Springdale Country Manor resident Jean Smith reads a joke to (from left to right) OMNI chief operating officer Candace Chartier and Walter and Angela Yu. The Yus, of Wing Kei Care Centre in Calgary, visited the Peterborough long-term care home April 18 as part of a learning exchange between the two homes.
Reps from Calgary home visit Springdale to enhance learning
Visit serves as two-way learning opportunity, says Chartier
Tuesday April 22, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. – Representatives from a Calgary long-term care home were in Peterborough April 18 visiting Springdale Country Manor in what Walter Yu describes as a learning opportunity.

Yu and his wife Angela were representing the Wing Kei Care Centre at an Ontario Long-Term Care Association (OLTCA) convention last week and were asked by the home’s director of care Jane Tse to use their time in Ontario to visit an OMNI long-term care home.

Tse attended a presentation in March on continuous quality improvement (CQI) delivered by Candace Chartier, OMNI’s chief operating officer. She was so taken by the presentation she encouraged the Yus to visit an OMNI home to learn about OMNI’s in-home practices.

As part of his mission to Springdale Country Manor, Walter says he’s interested in learning more about long-term care practices in Ontario and bringing that knowledge back to Wing Kei Care Centre, a nonprofit home.

“I have found it to be a very worthwhile trip for us and we’ve learned a lot,” says Walter, director of hospitality and facility at Wing Kei Care Centre. “As far as operations we’re fairly new and I like to learn from the people who have gone through it and who have done great work in (CQI) and see how we can share with one another and benefit ourselves.”

OMNI chief operating officer Candace Chartier, Springdale Country Manor administrator/director of care Maureen Imamovic, and Walter and Angela Yu of the Wing Kei Care Centre in Calgary.

Walter says two of the areas of OMNI’s CQI plan which pique his interest most are the company’s human resources model for recruiting and retaining staff and the physiotherapy programs offered at OMNI’s 17 long-term care homes.

Because the landscape of long-term care is constantly evolving, Chartier says the Yus’ visit is a “proactive opportunity” to establish a relationship where different homes can share information and address changes in the Canadian health-care sector.

“Long-term care is long-term care, and I think the more we share across the nation the better off we’re going to be,” she says.

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