Riverview has been a pioneer in skin care for OMNI for more than a year-and-a-half, with six trained staff members already in place. With more recent training, the number is up to 10 qualified wound care specialists, according to Director of Care Kelly Burns.

"We had rotating in-services for all departments," Kelly tells OMNIway. "Then we had a longer, one-hour in-service for registered staff."

The fair at OMNI’s third largest long-term care home was popular with frontline staff who were eager to gain more assessment tools, but also for other departments that have not always traditionally been in the loop. There were even staff members who attended who were not working, says Kelly.

Another exciting thing about the fair, says Kelly, is representatives from Smith & Nephew, Waterloo Bedding and Novartis Nutrition attended.

Riverview has a wound care nurse on at all times at the home and Kelly says this approach has worked well. "We take pictures of wounds when residents are admitted from the community and then later on," after treatment, says Kelly. "You can see how they heal from beginning to end," and that’s something the home can be proud of, she says.

Kelly says Riverview has had protocols in place for some time now but expects these will change a bit with the advent of a new policies and procedures manual, expected in June.