Mississauga Halton LTC group share best practices to work with LHIN
Strong pre-existing culture of partnership help group present united voice to LHIN
Wednesday April 29, 2009 -- Camille Jensen
Two representatives from Revera point to several factors that has led to the creation of a strong Long-Term Care Leadership Committee that is effectively working with the Mississauga Halton Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).

Brent Chambers, Revera’s director of health care partnerships, says prior to the development of the LHIN, long-term care homes in the Halton-Peel area had a pre-existing culture of meeting to co-ordinate planning and deal with issues together. The group used to meeting regularly with the Ministry of Health regional office and the Community Care Access Centres (CCAC).

That routine helped accelerate the long-term care homes’ ability to come together and form a cohesive group to work with the Mississauga Halton LHIN when it formed in 2005, he says.

The committee is composed of homes from the Ontario Long-Term Care Association (OLTCA) and the Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors (OANHSS). While these two groups can have different opinions on some long-term care issues the group has been able to find uniformity of policy and principle on the majority of long-term care issues when advocating to the LHIN.

“The group very early on came to the conclusion that the LHIN needed to hear one unified voice on long-term care,” says Chambers.

According to Julie Wong, executive director of Northridge Long-term Care Centre, a Revera owned long-term care home, the group also found it useful to have two co-chairs for the committee to represent both the OLTCA and OANHSS homes.

“That worked out quite well and was a good model for us,” recalls Wong, who said they encouraged everyone on the committee to participate in the different task forces and working groups so that all members are involved and the workload is shared.

Wong adds they found it was best to have their bi-monthly meetings in a central location that was agreed upon by the group. Almost half of the 27-member homes in the area participated in the meetings on a regular basis.

That participation has been enhanced ever since the LHIN recognized the group as the “go-to group” for long-term care, says Wong. This was communicated by the LHIN to the area homes and corporate offices to let them know that if they were interested in having their perspective heard, they should work with the Leadership Long-Term Care Committee.

The group now holds meetings in the LHIN boardroom where they spend the first half of the meeting discussing reports from the different working groups while the latter half is composed of formal presentations by the LHIN, the CCAC or the Ministry of Health.

This relationship has made it possible for the homes to work directly with the LHIN and have their voice heard during the planning process.

For example, the group was able to work closely with the CCAC while it underwent changes to bed and resident placement.

“We have been able to work through that process and iron out a number of glitches that we had along the way so as a member home I would have to say its been a very positive experience,” says Wong.

These ideas were shared during the session Advocating to your LHIN at the OLTCA/ORCA Together We Care Convention.

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