June 9, 2011
LTC "family" marks 17
years
by Colleen Archer
“We’re a family here; a small dynamic family. Like most families we
aren’t perfect, but we care for each other and do our best to provide a
positive and nurturing environment.”
The speaker was Gerry Mungham, RN, who is one of 14 employees who has
worked at the North Renfrew Long Term Care Centre since its inception.
He was speaking on “Seventeen Years of Caring: a Staff Member’s
Perspective,” and the occasion was the North Renfrew Long-Term Care
Services Inc. 18th Annual General Meeting held at the Seniors’ Drop-In
Centre, 47 Ridge Road, Deep River, on Thursday, May 26.
Gerry’s presentation was full of humorous stories from the past, but it
became serious when it touched on topics like the reality of death and
dying.
“There is a general mind set that long term care is a place where a
person comes to die,” he said.
“Here, from the top down, we focus on a philosophy that clients are
here to live.”
According to Statistics Canada (2006), long term care residents in
Canada live on national average three years from the day of admission.
“Most staff realize early on that the expected death of our clients
only means we have less time to get it right,” said Gerry.
The centre adopted the “Eden Philosophy” in 2003.
The Eden Philosophy was developed by a Dr. William Thomas to combat the
three plagues of life in long term care homes: loneliness, boredom and
hopelessness.
A homelike environment is created using plants, animals, and
diversified age groups.
While Eden brings life to the centre, it also brings some unexpected
challenges.
Gerry gave his audience an extensive list of Did You Know revelations
from working with the Eden Philosophy. Three examples are:
- Did you know that not all animals get along?
- Did you know that active cats named Zoey enjoy walking club more than
fat dogs named Miko?
- Did you know that cats statistically cough up more fur balls on night
shift than day shift?
Gerry spoke about how not every day at work is sunshine and roses. Some
residents suffer from dementia, and “we as staff ride an eight-hour
roller coaster of up and down emotions as we go room to room helping
each individual resident meet their individual care needs and achieve
their individual goals.”
Robert Christie chaired the business part of the annual meeting. He had
lots of praise for his hardworking fellow board members, and even more
praise for administrator Kim Rodgers.
“Some people can work well on one thing,” he said. “Then there are
other people who can multitask and keep control of a whole host of
things. This lady has that skill.”
The board chair’s written report sums up some of the significant
accomplishments and activities accomplished by Kim, the staff and board
in 2010.
- The 24-Hour Flexible In-Home Support Program funded through the Aging
At Home initiative continues to be highly successful, with over 30
individuals having received assistance during the year.
- Demonstrated due diligence with our finances with a balanced budget
in all five budget areas of the centre's over $2 million budget.
- Continued to provide services such as Meals on Wheels,
Transportation, Adult Day Service, and Wheels to Meals to close to 400
clients in the North Renfrew community.
- Continued progress in implementing RAI-MDS and an electronic records
system.
- Ongoing collaboration and exploration of integration opportunities
with the Deep River and District Hospital and Renfrew County Paramedic
Service and other service providers in the provision of quality care to
seniors in North Renfrew.
In her administrator’s report, Kim told of several disasters in the
year 2010, including a vehicle written off after a collision, and an
accident with the sprinkler system that flooded three apartments,
displaced four residents and caused extensive damage to a ceiling and
walls.
Meanwhile, the centre is trying to comply with the province’s Long Term
Care Homes Act that has 193 articles and 335 regulations, along with
inspectors to ensure compliance.
“I’m sure they’ll say we should have a ceiling,” kidded Kim, who is
presently working with the insurance company and contractors to rectify
this and other results of the flood.
How does the hard-working staff survive all this stress?
“Everybody just goes on,” she said. “If it makes sense, let’s just do
it. That’s what we’re here for. Our staff members are the best.”
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