Nursing home part of community fabric and ‘needs to be respected’
Gourlie to speak at public hearing on proposed LTC Homes Act
Friday, January 19, 2007 -- Natalie Miller
When the Second World War was over, an Almonte citizen opened a nursing home to ensure the community’s elders would be taken care of when their needs could no longer be met in their own homes.

Last summer, that woman died in the very same nursing home she opened, a home now called Almonte Country Haven and operated by OMNI Health Care. While she was a resident there, she’d wheel herself around to visit her co-residents in attempts to brighten their day. Almonte Country Haven Administrator Rick Gourlie recalls clearly what she said.

“She’d say, ‘Have a good day. You’ll have to work at, but have a good day.’”

“That, in itself, is simple wisdom that has carried this care home for a number of years. We work at it every day,” he says in regards to enhancing quality of life.

Other days, the former resident simply held her co-residents’ hands. She would say, Rick recalls, “There is great power in holding hands.”

It’s having the time to provide these gestures of compassion that troubles the administrator about the province’s proposed Long Term Care Homes Act. The increased documentation and paperwork suggested in the Act would take time away from hands-on care, says Rick. “It restricts our ability to do the simplest things, like hold hands. That’s every bit as valuable.”

This is one of the messages Rick plans to deliver next week in Kingston when he addresses the provincial Standing Committee on Social Policy during a public hearing on the proposed legislation.

The Long Term Care Homes Act 2006 or Bill 140 is currently at the second reading stage. According to the Province, the proposed Act promotes zero tolerance of abuse and neglect of long-term care home residents, restricts the use of restraints and makes it mandatory a registered nurse be on duty in the province’s nursing homes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It also defines licence terms for long-term care homes of up to 25 years and provides the authority to revoke licences in cases of non-compliance.

The proposed Bill 140 has raised a huge concern for long term care with its limited licencing scheme for homes without any language to address structural renewal.

“The discomfort we have as a small home having no guarantee of licence” is an issue Rick intends to raise as well.

“We have history in this community. The community has supported this home. It’s the community who has to be aware of the future of this nursing home. It’s a small home that only works because it has so many open doors in the community. It’s part of their fabric and needs to be respected.”

The importance of the nursing home to the community was evident during the initial launch of the Ontario Long Term Care Association’s campaign that raised issues about Bill 140.

While working at the community’s second-hand store, an Almonte citizen took the liberty to discuss the advocacy campaign.

When Mary Hurry explained what the Province’s proposed Long Term Care Homes Act was about and how it could impact Almonte Country Haven, people “were a little flabbergasted,” she earlier told the OMNIway.

“The community has put a lot into the nursing home,” said Mary.

“They’re very proud of it.”

A part of the community for nearly 30 years, service clubs and churches have come to support Almonte Country Haven, an 82-bed nursing home in the small town of 4,600 people, located 50 kilometres from the nation’s capital.