CORNER BROOK — As president of the Personal Care Home Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, Shaun Lane is critical of the provincial government’s new Enhanced Care in Personal Homes Pilot Project.
Lane thinks the project is a good idea, but said it is something that should be implemented at all personal care homes in the province and not just in three as a pilot project.
The 18-month pilot project was announced Tuesday at Mountain View House in Meadows. Mountain View, Callingwood Downs Seniors Complex in Clarke’s Beach and Golden Years Estates in Gander are the three locations selected to participate in the $1.5-million project.
Right now personal care homes are licensed to provide care to clients at Levels 1 and 2. Under the pilot the three homes will provide an enhanced, or Level 2+, level of care.
Lane said he doesn’t have a problem with the three homes that were selected to participate. He said about 70 to 75 per cent of personal care homes in the province currently provide service to clients classed at a Level 2+. So, he said, what the association is saying to government is “you don’t need a pilot project to see if we can do this because you already know we’re doing it and we’ve been doing it for many years.”
Lane, who is managing the North Shore Manor in Irishtown, said the need for enhanced care is something the association and homeowners have been telling government for 10 years.
“There’s a lot of information out there for them to implement this program and to implement it well right across the board.”
Lane said that the pilot project comes after a similar one in 2006 that was not done well. He also said it has taken almost a year from the time the project was first announced on June 20, 2012 to finally start rolling it out.
“If this could be rolled out properly, this could be a substantial savings to government and it could strengthen the personal care industry phenomenally.”
Instead, Lane said government has decided to go the route of trying it here a little bit.
“And that’s not the answer here,” he said.
Beverly Russell, president of the Quality Living Alliance for Seniors Association, feels piloting the enhanced care project is the right step. Russell is also the owner of one of the homes involved in the project, Callingwood Downs Seniors Complex, and was present at Tuesday’s announcement.
“As a private industry we’ve been working with government for years to lobby on behalf of the seniors and actually show them that we can provide the type of care that seniors need and want,” she said Wednesday afternoon. “You have to show and prove that this is the type of thing that you can do.”
Russell said the type of care has to monitored in order for government to evaluate it and to ensure it can be rolled out to all personal care homes. And she’s confident the monitoring process built into the pilot will prove to all government officials, both the current government and the Opposition, that the service can be provided in the private sector and budgeted for.
Then, she said the project can be extended to all homes that are equipped to provide the care.
She said it would be a great move for all of the industry to be involved with.
“It will be a very sustainable service because private industry can provide this service at a very cost effective rate.”