Community engagement important in light of predicted pandemic
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 - Michelle Strutzenberger
Linda Burr, administrator at Frost Manor, says that engaging in the community benefits both the residents and the people of the community.

She says that in light of the predicted pandemic, staying well-connected to the community is especially important. Reaching out for support during a crisis situation will be easier if that relationship is already there.

Caressant Care Lindsay is located directly across the street from Frost. Burr says the two long-term care homes share staff and even resources on occasion. “They have a generator and we don’t, so if the power is off, we store our medical supplies there,” she says.

The life enrichment coordinators from both homes work quite closely together. Residents attend events in the community together.

The homes also have a system of sharing personal support worker students. “We each take half of the students and then switch halfway through [their placements],” says Burr.

Eunice Howe, a personal support worker who has worked at Frost for 25 years, provides a day of sensitivity training to all the students, whether they’re currently at Caressant Care or Frost.

Frost is well-engaged with the community in other venues as well, Burr notes.

“We’re considered one of the leading educational homes in town,” she says as an example.

Students from Sir Sandford Fleming College and Trillium College come to Frost for personal support worker, social service worker and nursing placements and consolidation. Co-op students from the three high schools in Lindsay also work at the home.

Frost offers a place of employment to clients of the local John Howard Society. The clients work with Joy Brittain, environmental services manager, and Charles Shier, maintenance manager.

Management from the home stays up-to-date on the local health-care scene through a monthly meeting with all health-care providers in the area, including nursing homes and hospitals. Issues addressed include staffing concerns, the current resident climate, and new developments, like the proposed dialysis unit at Ross Memorial Hospital.

Children from the local elementary schools also visit Frost regularly and develop relationships with the residents. Burr says that the benefit to this connection in particular is an opportunity for new relationships for the residents, as well as exposure for the kids to the gifts and richness that the elderly have to offer.

Engaging in the community also helps dispel the myths the many people have of long-term care, says Burr. “We live in a huge residential area and we don’t want the neighbours to be fearful of us. So we like the fact that our name is out there.”