‘Room for co-operation’ between disability sector, long-term care
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 -- Natalie Miller
The Province’s move to deinstitutionalize residents with intellectual disabilities is putting into the forefront the need for social service agencies and long-term care to work together.

Michael Rasenberg, administrator of Woodland Villa, a 111-bed long-term care home in Long Sault, says the nursing home is open to accepting residents with intellectual disabilities if the need arises.

Woodland Villa has been home in the past, and continues to be home to some residents with intellectual disabilities.

“Having a mix of different residents with physical and mental handicaps would be appropriate,” the administrator says.

Rasenberg says some of the people who will be moving out of Rideau Regional Centre in Smiths Falls are seniors and long-term care may be necessary. “They don’t fit into the community living environment anymore.”

Rasenberg comments following a Jan. 24 meeting of a Community Care Access Centre liaison committee for Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry counties. Among other items on the agenda was a presentation by Dick D’Alessio, executive director of Community Living Stormont County, an agency that supports people with intellectual disabilities. Community Living Stormont County is among other agencies working with the provincial government to place residents of Rideau Regional Centre into community.

During his presentation and in an interview with Axiom News, D’Alessio highlighted the need for the sectors to work together.

“We feel there’s room for co-operation,” he says.

The association has worked with long-term care in the past and the relationship was positive, notes D’Alessio. “I can tell you that two of our residents were referred and have been accepted in long-term care facilities in the last couple of years. Those people have legitimate nursing care needs, and the co-operation we received from the facilities was much appreciated. In fact, we found the co-operation between our agency and these facilities in question exceptional,” he told nursing home administrators and directors of care present at the meeting.

In one case, the collaboration between the two sectors was such that the individual was able to move from long-term care to the community with support. When the person’s medical status changed and she developed Alzheimer’s disease the move back to long-term care was a well-supported transition, says D’Alessio. “There was good co-operation back and forth.”

There’s an opportunity for social service agencies to assist long-term care as well, by providing, for instance, social-recreational support to individuals with intellectual disabilities placed in long-term care. “There’s lots of room for us to work together,” D’Alessio says.