Home opening convalescent beds in October
‘We’re elated to be able to add on to community services,’ says Collingwood Nursing Home administrator
Monday, September 10, 2012 -- Deron Hamel
Collingwood Nursing Home is getting ready to open four new convalescent-care beds in October in an effort to help people transition from hospital to home.

The program and renovations to the home to make room for the extra beds have been made possible by funding and collaboration from the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network (LHIN).

The purpose of the program is to ensure patients recovering from hospital stays get the supports they need for up to 90 days to make sure they’re well enough to return to their homes without the concern of further hospitalization.

“This will definitely help alleviate (strain) on Collingwood General & Marine Hospital,” Peter Zober, Collingwood Nursing Home’s president and administrator, tells the Morning Report.

“We’re elated to be able to add on to community services.”

Earlier this year, the LHIN sent a notice to area long-term care homes and other health-care providers in  search of extra space that could be used for convalescent-care beds. Collingwood Nursing Home replied to the notice to say the home had a couple of areas not being used to full capacity. The LHIN responded several weeks later expressing interest in the space.

With the four new convalescent-care beds comes a new way of looking at providing care: staff members will be using different skills to care for residents in transition, which means there will be a learning curve to adapt to, Zober adds.

“On the long-term care side, we’re geared to help do (things) for other people, but in (the convalescent-care) environment it’s to offer support” to those people preparing to go home, he says.

Zober notes Collingwood Nursing Home already has programs in place that fit well with the mandate to reduce hospital transfers and enhance residents’ mobility. For example, therapists from a third-party provider visit daily to work with residents, and this will be expanded to convalescent-care residents once they arrive.

“We want the convalescent-care service that (people will) get here to be the same as what you’re getting elsewhere,” he says.

“Part of the preparation is knowing what’s going on elsewhere and creating the policies to support the convalescent-care program here.”

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