Resources need to match evolving long-term care role
Friday, September 23, 2005 -- Craig Anderson
More people are entering long-term care for difference and more complex care needs than in the past.

This, says Nelly Hobbs, administrator at Rosebridge Manor, means that greater resources are needed to continue to fill the “void” if long term care is to live up to its expanding service role.

“There needs to be some accommodation to provide appropriate programs for all those clients. With the resources we have today it’s hard to meet the needs of our elderly population and meet the needs of others who become part of our community. There’s been no significant change in funding for those kinds of resources,“ she says.

Nelly has seen first hand what a long-term care home is capable of when given the opportunity through greater access to resources.

In recent years, Rosebridge has been able to improve its physiotherapy services notably. Previously there were no in-house physio programs at Rosebridge, and residents requiring the services might receive a couple of treatments a month. But now, with increased funding, Rosebridge has a physiotherapy aide and is able to ensure two physiotherapy sessions a week for all of its residents.

“For us that’s a phenomenal improvement in the services we’ve been able to provide,” says Nelly.

Rosebridge, in one unique respect, has been a test case for inclusion, as roughly 30-40 percent of its residents have intellectual disabilities, having been transferred from a Brockville psychiatric institution prior to their affiliation with OMNI. Rosebridge staff have received tremendous in-service support from the Brockville psychiatric-geriatric team, says Nelly. This, coupled with OMNI led initiatives like supportive measures, has increased staff knowledge about cognitive impairment, dementia, and other psychiatric disorders, to a considerable degree, she says.

The home has also opened its doors to individuals suffering deleterious cognitive effects of long term alcoholism – like Korsakoff’s Disorder, a memory disorder . Although a home like Rosebridge has, as CEO Fraser Wilson remarked, a “breadth of scope” giving evidence of the expanding nature of the sector. But as they’re primary clientele is the elderly, a nursing home is not always an appropriate fit for individuals who might benefit from the comprehensive care in a nursing home.

“What we’re not equipped to deal with is people in an acute phase of alcoholism. They would have had to have gone through rehabilitation, and maybe have dementia related to the alcoholism, and can’t live on their own,” says Nelly, noting that the home currently has a few residents who fit this categorization.

The biggest challenges when bringing in younger residents with mitigating health factors not related to age, says Nelly, is keeping them socially satisfied and occupied. Rosebridge – without separate units or wings – is more communal, so it’s important that a non-elderly resident integrate well with the rest of the population.

“[You need to have] a consistent approach with them, treat them the same way, but you also have to look at everyone individually too,” she says.

It can be difficult to find the time and resources to offer meaningful programming for younger residents, especially those who are physically sound.

Nelly admits that the ethic of inclusion hasn’t always worked in their favour.

“Where we’ve had serious problems is with those who have had brain injuries,” says Nelly, who adds that in her 19 years at Rosebridge four clients with brain injuries have resided in the home.

“Generally it hasn’t been a good fit for that type of client. Usually they are much younger and the situation isn’t good for them either…They do need ‘long-term care’ if you look at the broad definition of the words, but they don’t fit in what is generally understood as long-term care. They also often display behaviours because of the injury that are difficult to manage in this type of environment,” she says.