TORONTO, Feb. 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VHA Home HealthCare: Expectations are high for Canada’s medal performance at this month’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. After our impressive showing in Rio, which surpassed our medal target and brought home the most gold medals at a summer Games since 1992, Canada is anticipating an even stronger showing this February. This success and confidence is largely because of the Own the Podium program—an innovative and targeted approach to the development of amateur athletes that funnels resources to sports with the greatest chance of winning. Its incredible success begs the question: can this bold, strategic approach be applied to Canada’s languishing home care system?
Think about it: Own the Podium gave premier athletes the tools they needed—new facilities, expertise and the financial support—to focus on delivering the best possible results. Federal and provincial governments collaborated with associations and funders to “take calculated risks” that would hopefully be worth their weight in gold, silver and bronze. The results were impressive: Canada was literally at the top of the world with 14 gold medals in Vancouver. Why not bring the same kind of enthusiasm, collaboration, will and creativity to home health care in Canada?
It would start with a cohesive national government strategy that’s bold, innovative and focused on investing in care solutions with the greatest promise of delivering “winning results.” Working hand-in-hand with provinces, we could disrupt the current status quo, a system that—though not entirely broken—feels limited in what it can achieve without a serious shakeup.
Patients, their families, and home and community care organizations have years of know-how and wisdom to contribute to a reimagined home healthcare system. Together, we can pointedly and swiftly determine sustainable, creative care solutions to the outdated rules, uncompetitive wages, staffing shortages, and chronic underfunding that plague our current system and contribute to a less than desirable patient experience.
There are lots of replicable and scalable programs in existence in our own backyard and in other jurisdictions that have a great chance of success and impact. Let’s follow the lead of these trailblazers and not reinvent the wheel.
In Ontario, where my organization operates, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is implementing Patients First: A Roadmap to Strengthen Home and Community Care as one piece of its broader Patients First Act, 2016. It is a positive first step, and indeed some good progress has been made. But is this a sign of a bold and exciting shift or just a few one-off changes with a sprinkling of new cash to look impressive? We optimistically hope for the former, but actions speak louder than words. We have yet to see a real positive difference in the lives of home care recipients, despite good intentions and a lot of talking at various tables among government, providers, patients and families alike.
Just like doping in athletics, we know that short-term fixes in home care ultimately harm the entire system. Patients are not static. They move through—and back and forth across—the continuum of care. This means the stability of each part of the healthcare sector depends on the stability of the system as a whole. Government must ensure that the whole healthcare system can meet the needs of a growing and increasingly complex patient population. It can’t just tinker with its parts in a piecemeal fashion, nor starve one area to “pump up” another.
We need to keep our “eye on the prize” to deliver the best and most effective home care services in the world. Let’s ensure the “team” backing home care patients—their family, friends and network of home care workers—are not just appreciated, but given the right supports, time and funds needed (because all are integral to success) in making this vision a reality. And though greater home care investment is a critical part of the solution (as it should be, since it’s much more cost-effective than hospital and long-term care), determination, an openness to new approaches, and a willingness to fall down and learn from our mistakes are necessary to ensure meaningful and lasting success.
The home care system in Canada today is at a critical crossroads. It can languish in mediocrity with insufficient funding and status quo ideas, or we can come together and harness the energy, clarity and self-assuredness of an Own the Podium-like vision and go for the gold.
Carol Annett is the CEO and President of VHA Home HealthCare, a not-for-profit charitable organization founded in 1925.
About VHA Home HealthCare
VHA Home HealthCare—a not-for-profit, charity—has inspired Ontarians to create possibilities for more independence since 1925. VHA's professional team of over 2,500 caring, compassionate people supports clients and their families throughout Ontario and is proudly:
- Accredited with Exemplary Standing by Accreditation Canada.
- An RNAO Best Practice Spotlight Organization.
- A founding member agency of United Way Toronto and York Region.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/29538a39-eb84-4541-8f0e-a02c122abb78