Thank you for attending yesterday’s All-Staff Forum!

Vancouver staff gathered together at yesterday’s All-Staff Forum (ASF) to discuss Home is Best and collaborate on potential solutions to meet the needs of frail elderly clients with little to no supports in the home.

To set the scene for the forum’s activities, staff watched the premiere of  David’s Story, a video about how Evergreen CHC care staff are supporting client, David, who has Parkinson’s and lives on his own.

Based on the feedback we received from last June’s ASF, we incorporated breakout groups to provide an opportunity for staff to discuss their own experiences with frail elderly clients in need. Staff from across acute and community, frontline clinicians, physicians, managers and directors all spoke passionately about the challenges they faced on a day-to-day basis and then collaborated together on solution-oriented ideas to resolve them.

Some of the themes that were heard at Paetzold and the five participating satellite sites were:

• maintaining the dignity of the client;
• ways to encourage the client to accept the help they need in the home;
• the need for additional knowledge of available resources;
• assistance for patients/clients to navigate the health system;
• and more integrated services and communication between care providers.

Facilitators jotted down ideas and potential solutions from staff on boards and then presented their findings to the rest of the forum during the “report out” portion of the forum. Some of these ideas included:

• positions such as Patient Navigators who would advocate on behalf of the client and coordinate their care;
• student volunteers who could provide much-needed friendship and assistance;
• and an app that provides updates on available and discontinued VC services.

Laura Case and Vivian Eliopoulos, Vancouver’s Chief Operating Officers, who also participated in the break out groups, appreciated the broad discussion and supported many of the ideas brought forward. All suggestions will be compiled and, where possible, consolidated into future planning for the improvement of service and health care delivery to our clients.

We would appreciate your thoughts and feedback on the forum and how we can improve. Take our eight-question survey here.

If you missed the Vancouver All-Staff Forum but would like to watch the webcast, please click here.