This week BCCPA’s Mike Klassen and Rebecca Morris continued the BCCPA listening tour by holding round table events for Assisted Living (A.L.) and Home Care providers.
“These listening tour events have highlighted that regional differences play a significant role in the challenges and opportunities which providers face across the province,” says Morris. “While this can make navigating system issues challenging, it also indicates that BCCPA has a role to play in bringing providers together to share information about opportunities for innovation and progress.”
The roundtables, which were held in Victoria and Sidney this week, will help inform BCCPA’s research and advocacy efforts by providing insight into the specific situations faced by providers.
Like the events held earlier this month in Kelowna, BCCPA had strong attendance from a diverse group of providers, as well as representation from Island Health.
The key themes generated in Central Okanagan events (staffing, funding, regulations, and technology) continued to be shared throughout the events on the Island.
“While I am not surprised that these themes continue to factor prominently, we are gaining a clearer picture of the nuances that are apparent in these two areas of the continuing care sector, and how these issues become even more complex when regional differences are taken into consideration,” says Klassen. “What we are hearing consistently from the sector is that there is an appetite to adapt, to think creatively and to use technological solutions to address gaps that exist at present, and that BCCPA can provide a forum to help support that.”
Home care providers in attendance were also keen to explore the issue of regulation, and were enthusiastic about an industry-led regulatory model which would help seniors and their families make informed choices about who they were choosing to provide their care.
Not surprisingly, A.L. providers had questions and concerns about Bill 16 – they wondered about staffing models, funding and the complexities of providing care to seniors who are experiencing higher levels of acuity than ever before. The BCCPA is committed to sharing information about Bill 16 as it becomes available and will continue to collaborate with our partners on this important topic.
BCCPA’s Listening Tour continues Thursday with meetings at the SafeCare BC Training Centre in Burnaby.
For further inquiries, contact Rebecca Morris at rebecca@bccare.ca.
Those wishing to register for the upcoming roundtables are encouraged to register in advance (click the links below) as space is limited.
The upcoming dates are as follows:
Home Care
• Sept 28, 2-4 p.m., Burnaby
• Sept 29, 2-4 p.m., Teleconference
Assisted Living
• Sept 28, 9-11 a.m., Burnaby
• Oct 5, 10-noon, Teleconference
