As you know we are working with CARP Ottawa to bring about transformative culture change in Ontario’s long-term care homes through a grassroots movement. To this end we have asked the members of CARP Ottawa and its collaborating organizations in Ontario to send an email to their own local MPP’s about this matter. We would like to ask you, our blog followers, to do the same.
Thank you to all the blog followers and friends who responded to our last request by sending letters to Minister Fullerton to recommend that CARP Ottawa be appointed to the Independent Commission on Long-term Care.
In the end, only three individuals were appointed to the newly named Independent Long-term Care COVID-19 Commission – Associate Chief Justice Frank Marrocco, Angela Coke and Dr. Jack Kitts. Now it is even more imperative to bring awareness and influence regarding this change to not only the Commissioners but also to our local politicians.
Here’s How YOU Can Help
Send the email below to your own local MPP (contact info here) and copy your local mayor or city councillor (contact info here). Personalize the email with your own words on the need for culture change in Ontario’s long-term care home system. Or if you and your family have been affected by the COVID-19 virus, describe the impact it had on you.
Copy us at our email changeltcnow@gmail.com We’d like to know how many of you are still interested.
Subject line: CARP Ottawa calls for transformative culture change in Ontario’s long-term care homes.
Email:
As a member of your constituency and someone who is very concerned about the long-term care home system in Ontario, I would like to express my support for Ontario’s Independent Long-term Care COVID-19 Commission. However, I believe strongly that a transformative culture change is needed to fix the systemic failings apparent in these homes.
I agree with Minister Fullerton and Premier Ford who have said on many occasions, “We have been clear the long-term care home system in Ontario is broken.” Now we must fix it.
There are new models of care that exist in the U.S., Europe and even in Ontario, which have embraced the same guiding principles: a relationship-based approach to care; person and family-centred care; small home-like environments; higher staff to resident ratio; full time, well-paid staff who are trained in empathy and culture change and an environment where residents, staff and families feel a part of a community.
These new models have all embraced transformative culture change and have achieved much better outcomes than our traditional homes in Ontario. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
These outcomes include a decrease in the use of medications, in the number of aggressive incidents, in the number of hospital visits, in the amount of food waste and staff sick time, all the while increasing positive interactions with staff, families and residents.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete”. Buckminster Fuller.
My request is that you bring this urgent need for a transformative culture change in Ontario’s long-term care homes to the attention of Minister Fullerton and Premier Ford. If you would like more details on the existing models or this kind of culture change, please contact CARP Ottawa at changeltcnow@gmail.com
I look forward to hearing from you.
Your name…