In fact, while participating in a recent road show on the approach to care with CEO Fraser Wilson, she was “astonished” by the success stories she was hearing for the first time. Supportive measures is becoming ingrained in OMNI’s culture and employees aren’t thinking of their work as out-of-the-ordinary anymore, says Shawn, who works in operations at home office.

“It’s especially fascinating to me,” she says.

“Our staff are quietly very good at looking at individual needs. It’s sort of their natural way of doing things.”

That was the case for Maureen Imamovic, a registered nurse at Springdale Country Manor. Fraser was touched when he heard of Springdale’s team effort to improve quality of life for a resident who is a late riser and alcoholic, after soliciting a success story from the home.

“I guess because it’s an old story I forgot what we were doing with her,” says Maureen. Basically the home adjusted its care routine to reflect the resident’s preferences, which includes sleeping until 4 p.m. and eating four meals between then and 4 a.m. when she retires. “We’ve really seen the team step up to the mark for this lady,” Maureen admits.

Fraser and Shawn heard many other stories as they traveled to homes and asked for feedback. “My overall sense is there’s a lot of buy-in,” Shawn says. “People are living it and breathing it every day.”

Shawn is leading the supportive measures movement in OMNI homes. Supportive measures is a philosophy and approach to care that involves employing creative techniques to address resident agitation. It also decreases the reliance on psychotropic medication.

Thirty-two employees have taken thorough training to become supportive measures specialists. Each of OMNI’s homes has at least one supportive measures specialist on board.

In the new year, there will be a celebratory event organized for those who took the specialist course.

As well, the specialists will be forming supportive measures teams in their homes.