt distressed about admitting her into a long term care (LTC) home. To her surprise, however, rather than languishing in her new environment, Bella flourished. She gets great medical care, goes to pub nights every Friday, plays Wii to maintain her coordination and keep her brain sharp. She also participates in a Seniors In Cyberspace program to develop her computer skills and keeps in touch with her grandchildren via email.
The story is the same at all three long term care (LTC) homes managed by Responsive Health Management Inc. in the Toronto area, among them, Vermont Square, The O’Neill Centre, and Cedarvale Terrace. Each home boasts excellent health care facilities, superb programs for seniors, and dedicated nurses and support staff. “We understand how hard it is to put a loved one in long term care,” says Christine Dalglish, Director of Operations. “And we try to create homes where people can connect with others and get the health care services they need, in a setting that feels like a home.”
Each aspect of Responsive’s management system has been integrated to maximize the efficiency of the whole effort, points out Dalglish. In total, Responsive manages over 510 LTC beds and 10 retirement beds, with the invaluable support of a number of contract services, for example consulting nursing services provided by Responsive Health Mentors; environmental services provided by Nova Services Group Inc.; and foodservice and hospitality provided by Compass Group Canada. “We have really good relationships with our suppliers,” Dalglish explains. “We make no distinction between our own employees and the contractors. They participate in our team meetings, they are recognized for their contributions and they, in turn, provide seamless delivery of services. They’ve certainly played a role in our success.”
Dedicated staff
Dalglish also credits the organization’s full-time employees - many of whom have been with the organization for as long as 35 years - with maintaining the continuity of care that contributes to the atmosphere of permanence and hominess in Responsive homes. Dalglish herself has been with the organization for 18 years, having been given the opportunity to rise within the organization. This seems to be the norm; the organization hires quality staff and retains them by offering training and continued education, and then moving staff into new roles. Says Dalglish: “I think we’ve done an excellent job of recognizing talent and promoting from within.”
Cathy Fiore, Administrator for The O’Neill Centre agrees that employee satisfaction is extremely high at Responsive. “We had 85 percent of satisfaction surveys completed in one home,” she says. “That’s unusual - most homes are lucky to get a 50 percent response rate. Of those surveys completed, 87 percent said they enjoyed working at their home. That’s something to be proud of.”
More than a facility
The homes that Responsive manages receive praise from both family members and friends of residents. “We both felt that your home showed a real caring, compassionate and friendly atmosphere,” commented one family member. And the combination of the day’s activities and the care offered by staff caused another visitor to praise everything from the entertainment provided for pub night, to the attention and care delivered by staff. “What a nice experience,” he summed up. Responsive’s ongoing commitment to residents is exemplified by the family/resident satisfaction surveys conducted annually by a third party to ensure respondents feel free to answer honestly. Says Dalglish: “I think it’s important that we maintain a hand’s off approach to this, if we want true results.”
Ahead of the curve with technology
The Responsive team has adopted the approach that any technology that can improve the quality of life for residents and work-life for staff is worth adopting. At Vermont Square, Administrator, Marion Godoy, states that each resident home area has been equipped with several computers including touch screen thin clients that are outfitted to receive resident information and medical data. Called the “PointClickCare” program, the system enables members of the interdisciplinary team such as physicians and nurses to quickly synthesize and access the health information of each resident.
Another program, dubbed Seniors On The Net, focuses on the residents themselves, utilizing community volunteers to teach Internet skills and enable residents to communicate with family members and friends who may not be near. Residents can even play everything from bowling to baseball using the Nintendo Wii – a hands-on system that involves motioning as if you were taking part in an activity and watching the results on screen. “We believe participating in such activities provides both physical and mental exercise for seniors,” says Dalglish. “Not to mention that it’s fun!”
Specialized health care services
In the area of health care services, Responsive continually seeks new methods of working with hospitals and communities to determine and fulfill unmet community needs. Combined with a willingness to invest in education, that proactive stance has led to a number of outstanding initiatives. “We have an on-site dialysis service at The O’Neill Centre, that enables residents to stay in the home for treatment, rather than being shuttled back and forth from hospital,” points out Dalglish. “And the new stroke rehab program implemented by Linda Calabrese, Administrator at Cedarvale Terrace offers comprehensive treatment right in the home to bring stroke patients back to their full functional capacity.”
Other special services include the Mobile Crisis Team – a select group of highly trained registered nurses, who specialize in acute care nursing and have expertise in assessing care for the complex medically ill resident. They bring their expertise directly to the residents’ bedside. Out of every 50 emergency transfers 42 percent come from LTC homes. “If residents can be treated in-house, it is much better for both the resident and the hospital,” Dalglish contends. “In many cases transfers can be avoided if the LTC home has additional support from the hospitals in those communities.”
The most recent initiative: Cedarvale Terrace employees attended a two-day conference at the Aphasia Institute in Toronto, Ont., learning a variety of strategies to enable residents with aphasia (usually from stroke damage) to communicate more successfully and participate socially to the fullest extent possible.
All of Responsive’s many attempts to improve the care and lifestyle of its residents stem from a sense of obligation to the most vulnerable members of society, according to Dalglish. The result has been a unique culture, defined by constant self-education, openness to new technology and tight relationships with suppliers and staff. “We try to keep residents’ needs top of mind at all times,” she comments. “That’s what drives us and that’s what has made our company successful.”
* name has been changed
View Digital Corporate Profile of Responsive Bro in Healthcare Digital June 2009