PHC’s Residential Care for Me initiative, starting a “megamorphosis”

Is B.C.’s long-term care sector ready for a “Megamorphosis?” Staff at Providence Health Care (PHC) thinks so, and their seniors care team is leading the way through a total rethink of seniors care at PHC sites.

PHC – who shared news about their Residential Care for Me initiative on October 4th – has referred to their work as “a quiet revolution which has arisen out of the very frontlines of care, using innovation, research and compassion to change seniors’ lives through a thousand small but very meaningful moments.”

Work is currently being carried out in PHC’s five long-term care homes. The process is grounded in a process called Megamorphosis, where a series of rapid, idea-to- action initiatives are implemented. According to PHC Each cycle begins with a month of pre-work, in which staff of all types break from routine to slow down and connect with each other, residents and families – taking in their experience, learning what truly engages them. Next, the ideas and insights gained, small or large, are put into practice over an intense, two-week testing period, with extra support from leaders and allowing the usual months of planning to be tossed out the window.

So far, the effects of this work have been significant and have resulted in a more holistic, person-centred approach to care.

“We had been waiting, I think, for some kind of funding miracle, or for someone to say, ‘OK, we’re going to support residential care in a different way,” says Jo-Ann Tait, corporate director, seniors care and palliative services. “But we very quickly realized that there was no magic answer. Instead, the answer lay within us.”