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June 26th, 2008: Champlain LINH CEO Singles Out Kemptville Collaboration
Kemptville District Hospital
2675 Concession Road, Kemptville, ON K0G 1J0
Tel: (613) 258-6133; Fax: (613) 258-7853
June 26, 2008
For Immediate Release – June 26, 2008
Kemptville, ON, June 26, 2008 Kemptville was singled out for praise during a recent CBC Radio "Ottawa Morning" interview with Dr Robert Cushman, CEO of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN). The topic of the interview was Ageing at Home and Ontario's Seniors' Care Strategy. Cushman highlighted the importance of helping people live at home, rather than an institution, for as long as possible:
"One of the things we're doing is drilling down to communities so we can understand what the needs are, of the seniors within that community, [and] how many seniors there are. There's a very interesting project in the Kemptville area, where they actually know the denominator. They actually know how many seniors, within their catchment area, that need their services at any given time, and then they are able to [develop] the services [and match them] with the needs."
Cushman reiterated the sense of dignity and independence that comes with living at home, along with the obvious cost savings. According to Cushman, it costs about one thousand dollars a day for someone to live at a hospital. That's an unnecessary cost for many. About three-hundred citizens in the Champlain LHIN are living unnecessarily in hospitals, and six-hundred at long term care facilities, when a less-institutional arrangement would suffice.
What kinds of services will be offered in the Kemptville area, to help make life better? Kemptville District Hospital CEO Colin Goodfellow said a team of community health leaders is focusing on specific problems which lead to early institutionalization. The most obvious example is simple wellness -- checking up on people to ensure they are active enough, eating right and mentally healthy, and taking steps to support family caregivers. "If a caregiver needs respite care, but cannot find it, this leads to burn out," said Goodfellow, "and all of a sudden we have a new resident in a long-term care facility." Other initiatives include reviewing a person's medication to reduce pharmaceutical complications. Another predictor of early institutionalization is incontinence. Goodfellow said "continence issues can easily overwhelm the primary caregiver, and alienate seniors so they stop leading a healthy life at home. Continence coaching can help remedy this, and get people the help they need to manage this symptom."
The Lanark, Leeds & Greenville Ageing at Home Care Collaborative received multi year LHIN base funding, and was selected as an Ontario leader in innovation in services for the aged. "Many different players are involved," said Goodfellow "and the Collaborative been recognized because we have stopped talking about the problem and started working on a solution." Colin Goodfellow has spoken at several conferences, to share the early successes of the program here.
Cheryl Brown, Executive Director of Kemptville and District Home Support, agrees. Her organization is a partner in the Collaborative. "We have all the right people in all the right places," said Brown, "but most of all our community is very much aware of where we have been missing out, and where we can fill the gaps."
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For more information, please contact:
Colin Goodfellow
CEO, Kemptville District Hospital
Tel: 613-258-6133 x 132
cgoodfellow@kdh.on.ca