Pictured left to right, Frost Manor residents Michael Lane, Dorothy Burrows, Chrystol Broom, Sharon Arsenault and Sylvia Trumbull enjoying a Tablet Time session.
OMNI Health Care long-term care homes have recently been demonstrating the value of creating community partnerships to help enhance quality of life for their residents.
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Riverview Manor BSO team member Karlie Phillips holds the costume-jewel-studded lanyard she made to prompt a resident to wear her decorative WanderGuard.
Riverview Manor’s Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) team has created several successful interventions in recent months that have proven beneficial to enhancing quality of life for residents living with cognitive impairment. Read more
In this June 2018 file photo, Woodland Villa resident Muriel VanAllen and staff member Karen Brennan are pictured stopping by a Tim Hotrons for coffee on the home’s Triobike.
Woodland Villa residents are once again enjoying summer rides around the Long Sault area on the home’s Triobike. Read more
Rosebridge Manor residents’ council president Bud Dyment enjoys a July 18 classic car show at the Jasper long-term care home.
Rosebridge Manor residents were revved up recently by the throaty rumble of classic cars pulling into the long-term care home’s parking lot. Read more
Frost Manor RN Brittney Sharpe (left) stands alongside administrator Doneath Stewart, holding her Inspired Leadership Award during an Aug. 6 ceremony at the Lindsay long-term care home.
Brittney Sharpe’s colleagues at Frost Manor say the registered nurse embodies OMNI Health Care’s core values – especially fun and laughter, creativity, friendliness and integrity – through her work every day at the Lindsay long-term care home, which is why they nominated her for the Inspired Leadership Award.
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Much to residents’ delight, Maplewood recently had the pitter-patter of puppy paws in the Brighton long-term care home. Read more
Since joining the Frost Manor life enrichment team a year ago, Kim Williams has approached her job each day with a positive attitude and a genuine desire to enhance quality of life for the Lindsay long-term care home’s 62 residents, her colleagues say. Read more
Bonding over burgers and sausages, residents, staff and family members are making new connections and strengthening existing relationships at Rosebridge Manor. Read more
On June 17, the federal government launched Canada’s long-awaited dementia strategy, an initiative aimed at raising awareness of dementia, preventing the condition, finding a cure and improving quality of life for those living with cognitive impairment.
Naturally, OMNI Health Care, along with the long-term care sector at large, approves of this move, given the large-scale impact dementia has on our residents.
In fact, an estimated 70 per cent of people living in Canadian long-term care homes have some form of dementia.
Adding to this, seniors are the most vulnerable age group affected by dementia, and there are more Canadians today who are 65 and older than there are people 14 and younger.
The launch of Canada’s dementia strategy comes at a crucial time. With a growing number of Canadians expected to develop dementia in the coming years, it will be challenging for the long-term care sector to accommodate everyone affected by the neurodegenerative disease.
But having a national dementia strategy is positioning OMNI and other long-term care providers to be equipped to face this challenge.
The Alzheimer Society of Canada characterizes Canada’s national dementia strategy as “the single most powerful tool to improve dementia care and support.
“The strategy ensures that all Canadians living with dementia, their families and their caregivers have the same level of access, quality of care and services, regardless of where they live,” the organization states.
So, how does this impact people with dementia living in OMNI’s 18 long-term care homes?
Our team members bring a treasure trove of experience to the table improving the lives of people living with various forms of dementia. The national dementia strategy is not a magic bullet; rather it is a tool to bolster what we are already doing well: bringing a high quality of life to people with dementia living in our homes.
An important component of the strategy is to ramp up evidenced-based best practices and share these tried and proven methods for working with people who have dementia coast to coast. Everyone will benefit.
In short, having a national dementia strategy will help us do what we are already doing even better.
OMNI Health Care’s president and CEO says the organization is supporting recommendations made in Justice Eileen Gillese’s final report in the Public Inquiry into the Safety and Security of Residents in the Long-Term Care Homes System and is pleased that Gillese demonstrated a strong understanding of issues faced in the sector around keeping residents safe. Read more