On Wednesday afternoon representatives from the BC Care Providers and owners of the Delta View Life Enrichment Centre provided a tour of their care home to Darryl Plecas, Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors, Scott Hamilton, MLA for Delta North, Karen Matty, Chair of the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) and Markus Delves, Chair, FHA Board Audit and Finance Committee.
The two-hour tour included a comprehensive discussion on a wide range of topics including how best to provide cost-effective complex care for seniors that produce high quality health outcomes. Leading the tour was Jane Devji, a leading long-time proponent of the “Hugs not Drugs” philosophy being adopted by care homes across the province and Canada.
“It means a lot to our sector to have senior leaders from Victoria and at the Fraser Health Authority take an on-going interest in shaping the future of seniors care,” says Daniel Fontaine, CEO of the BC Care Providers Association. “It’s in all our best interests to find a clear path to transform our current and future care homes into care hubs which provide a range of services in the community and lead to clear outcomes such as reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and ER visits. More importantly, a top priority should be the need to find a better way of getting seniors out of costly acute care facilities and into more appropriate care settings which everyone agrees deliver better outcomes for them.”
“It was very refreshing to hear directly from the Chair of the Fraser Health Authority board, the Chair of the Board Finance Committee and the Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors regarding their strong commitment to work with members of the BCCPA in order to provide solutions to today’s health system’s challenges,” says Aly Devji, Board Director for the BCCPA. “Working collaboratively will help us to prepare and exceed the expectations of tomorrow.”
The BCCPA has been working over the last several months to prepare a formal response to the Ministry of Health’s policy papers which are intended to reshape the way we deliver continuing care in BC. The policy paper which will include a number of key recommendations will be reviewed by the Board and shared with our members and the public in the coming weeks.
