On Tuesday, September 24th, I had the privilege to introduce the new Long-Term Care Person-Centered Care Report at City Council’s Community Services Committee.
The root of this transformation is organizing care according to resident needs rather than staff schedules. It’s increasing resident choice, autonomy, and decision-making.
It’s change in our physical facilities and our service delivery models. But even more deeply, it’s a culture change, because it moves staff from “getting things done” to, first and foremost, building relationships with residents. When residents are treated with respect, encouraged to maintain independence, engage in activities, and make friends, they can thrive, even with dementia and chronic illnesses.
The City of Ottawa has four long-term care (LTC) homes are partnering with the 717 residents, their families and facility staff to “transform” our homes using a person-centred philosophy of care.
It’s hard to describe the changes we’re talking about because City of Ottawa long term care homes have always had very high standards and are at the top of families’ choices for their loved ones. But this is more. The new customized approach was developed in-house, and it incorporates input from residents, their loved ones and staff, using a collaborative design methodology. The approach integrates person-centred care design principles and includes training and processes to support the culture change.
These changes have been in the works for a long time. Before Covid, I met with my Council colleagues at that time, Councillors Diane Deans and Catherine McKenney to ask city staff about a way of caring for those in long term care called the Butterfly Model that was getting attention for its innovative model of care for residents especially those with dementia. We wanted that for our homes.
Then Covid hit and the long term care homes went into survival mode like everyone else. The big changes had to take a back seat. But the work of researching a model for Ottawa went on. The new program, person-centred care is the result of thoughtful and broad research into best practices in Canada and across the world.
As a member of the Person-Centred Care Steering Committee for our long term care homes, I have had the great pleasure to see the work unfold and the program begin to roll out and was pleased to work with the Long-Term Care Services team members including Dean Lett, the Director of Long-Term Care Services with the City of Ottawa since 2016 and Sheila Bauer, who developed the City’s custom person-centred care approach.
Sheila is a registered nurse with a master’s degree in health administration. She has extensive leadership experience in various healthcare sectors including acute care, long-term care, and home and community care. She has served as Administrator at both the Peter D. Clark and Garry J. Armstrong homes and now leads quality initiatives and person-centred care at the City homes. Sheila actively participates in sector-wide working groups and communities of practice, contributing her expertise beyond our homes. We are fortunate to benefit from her leadership and passionate commitment to improving the quality of life for individuals living in our long-term care homes through the person-centred care approach.
As the Co-Liaison for Older Adults, I was pleased to be part of this shift to person-centred care for our residents in our Ottawa’s LTC facilities to those who need full time care.
Read report here: Community Services Committee – September 24, 2024 (escribemeetings.com)
Read CBC article here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-expands-project-to-make-long-term-care-centres-feel-more-like-home-1.7332598
