HSN launching new senior-focused initiatives

As part of its ongoing efforts to provide more community-based models of care, Health Sciences North announced Nov. 16 two new care initiatives it will launch for seniors.

One initiative will see HSN partnering with The Amberwood Retirement Residence to operate a 25-bed assisted living and supportive living unit, HSN said in a news release. The unit is designed for post-acute care patients not destined for long-term care, but who require supportive care before transitioning back into the community.

Another initiative is the creation of a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, known as PACE. PACE will function like a day hospital and offer health, recreational, and social services on a daily or weekly basis for frail seniors in the community. The service also offers respite for their caregivers. The program has been trialed in the United States and western Canada and is considered a best practice model for community-based care.

The PACE will be established at the Sudbury Outpatient Centre where other day services have been launched to help seniors and people living with chronic illness better manage their health conditions.

Other new clinics launched over the past 24 months include Complex Diabetes Care, Bariatric Assessment and Treatment and a Heart Failure Clinic operating at the Ramsey Lake Health Centre.

With these new community-based care initiatives, HSN will proceed with the closure of the 30-bed Functional Assessment and Outcome (FAO) Unit at the Sudbury Outpatient Centre. The FAO is scheduled to close by Jan. 27, 2013.

Established in 2010, the FAO Unit was designed to be a temporary measure while more capacity was created in Greater Sudbury to help Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients transition back into the community from hospital-based acute care. HSN is working closely with the North East Community Care Access Centre on placement plans for patients in the FAO Unit.

“The FAO Unit was designed to be an interim strategy only,” said Joe Pilon, HSN’s Chief Operating Officer and senior vice-president. “It’s not effective in terms of patient outcomes or cost. By focusing on new models of community-based care, we can improve the quality of life for our seniors and their ability to live independently.”