For the nurses and personal support workers across Ottawa’s long-term care (LTC) homes, caring for seniors is one of the most important jobs they’ll ever do. Now, the person-centred care (PCC) program is changing how they’re able to support our aging population, for the better.
Person-centred care focusses on the individual needs of residents and favours an approach that enriches their quality of life through more choice, autonomy, relationship-building and home-like environments.
Since the City’s long-term care homes have been adopting person-centred care, there have been transformative benefits for residents, their families and the staff that support them.
PCC Champion and Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) at Garry J. Armstrong, Bintu Totangi, has experienced this first-hand. As a Champion of person-centred care, she supports staff with the goal of moving the program’s interventions forward through observation, feedback and coaching
“It’s been a transition. Imagine the staff have been working routinely for more than 20 years, just doing the same schedule with their residents every day. Now, with person-centred care, there’s a change in that culture, allowing staff to pause for a minute, think about their practice and not feel rushed in their work,” explained Bintu.
As a PCC Champion, Bintu coaches and mentors staff at the Garry J. Armstrong home, working together to tailor the care they provide to make the residents feel more at home.
“Before, the residents would have to adjust to our schedule. Now, we can be flexible, to adjust to their routine, to their perspectives, give them the autonomy and the freedom and independence to make their own decisions, to be the drivers of their own care. They tell us what to do and how they want it done,” she shared.
Bintu said one of the best parts of the program for the staff is not knowing what to expect in any given day. “The residents predict their own routines and we just follow. We’re working on getting them to wake up naturally, instead of waking them up. We’re giving them options, at mealtimes, or choosing what they want to wear. We’re getting them more involved in meaningful activities around the home.”
Bintu feels the program is working well, and that she and her colleagues are now able to do their jobs more consciously. “I’ve learnt a lot starting this project, about the residents and their family members,” Bintu shared. “The more you know them, the better you provide the care.”
“The best part, for me, is actually being an advocate for the residents, and being that intermediary between the staff, the residents, and the families,” she explained. For Bintu, her role as PCC Champion has been some of the most rewarding work of her career.
For more information on Ottawa’s long-term care homes and details on person-centred care, visit the City’s long-term care webpage.
