The recent launch of an assisted living program in Parry Sound now offers frail seniors the option of living in their own homes. With funding from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the support of the North East LHIN, intensive Alternative Level of Care (ALC) assistance is administered by The Friends, a non-profit community-based organization that supports individuals with long-term care needs.
The Friends collaborates with the Community Care Access Centre and the West Parry Sound Health Centre to identify eligible seniors. Priority is given to hospital ALC patients who could safely return to their homes with the appropriate support and assistance in place.
The assisted living program provides intensive in-home community supports on a scheduled and unscheduled basis, because these individuals may require more frequent assistance than an outreach program would normally provide. Staff can go to the home to help with breakfast and morning toiletry and personal hygiene, return at lunch to help with their meal and medications, then come back in the afternoon to check in and provide assistance with laundry and light housekeeping. Participants have a pager in case they fall or need unscheduled assistance, day or night. Program assistance is offered within a 15-minute radius of The Friends' 24-hour supportive housing location in Parry Sound.
Linkages
The assisted living program also provides linkages to community organizations, meals-on-wheels programs, faith groups and volunteer transportation. This combination of staff intervention and community outreach makes all the difference.
"One fellow who was ALC in the hospital and was accepted in the assisted living program never had any food in his house," said Marliese Gause, executive director of The Friends. "Then we realized he had early stage dementia. He was using cabs to get groceries, so he couldn't afford enough groceries to keep himself in food. We are now providing volunteer driving to the grocery store so that (cab fare) money can go to food."
As of April 1st, 2010, the assisted living program has enabled nine ALC patients in hospital beds to return to their homes and live independently. Prior to this program, an ALC senior in Parry Sound was limited to a hospital bed while waiting for the next available long-term care vacancy.
The assisted living program addresses the growing challenges confronting the health-care system.
"In Parry Sound, this situation is extremely serious. There is not enough housing, period. Assisted living will make a big dent. In a town setting it will work," said Gause.
"Northern Ontario will have some real challenges with regard to service delivery because of geography and the fact that we're aging faster than the rest of the province. Our young people are moving south, so there isn't the same extended family nearby."
The Friends has a 25-year history of meeting the long-term care needs of individuals in the districts of Parry Sound and Muskoka. They began offering community supportive housing services with attendant care to physically disabled young adults in the 1980s and now have a total of 38 accessible supportive housing units in Parry Sound and Bracebridge.
Community outreach
Over the years, The Friends has extended its services to include community outreach and attentive care programs and homemaking services. Their adult day away programs in nearly 20 communities connect with other community-based service providers to offer safe, social/recreational outings, while caregiver support services include respite and Alzheimer's overnight respite support. Overall, the organization provides services to between 400 and 500 residents of East and West Parry Sound and Muskoka.
The new assisted living program has an annual operating budget of $175,000 and has the capacity to support up to 12 seniors. Compared to the cost of 12 hospital beds at the current rate of $940 each per night, and the fact that this program makes those beds available for others, the program is relatively inexpensive.
The human value of this program is measured by a different calculation, said Gause.
"Two individuals who were considered ALC were well enough to go home, but they didn't have the support to go home safely. The husband had broken his arm. He is 90 and his wife is 93. As a result of this program they were able to go home together and are remaining in their own home with no further hospitalization."
www.thefriends.on.ca
