Enhanced versatility in roles required as OMNI moves forward: McCarthy

Continued community engagement at management level and more educational opportunities for staff essential

November 26, 2009 -- Deron Hamel

OMNI Health Care president and CEO Pat McCarthy says enhanced versatility of job roles amongst the organization's team members will be necessary to help OMNI move forward in coming years.

This means management and staff members at each of OMNI's 17 homes will all have important parts to play in continuing to establish OMNI as a leader in the long-term care sector.

Management teams, for example, will need to continue their hard work in the community, strengthening partnerships, especially in terms of learning about needs in the community and branding the organization through networking.

"There will be lots of work and tasks, but I think the tasks are going to be around learning (more) about the community, learning about the needs and networking with the community - that's important at the leadership level," says McCarthy.

With the trend of long-term care homes increasing integrated services likely to increase pace in the future, staff members will need to continue to take advantage of educational opportunities, says McCarthy.

McCarthy says if this trend continues there will be a need for increasing versatility amongst team members in the long-term care sector, so there will be better capacity to serve residents who have a myriad of needs.

In short, job descriptions may become less structured, with staff members required to perform a number of functions - fulfilling therapeutic objectives, working directly residents, as well as dealing with social aspects of resident care.

"This (staff being more versatile in their roles) has got to happen, and we can make that happen through education, and there are therapies that can be delivered at the front-line level, for example, physiotherapy, to involve PSWs (personal support workers) in more therapeutic work with residents," says McCarthy.

Adding to this, there may be the need to bring in staff members with different skill sets.

"For example, bringing in people with a social-work background, which today we have very limited access to," says McCarthy.

"That may be an area where we can benefit from expansion - and the residents would benefit from that."

Do you have a story you would like to share with the OMNIway? If so, please contact the newsroom at 800-294-0051, ext. 23, or e-mail deron(at)axiomnews.ca.

- This is Part 3 of a three-part series

If you have feedback on this story, please call the newsroom at 800-294-0051, ext. 23, or e-mail deron(at)axiomnews.ca.

Back to News