BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
The community care access centre that used to serve the Greater Sudbury and Manitoulin Island areas merged with four other similar organizations from across the northeast Jan. 1.
Together, they form the new North East Community Care Access Centre (CCAC), which has its head office on Regent St. in Greater Sudbury.
Richard Joly is the new executive director of the association. He said the community care organizations were merged so their boundaries are the same as the new North East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), which provides funding for a variety of health care services.
The same thing has happened across the province as 42 community care organizations have merged into just 14, he told reporters at a press conference Thursday.
“The mergers were needed to better strategize and use the best resources throughout the northeast, and not duplicate our efforts. There were a lot of things that are being done 42 different ways across this province. Now it’s reduced to 14.”
Nancy Mongeon, who used to be the executive director of the Manitoulin-Sudbury Community Care Access Centre, is now semi-retired, said Joly.
The four other executive directors of the old CCACs have “moved on to other opportunities” and some, like Mongeon, have opted to retire, he said. There will be no other staff cuts, Joly said.
“We want to make sure this transition is seamless for the patients and the clients. Really, they won’t see anything different. If anything, they will see a better service delivery model in the northeast.”
The merger helps the financial position of some of the CCACs, he said. Some of the community care organizations were struggling, while others had financial surpluses, Joly said.
The Sudbury-Manitoulin CCAC was in a deficit situation early in 2006 until the province came up with more funding. Mongeon said at the time the organization was in the red because it had to take care of more clients with increasingly complex needs.
At the same press conference, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci announced $384,400 in provincial funding for the new North East CCAC to use for home care.
The funding will be spread out across the five largest communities in the northeast.
The money is to ease pressure on hospitals, including Sudbury Regional Hospital, which are burdened with patients waiting to get home care or be placed in long-term care facilities.
“At this point in time, the funding is targeted to help the hospital emergency departments, because at this time, there is a backlog in those areas,” said Joly.
“It could mean providing quicker help for people who need personal support like bathing, and it could also mean help for someone who has a sprain and needs access to therapy in the home.”
