New age of long-term care offers nurses opportunities
Homes and sector not what they used to be, says administrator/DOC
Friday April 11, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
If there’s one thing nursing graduates should know about long-term care, it’s that the sector has changed considerably in recent decades, says Sandra Brow. Whereas long-term care residences were once institutions of custodial care, they’re now homes where people go to improve their quality of life.

The long-term care sector has long struggled with staff recruitment, largely due to its poor past image. But long-term care homes today are nothing like the way they were 25 years ago when Brow started her career as a nurse.

“It used to be custodial care, even just 20 years ago,” says Brow, administrator and director of care (DOC) at Pleasant Meadow Manor in Norwood.

“You went to the nursing homes, and, basically, that was the end of the road. It’s not that way anymore. We have people who are still driving their own car, they’re still quite active in the community and still active with their families.”

As an incentive to attract nurses to long-term care, OMNI practises internal promotion which can lead individuals up the corporate ladder. Often in acute or community health care, caregivers finish their careers working the same position where they started, says Brow.

“That’s not the way with OMNI,” she says. “No matter what your designation or your classification, you can go far with OMNI.”

Brow exemplifies OMNI’s philosophy of internal promotion. She came to Pleasant Meadow Manor in 2005 to work as a registered nurse (RN). Within two years she had become the home’s DOC and recently started her post as administrator.

Today, long-term care offers nurses flexible hours and skill enhancement using cutting-edge technology in many aspects of nursing, says Brow. Residents are now cared for individually and holistically, and there’s a strong sense of community felt in the long-term care homes of today, she adds.

Another shift in long-term care homes over the decades is that they’ve become more democratic, with residents’ councils playing an important role in advocating on behalf of residents. This means the residents have a say in how each home is run, a major step forward from the homes of the past, notes Brow.

Shelley Vandenberg, an RN at the home, worked in community care before coming to Pleasant Meadow Manor in August 2005. She says she joined the OMNI family because she “wanted more interaction with residents.”

“I love it here (because) in long-term care you care for the resident (individually),” she says.

For more information on a nursing career with OMNI, please contact the home office at (705) 748-6631.

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