Bruce County’s Director of Long Term Care and Senior Services took part in a roundtable session recently in Blyth, addressing a variety of topics impacting long term care.
On March 3, Megan Garland was joined by MPP for Huron-Bruce Lisa Thompson, Minister of Long-Term Care Paul Calandra, and various long term care operators from across Huron and Bruce.
“MPP Lisa Thompson just invited local long term care operators and administrators in the Huron-Bruce area. I believe that they were in the area because they were opening a new home in Goderich and thought this was a good opportunity to connect with rural long term care homes,” says Garland.
She says the session went over a variety of topics, including agency staff, the human resources crisis in healthcare, the personal support worker program, resident support aid positions, funding, nurse practitioners, and innovation in technology supporting high quality care.
While not addressing any specific issues facing local long term care homes, Garland says they focused on long term care homes in a more broader sense, specifically the challenges faced in a lack of staffing.
“Long term care homes are facing a high demand for people to enter the sector and work within the home, and there is just not equal demand going through the college programs and the university programs that come to work in long term care,” says Garland.
Garland says while in discussion, they highlighted the recent graduation of a number of Personal Support Workers.
“We have certainly shared the success and encouraged the sector to look into possibly modeling those programs in other areas in Ontario,” says Garland.
She adds Thompson and Calandra shared interest in the program and wanted to figure out how to mirror them.
“I think its important because it allows us to share information and share ideas, and allows us to come together in a collective voice to advocate for what’s important to move our sector forward and helping support our residents in our homes with high quality care,” says Garland.
The county says it currently operates two long term care homes in the area, Gateway Haven in Wiarton, and Brucelea Haven in Walkerton, which operate as municipal homes.
