Executive Directors Report
January 23 2013
Policies and Procedures
The following policies were recently approved by the Senior Leadership Team:
COR 2-10 Risk Management Framework; HR 1-14 Employment References; COR 9-04 Tobacco Free Facility; COR 7-02 Program Evaluation; PHY 2-04 Change of Primary Provider; COR 8-10 Social Media; COR 6-01 Volunteer Management; COR 7-03 Client Safety; OHS 3-16 Reducing Risk of Bed Bugs and Managing Infestation; PHC 9-17 Point of Care HIV Testing; INF 09 Food Handling; COR 1-12 Cultural Interpreter Recruitment and Orientation; COR 2-04 Management On-Call.
Expanded Catchment Area
A letter welcoming the residents of our expanded catchment area has been written, approved and printed. The letter will be delivered door to door next week. The new expanded area includes the small area just south of Carling, west of Bronson, north of the canal and east of Dow`s Lake.
Nutrition/Cooking Group
Bonnie Baxter is running a new Nutrition/Cooking Group twice a month at Rochester Heights called “Cooking with Bonnie”. As well, Bonnie and the NESI Team are currently working together with a plan to run workshops about healthy living with HIV and Hepatitis C in the New Year.
Learning Module on Psoriasis Publication
A learning module on Psoriasis authored by Dr. Kay Lee has been published. It was developed for the Practice Based Learning Program coordinated by McMaster University. This program develops modules on a variety of medical issues that are then used by family physicians to facilitate their continuing medical education which is required for maintaining their license to practice. Congratulations to Dr Lee for her excellent work in supporting her profession.
Rooming Houses Visit by Councillor Diane Holmes
Councillor Diane Holmes has been invited to visit the local rooming houses with Joanna Binch, Nurse Practitioner and Tania Dorley, Mental Health Nurse, when they provide outreach services. Arrangements are currently being made with Councillor Holmes’ office for sometime in the New Year. This came about after Councillor Holmes attended a Carol Service at St Luke’s where Yvonne Makosz, Nurse Practitioner, gave a talk about the poor living conditions in the rooming houses.
Rooming House Christmas Bags Project
Once again this year Joanna Binch, NP and Tania Dorley, Mental Health Nurse coordinated the Rooming House Christmas Bags Project. Each year at this time all the staff at SWCHC contribute to the success of this project by donating essentials and food items to fill these bags. Items like Kleenex, toilet paper, deodorant, feminine products, hot chocolate, cup-a-soup, socks and toques, to mention just a few. The bags are then distributed to the men and women living in local Rooming Houses who are often forgotten at this time of year. This year 210 bags will be distributed! This is a heartwarming story about a small initiative that grew and grew. It started a number of years ago by the nursing team who decided to do something for others rather than having a gift exchange for themselves. That first year the bags were about the size of a lunch bag filled with goodies. Once other staff heard of this they said, “Hey we want to help as well!”, and so this project grew to where we now fill pillowcases with items appreciated and treasured by the recipients. Each year we place a note in the bag wishing the recipient a Merry Christmas from all the staff of SWCHC.
Dental Screenings
Since March 2012 clients have had monthly access to dental screenings and referrals completed at 55 Eccles by a Dental Health Promotion Officer from Ottawa Public Health. Over the course of the year, Elizabeth Lo has completed 123 screenings, 83 adults and 40 children. 55 of those screened had findings, 2 urgent, and were referred to a dentist for follow-up. All clients seen went away with toothbrushes, floss and personalized oral hygiene instructions.
Designation of Certified Respiratory Educator
Congratulations go out to Audrey Kerves onachieving the designation of Certified Respiratory Educator. Certified Asthma and Respiratory Educators (CAEs and CREs) perform a critical role in improving the lives of Canadians living with respiratory illness. Professional, knowledgeable and skilled CAE’s and CRE’s like Audrey support the disease management approach: education, evaluation and reinforcement. The Canadian Network for Respiratory Care is the organization that certifies healthcare professionals as Certified Asthma and Respiratory Educators. There are currently 425 CAEs and 455 CREs across Canada. This multidisciplinary group of educators represents a range of healthcare professionals, including: respiratory therapists, nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists.
Professional Practice Advisory Committee
Laurie Taylor, Coordinator of SWCHC’s Lung Health program has been asked to participate on the Professional Practice Advisory Committee at the Ontario College of Respiratory Therapists. Laurie will act as a representative of the Primary Care “Community”
Ontario Lung Association Respiratory Health Forum
Laurie Taylor, RT and Krystal Taylor, RD and CDPM Coordinator have been asked to present at the Ontario Lung Association Respiratory Health Forum on SWCHC’s Community Based Primary Health Care Intervention for COPD. Their focus will be on regional program design, evaluation plan and indicators.
Volunteer Recognition
Long time Yet Keen Seniors Day Centre member and volunteer Mr. Joe Kwok was recognized for his years of services at the Yet Keen Holiday Party on December 18th. Mr. Kwok was unable to attend our AGM in June for health reasons, so we presented the volunteer appreciation award to him at this event. We also recognized the contributions of over 25 Yet Keen volunteers who contribute countless hours to the program and other special events.
Social Media
SWCHC has reached the milestone of over 1000 followers on Twitter. We are only the 2nd CHC in Canada to reach this mark. SWCHC uses both Twitter and Facebook (where we have 221 likes on our page) to share information on community events, highlight media coverage of CHC issues and model of care discussions and promote our programs and services.
Our new website has also received very positive feedback from users as well as other CHCs who are looking to duplicate our feel and user friendliness!
Needle Collection Statistics
Somerset West continues to maintain high ratios of needles taken in to those given out. According to the report from the SITE program of Ottawa Public Health, our return rate in 2012 was 74 per cent- up from 71% in 2011. Overall numbers of needles given out and taken in dropped slightly across the city from 2011 to 2012.
Support for Harm Reduction
An anonymous donor with the Community Foundation of Ottawa is interested in supporting harm reduction work in Ottawa. The foundation approached Somerset West to explore possible initiatives. As a first step, we have received a donation of $4500.00 from this individual to cover the cost of the communications strategy developed for a supervised injection service. The donor is interested in the work currently being done on the development of the application for exemption to Health Canada and may be able to offer financial support in some way as the work on that progresses.
Partnership with Safer Inhalation Program
Centre 507, a day program and drop in centre for disadvantaged adults, is now a partner with the Safer Inhalation Program, bringing the number of participating organizations to 12. Located in Centretown, they are open during hours that other sites are not- this will be very helpful in increasing access to harm reduction supplies in the busy Centretown area. We will be exploring with them the possibility of offering anonymous HIV testing at the drop in.
Rochester Heights Community House
The Rochester Heights Community House hosted a Holiday Party for the residents of the community on Saturday December 15th 2012. Through support from the CDF and Diane Holmes, we were able to host the event at St. Anthony’s Church for 100 residents with a full dinner, children’s activities, and entertainment. The Body Shop volunteered for the evening to assist with decorations and to serve food as their final volunteering efforts for 2012 with Rochester Heights. Residents thoroughly enjoyed the event and were very appreciative.
Yet Keen Seniors Program
The Yet Keen Advisory Committee has successfully completed its first 2 year term of service. During the past term, an overall program evaluation has been completed to identify the needs of members and additional programs were introduced accordingly. The Annual Christmas Party held at the Bronson Centre on Dec 18 had 150 participants in attendance. This year we have invited a group of young children from Nanny Goat Hill to perform and celebrate with the seniors. Special souvenirs were also presented to acknowledge a total of 53 volunteers in 2012.
Children and Youth Program
We are currently working on developing a formal protocol and process to facilitate referrals of program participants in our Early Intervention Programs to Ottawa School Boards. We are working with Lori Anne Bradley, a University of Ottawa student, to develop an evaluation process and recommendations to guide us in terms of making effective program transfers and referrals. This work will proceed over the course of the next few months.
The United Way is attempting to secure ongoing funding for our Forward Family Shelter Lunch Box Program and plans to approach the Grocery Foundation to promote the benefits of our program. Funding for the program ends June 2013. Our United Way Consultant, Christine Lauzon Foley, visited the Family Shelter and our After School Programs and took promotional pictures of program participants to enhance their Grocery Foundation funding presentation.
The Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport completed an inspection of the Laroche Park and St. Francois d’Assise After School Programs. The Ministry representative inspected all aspects of programming and administration and the Ministry will be completing a final report evaluating our current ability to meet Ministry program guidelines.
Community Development
SWCHC has received funds from the City of Ottawa and the Community Foundation of Ottawa to support Community Development Framework activities in Rochester Heights and Mechanicsville. In Rochester Heights, we are planning a summer student job fair in response to community-identified need. After a successful needs assessment process in Mechanicsville, plans for 2013 will include additional community outreach and engagement and action planning.
HIV Prevention and HIV Health Initiative: African Caribbean and Black Community
Staffing changes in program
We recently had some staff changes in our HIV Prevention Program and our HIV Health Initiative. In December, Jane Karago-Odongo was hired as our new HIV/AIDS Prevention Strategy Worker. Jane was previously our African and Caribbean Community Developer. In addition, Hector Addison was hired as our new African and Caribbean Community Developer. Hector comes to us with experience working with the African, Caribbean and Black Community at the Peel HIV/AIDS Network (serving Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon).
Somerset West Community Health Centre in collaboration with partner organizations is organizing a 2 day Health Symposium for service providers including community and faith leaders from February 4-5, 2013 at the Bronson Centre. The goal of the Symposium is to bring service providers and ACB leaders together to discuss the social determinants of health and work towards organizing a formalized ACB Network in Ottawa.
Physical Activity – Health Promotion
Planning is in progress to organize a 12 week program for clients dealing with obesity management. The program will involve focused counselling sessions with a Kinesiologist and Dietician. Research has shown this method to be highly effective at helping patients lose weight.
We are also in the process of conducting a review of our Physical Activity Program. The goal of the review is to identify the important factors that contribute to the overall quality of the program. A report with recommendations will be prepared for our Senior Leadership Team in March 2013.
Housing Support – Forward Family Shelter
The length of stay in the Shelter for homeless families continues to be long with larger families living in the shelter for over a year. Some clients report that they are frustrated with the system as a result of the long duration of their residency at the Shelter. We have observed that rent geared to income social housing offers have slowed down in the past few months. In addition, the housing vacancy rate is currently very low. We continue to provide housing search support with clients in a very difficult housing environment.
Accreditation
SWCHC will be one of the first health centres to be accredited under the newly formed Canadian Centre for Accreditation. More than just a name change this involves new processes, such as the Board survey and new standards. We are now in the midst of completing the extensive data base of information that must be submitted prior to the surveyors visit the first week of April. At the February Board meeting, Jennifer Simpson, Health Planner, will attend to provide an overview.
The Quality Agenda
As partof our legislative commitment under the Excellence in Care for All Act, we will be required to submit a Quality Improvement Plan to Health Quality Ontario. The Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC) in cooperation with the Health Quality Ontario is holding a one day workshop where they will lay out the expectations for Community Health Centres. SWCHC will be well represented by several staff members of our Quality Oversight Committee, who will be able to report to this committee on what we need to do to fulfill this obligation at the next meeting of the Quality Oversight Committee.
M-SAA Agreement
Last week the LHIN rolled out several additional expectations that will be incorporated into our M-SAA agreement. In an effort to increase system integration, the province is introducing an accountability indicator for all sectors that measures how effective acute care hospital are in the timely discharge of inpatients to more appropriate levels of care whether that is long term care, the community ora nursing home. Our Senior Leadership Team will be examining what these targets mean to our service. The M-SAA agreement will be refreshed in April. Stay tuned.
Submitted by: Jack McCarthy
January 23, 2013