Executive Director’s Update: August – October, 2016

The following is a summary of the Health Care Human Resource Sector Council operational and project activities for the period August – October 2016.

Administration

All Statutory Obligations were paid to date within required timelines.

Board Liability Insurance with Fraser and Hoyt Insurancehas been renewed for the period July 7, 2016 – July 7, 2017.

Terri Westhaver resigned her positon as Admin/Financial Coordinator on August 28th. To meet current program and budget requirements, Catherine Martin is under contract 2 days per week, providingproject support for the Council’s career/web based resources, written materials including Board materials and career pamphlets, and assisting with training initiatives. Catherine is the leadcontact with ABLESENSE media in the redevelopment of the Council’s website.

Cheryl Smith, SMITH MBC Accounting,is under contract providing bi-monthly accounting services in accordance with the Council’s financial procedures.

To consolidate office space the Council will be moving to office 305 effective November 1, 2016. This move will realize a differential in rent of 350 per month (1550 vs 1200) effective April 1, 2017 and for the remainder of this fiscal year of 875.

The By-law Review Committee met in person and by telephone conference over this period, refining the By-Laws in consultation with Kim Turner, Lawyer. The resulting Draft 8 was reviewed and approved by the Board at the September 14th Board of Directors meeting to bring forward to the June 2017 AGM for ratification.

The five year 2011-2016 IEHP: Atlantic Connection Project funded through Health Canada completed March 31, 2016. All required reporting has been submitted and approved by Health Canada including the financial reporting and a summary report to AACHHR (Atlantic Advisory Committee for Health Human Resources) for which the Council served as Agent for the purposes of the agreement. The hold back payment was approved September 9thfollowing review of the Council’s 2015-16 Audited Financial Statements and confirmation of the GST/HST rebate related to the final year’s allocation.

GST/HST filings are now twice per year, at the end of the first (April – September) and second (October – March) quarters. This year’s first and second quarter filing is 11,346.50.

The Atlantic Industry Sector Council (AISC) initiative to develop an evaluation and reporting framework for the 2016-2019 3 Year Funding.Is underway with Group ATM as Project Managers. The next scheduled AISC meeting to review the 2nd draft framework osscheduled November 24, 2016.Following an RFP process by the AISC, Group ATN has been awarded the contract. Group ATN brings to the project experience in consulting with AISC members in the development of the AISC’s initial three year pilot funding evaluation for the Department of Labour and Advanced Education.

Additionally, the AISC video project defining the AISC and its members is in process. The Executive Director will assist with this project.

The Executive Director completed her term as Chair of the AWARE.NS Board of Directors on September 29th but at the request of AWARE.NS continues to sit on the committee exploring sustainable funding models to support the Association on a go forward basis.

Program

Working with consultants Able Sense Media Ltd., the Council has completed the mood board and initial content of the Council’s re-designed website which will launch in early November. The website is developed with the intent of populating with distance learning over the next fiscal year in addition to enhanced recruitment resources. To facilitate then needs assessment process to inform the content of the learning, the Council will work with Susan Smith, Wayfinder Consulting on survey and focus group formats to ensure the training meets with sector needs.

The launch of the website will be announced in the Council’s quarterly newsletter to be distributed in November 2016.

The Eastern Zone Home Support Nursing Leadership Program, funded by the DH&W, and facilitated by Alison McEachern, McEachern & Associates Consulting Inc., was developed in response to the leadership topics identified through the needs assessment process. The customized three module program was deliveredJune 21, September 13 and September 27 in Sydney. Learning topics included: Diagnosing and Improving Employee Performance; Strengthening Teamwork; and Bringing Out the Best In People.

A total of 15 Senior Nurse Leaders took part in the program, representing the following facilities:

  • Guysborough County Home Support Agency
  • Northside Homemakers Service Society
  • City Homemakers Services
  • New Waterford Homecare
  • Victoria County Home Support Services
  • Cape Breton County Home Makers Agency.

Upon successful completion of the program, each participant received a Certificate of Completion.

Post session evaluations were completed by participants following each of the modulesin addition to a final program evaluation at the end of Module 3. Overall, participants were satisfied with the content of the program and planned to implement the learning in their workplace. Participants were asked to rate the program on an evaluation scale of 1 to 5; 1 being strongly disagree – 5 being strongly agree. The average response was 4.76, the lowest response being 4.45.

To provide an additional resource to the learning modules and facilitate continued conversation and sharing of best practices, a webpage for participants of the Eastern Zone workshop has been developed

In response to an identified opportunity to expand the program to home support organizations throughout the District Health Authority, the Council will work with representatives from the home support sector to determine the highest demand areas for regional delivery in the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

Total Actual Cost for delivery of the program was 11,573.07 for which an invoice has been submitted to Department of Health and Wellness.

The Responsive Leadership for a Diverse Workplace Program Northwooddeveloped in collaboration with Alison MacEachern, has not been confirmed. Northwood is in the process of finalizing delivery of a core cultural awareness program for all staff that aligns with the organization’s diversity training. The intent of the Responsive Leadership for a Diverse Workplace Project is to build on the core cultural awareness training to support leaders in their role through leadership.

The Council has contracted Barefoot Consulting, Gerard Murphy to delivery two sessionsof Compassion Fatigue and the Helping Professional workshop in Halifax, December 6thand in Liverpool December 1st. The workshops will be held from 10am to 2pm with lunch provided to allow for travel time.

The interactive workshops will help participants learn about the signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue and identify personal self-care strategies to deal with compassion fatigue and increase stress resiliency.

Learning outcomes include:

1. Reflect ion on the work we do as helping professionals.

2. Distinguishing compassion fatigue from other similar concepts (ie: stress, burnout and

vicarious trauma).

3. Identifying the symptoms/signs of compassion fatigue.

4. Assessing for personal compassion fatigue (self-assessment).

5. Identifying personal self care strategies to address/overcome compassion fatigue.

6. Identifying workplace strategies to support colleagues experiencing compassion fatigue.

7. Committingto a personal action plan to increase stress resiliency.

The Executive Director is working with Barefoot Facilitation Inc. on the development of a series of workshops designed in blocks of Learning Series A: Personal Awareness and Growth Personality Dimensions ® - Introductory Workshop, Collaboration at Work, Personal Learning Styles: What Makes People Tick?and Learning Series B: Interpersonal Skills Enhancement Conversations that Count: Survival Strategies for Effective Communication,Conflict Resolution Styles and Strategies,,Hosting Effective Meetingsto address training needs identified through the 2015 stakeholder needs assessment and the Council’s 2016-2019 work plans. It is anticipated that Learning Series Awill be delivery February - March, 2017 subject to funding approval by WiPSI in Truro and Liverpool with Learning Series B in April – May 2017.

Current Projects

AISC Three Year Project (2016 – 2019)

  • Funder: Workplace Initiatives Skills and Learning Branch, Department of Labour and Advanced Education.
  • Activity:The activities this period focused on background work to support the Sector Council Program Three Year funding application for the period 2016-2019 with emphasis on the Year One 2016-2017 work plan.

Survey of sector stakeholders to inform planning for workshops, events in development.

Social Media 101 delivered in Antigonish, October 2016.

Compassion Fatigue and the Helping Professional scheduled.

Planning for training for continuing and community care organizations to meet identified training needs from the 2015 needs assessment including a further delivery of the redesigned Responsive Leadership for a Diverse Workplace Program is pending.

Revision and reprint of the career information pamphlets and web based career information in consultation with regulatory bodies to ensure up to date and relevant information is complete.

The redesign anddevelopment of web based resources in collaboration with the consultants ABLESENSE is complete.

Health Career Options Guide

The project will produce a “Web-based Health Career Options Guide for IEHPs” by March 31, 2017. The Guide is being produced in collaboration with NSCC and PMA Workforce Development Solutions. The Guide will be an on-line, interactive, globally accessible tool with information about aligned assistive roles and “hidden” career options for IEHPs. This will help address regional and national alternative career needs that have been identified through the work of the IEHP Atlantic Connection Steering Committee and their affiliated project groups. The Guide will enhance and be tied to the SARTs TM, which provides clear and accurate information about health professional practice standards to help eliminate possible career misconceptions prior to immigration.

The “Web-based Health Career Options Guide for Internationally Educated Health Professionals (IEHPs)” will identify a number of alternative career paths for several of the current professional level SARTs, in both French and English, targeting professions identified as eligible occupations via the FSWP (CIC are currently used by Colleges and Institutes Canada (CIC), Canadian Immigration Integration Program (CIIP) in their global offices, as part of pre-arrival information for health professionals.

Funder: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Status: Agreement signed October 29th

Start Date: November 1, 2015

End Date: March 31, 2017

Activity

The Project Steering Committee has met on 6 occasions over the past 6 months, most recently on October 31st.

The mandate of the Project Advisory Group is to support communication with professions, provide feedback and help validate content of the Health Career Options Guide.TheAdvisory Group is comprised of representatives from Eastern, Central and Western regions, health professions represented in the Health Career Options Guide, and one Internationally Educated Health Professional. Professions have been chosen based on the most frequently accessed Self-Assessment Readiness Tools (SARTs) on the Atlantic Connection web site and/or those professions represented on the Federal Skilled Worker Occupations list of 347 eligible professions. The next meeting of the Advisory Group is November 4th in Toronto to align with the CNNAR (Canadian Network of National Associations of Regulators) conference.

The Executive Director conducted an onsite financial review at the PMA offices on August 4th.

On August 19th, CIC completed an onsite financial review of transactions related to the project. The review identified no areas of concern.

The HCOG development team is progressing with content development, the draft Guide to be reviewed by the Project Advisory Committee in Toronto on November 4th.

All project deliverables are meeting contribution agreement guidelines.

 1st and 2nd quarter activity and cash flow reports were submitted October 31st awaiting receipt of 2nd and 3rdquarter advance funds received upon approval.

Social Media Workshop – Antigonish – October 26, 2016

Facilitated by Giles Crouch, Digital Research/Managing Partner, WELL Researched, the workshop was delivered on October 26th in Antigonish. There were 12 registrants for the program. The one day workshop addressed topics including the importance of social media for organizations, the role of social media in recruiting, privacy issues, managing organizational reputation in social media, and social media etiquette.

Outreach Activities/Representation

Committees

AWARE.NS – Funding Committee Representative

Health Human Resources Working Group - Chair

Health Career Options Guide – Project Steering Committee/Advisory Committee

Internationally Educated Pharmacists Working Group

Internationally Educated Nurses Working Group

Internationally Educated Dentists Working Group

Internationally Educated Medical Laboratory Technologists Working Group

Outreach

CNAR (Canadian Network of Agencies for Regulation) Conference Toronto – November 3 & 4

Respectfully Submitted:

Janet Everest

Executive Director

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HCHRSC Executive Director Update August – October, 2016