Care and compassion highlight OMNI’s year: Fraser
Friday, December 22, 2006 -- John Driscoll
“I truly believe we’ve had another amazing year in touching and changing the lives of people,” says CEO Fraser Wilson in summing up the year at OMNI.

While 2006 held its share of challenges, OMNI staff have shown flexibility, innovation and individual care and compassion, Wilson says. “They have been giving residents back their lives.”

A focus on supportive measures, led by Shawn Riel, has made OMNI a leader in long-term care and residents have reaped the benefits of this individualized approach to care, he says.

OMNI is well on its way to to fulfilling the commitment to have 100 per cent of staff trained in supportive measures by the end of 2007, he says. Through the process of “training the trainer”, there are now 53 supportive measures specialists charged with the responsibility of reaching out to all of the staff.

Another significant development is the progress of the sale of OMNI to Abacus Capital Corporation, a Canadian-based investment firm. “I expect the sale to be concluded early in 2007,” Wilson says.

A highlight of the year is a remarkable decrease in work-related injuries, he says, OMNI closed out 2005 facing $650,000 in surcharges through the NEER ratings and this year is looking at a $50,000 rebate.

“That is a ‘blow- your-socks-off’ difference and resulted from a concerted effort byApril Dowdall, our human resources manager and our administrators who were rigorous in ensuring that we were in compliance with all the regulations.”

Not only will OMNI not have to put more money into surcharges but there will be more money to serve residents, he points out.

Another OMNI success story that pays a dividend is the results of the CMI (Case Mix Index), the acuity-based formula that affects funding for resident care, Wilson says. OMNI’s CMI index for 2005 was 97, three points below the provincial average. It rose to l03 this year, a six-per-cent increase.

“This was due to a ton of work, especially from our nursing staff, that will result in a significant increase in funding,” he says. “It shows the diligence of our registered personnel on documentation.”

Four new vans were acquired and are being shared by homes, allowing residents to participate more in their communities and a major project headed by Keith Eldridge has resulted in ceiling lifts being installed in all OMNI homes, Wilson says.

The Healthy Living Healthy Skin initiative has been an “incredible success,” he says. “We have been healing wounds that hospitals said could not be healed and truly giving people their lives back.”

Registered dieticians have been an integral part of Healthy Living Healthy Skin teams in assessing residents’ needs and prescribing appropriate interventions, he says. With specific and individualized renal diets, people have to able to maintain strong health despite having diabetes, he says.

Wilson is also proud of the move to enhanced transparency, ownership and accountability this year through formalized board meetings at homes and at home office.

At the home office level, quarterly board meetings are held with all administrators and there is complete financial disclosure at these meetings. “We are looking at how each home and the board is performing,” he says.

There are benchmarks and homes can compare their performances with others. During discussions on strategic initiatives, administrators have shown they believe they can make an impact on decisions, Wilson says.

At the home level, people are made aware of strategic planning and financial outcomes at board meetings and provide input into the decision-making process. “We are all reaping the benefits of this initiative,” Wilson says. “It is a win-win scenario for home office and the homes.”

Another initiative has been the formation of the Blue Ocean strategy group, made up of four home office executives, four administrators and OMNIway news editor Peter Pula that began meeting in the fall, he says.

“This is an aggressive and dynamic group examining ways in which OMNI distinguishes itself as a care provider, what other sectors are doing and what our niche is,” he says. “It is an evolving process on how to add incredible value to our organization.”

The “point-click” care project, providing automated documentation of data is through its first year and should result in staff spending less time on information gathering and more time in analysis of the information, he says.

Challenges during the year included the provincial government’s introduction of Bill 140 this fall, Wilson says.

Aspects of Bill 140 are detrimental to the long term care sector, Wilson says. “The bill gives us regulations without providing resources,” he says. “You can’t provide a better quality of care without appropriate funding.”

There is a need for the government to recognize the demands on staff, he says. “The staffing ratios in this province are substandard.”

“A success was rallying the province and MPPs so that there was unanimous consent in the Legislature on a need for a capital renewal plan for long term care, he says. “While there was no direct commitment of funding, that was a monumental indication of government recognition of the problem.”

(To follow: Part Two- What’s Ahead for 2007)