Two years after we featured several blog posts on the Butterfly home initiative at Malton Village in the Peel Region, there are now some very exciting results:
- A 75% decrease in staff sick time resulting in continuity of care and huge cost savings;
- a decrease from 39%-10% of residents exhibiting symptoms of depression;
- a decrease in antipsychotic use by those without a diagnosis of psychosis 40% (‘17) to 8% (‘19);
- anticipation that the implementation will end up being cost neutral after 3 years.
Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Long-term Care, meets with resident in Renfrew County.
And now on October 9th, 2019, both Bonnechere Manor and Miramichi Lodge Long-term Care Homes in Renfrew County began a journey to turn a dementia unit into a Butterfly Home. “The transition will include significant environmental changes such as smaller more home-like ‘neighbourhoods’ versus units. This would mean for example converting a dementia unit where currently 20 residents reside into two (2) smaller neighbourhoods of 10. Other environmental changes will include redesigning the dementia units to be more welcoming and intimate, and filling the household with the ‘stuff of life’ so that residents can connect with a variety of colours, textures and objects that reflect their past lives, work and hobbies.” For full media release, click here.
Way to go Renfrew County for being another champion for culture change!
Contact your MPPs and City Councilors to let them know about these new developments and that we need to invest in more innovation in our long-term care homes. Let’s keep the momentum going!
This is wonderful news….all residents within Long-term care are deserving of the quality of life that can be provided through a Person-centred care approach. This is ‘home’ for those residents…let’s not waste time making it ‘their home’. Congrats Renfrew county politicians and practitioners. Marilyn Colton, BScN, MEd, CHE