This is a guest post from VON
(Member since 2021)
When you think about your retirement years, what do you see? Is it a part-time job, a flourishing garden, a series of pickleball wins? Whatever your ideal vision, it’s not likely to include a hospital stay or a move to a long-term care bed.
According to multiple surveys, almost all Canadians aged 65 and older plan to support themselves to live safely and independently in their own homes for as long as possible.
A HomeEquity Bank and Ipsos survey of Canadians aged 45 and older found that 15 per cent know someone who gets the assistance of a home support worker. A further 18 per cent think that while they do not have one now, they may need one in the future.
For some frail seniors, and people living with an injury, disability, or illness, the routine activities of daily living can be a challenge. That’s when supportive home and community care helps to keep them in their homes and out of hospital or long-term care.
VON is Nova Scotia’s largest home and community care organization, making over 3,500 visits each day. We provide in-home nursing, home support, and community services that help people to live independently, as well as supports for families and caregivers.
This past year has been an exciting one for VON. We are committed to partnering with government to provide clients with innovative, wraparound care that supports the whole person.
We recently advocated for and received funding from the Province to expand our Halifax nursing clinic. This community nursing clinic now has capacity for 10 clients at a time, allowing nurses to double the clients they see each day and creating more capacity for clients to receive care at home when they need it.
Clinics provide convenient access to services such as wound care, medication administration, dressing changes, pain and symptom management, intravenous therapy, and more. Clients who visit the clinic benefit from more opportunities for social interaction too. We are currently working with the government to expand this offering to other areas of HRM and the province.
We have also leveraged our nursing expertise to get additional funding for equipment that enables safe and efficient care, such as IV pumps and medication dispensers that support in-home administration, independence, and increased nursing capacity.
Through our Meals on Wheels program, we deliver nourishing meals to those who have difficulty grocery shopping or preparing food, providing essential support to them and their families and caregivers. This year, we are on track to deliver 400,000 meals! With the help of this service, some no longer need home support, freeing up visits for those on the waitlist.
We’re thrilled that we’re making progress, but there’s more to be done. The more we can support healthier, independent living, the more likely we are to see better patient and system outcomes, including greater savings for our healthcare system.
VON continues to advocate for a “home first” approach. When we provide the in-home and community supports that people need, there are benefits to the individuals receiving care, to their families, to the community, and to the healthcare system.
VON is a trusted charity. We rely on a variety of funding sources, including government and other public funding opportunities, corporate and private foundations, corporate partnerships, and individual donors.
With support from our partners, we are planning for a future where everyone who needs home care is able to get it and Nova Scotians can stay in their homes, where they want to be.
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