Staff enthusiastic about ethics committee
Summer slows group’s plans to meet
Tuesday, August 17, 2004 - Natalie Miller
There’s enthusiasm in the air at Almonte Country Haven about the start up of an ethics committee, says the long-term care home’s director of care.

Pam Murphy told the OMNIway in May of her plans to form an ethics committee at the Almonte long-term care home to discuss the tough issues staff members confront on a regular basis. Since then, Pam has been trying to recruit staff and people with legal backgrounds, pastoral or theorist credentials and social work and nursing components. She says there has been appeal within the long-term care home.

“There is certainly interest,” says Pam, noting employees are “keen” to see a committee formed.

“We have regular issues” which are ethical in nature, says Pam. “It would be wonderful to get it up and running.”

Pam is hoping the committee will meet in September. It has proven difficult to organize during the summer months with people away on vacation, she says.

Pam initially told the OMNIway she’d like to see an ethics committee at every OMNI home.

"I think it's something we need, home to home,” she said in an earlier interview. The director of care of this 82-bed home in eastern Ontario said some people might consider ethics a "corporate" issue, but for her it's something all long-term care homes deal with on a regular basis.

As an example, Pam says a doctor may decide a resident needs a certain medication but a family member wants to blame certain behaviours on that same medication. "You have to walk a fine line," says Pam.

"It would be good to have a committee to discuss this kind of thing, to be surer of our decisions."