Northern Health Has 5 Year Plan for the Aging Population
Prince George, B.C. – Northern Health has developed a five year action plan to serve the region’s aging population.
According to a report presented to the Northern Health Board, it is predicted that by 2030, there will be 72,454 people over the age of 65 in the region. That’s a 78.3% increase over the numbers recorded in 2010.
Following extensive consultation with seniors and seniors’ groups throughout the Northern Health region the seniors’ action plan focuses on three areas
- keeping seniors healthy in their communities through a population health approach,
- providing integrated primary and community care with early recognition and support for frailty, and
- taking a rehabilitative approach to providing quality of care in hospital and residential care settings.
The plan is designed to allow seniors to stay in their homes as long as possible, by providing the services they may need to continue to live independently.
It is a lofty goal , and one that, if achieved, should go a long way towards easing the pressure on the University Hospital of Northern B.C. both in visits to the emergency Room and in availability of beds.
Board Chair, Dr.Charles Jago says the plan won’t necessarily require more funding, “We are trying to work more effectively and more efficiently, provide better quality of service and reduce costs by keeping people out of the hospital where the costs are high. We are making changes within our own budget to accommodate these new initiatives which are designed to improve quality and efficiency. Yes, this plan has been proposed within the current funding context.”
The report projects there will be a need to increase hospital bed capacity “That’s something we have to bring to the attention of government” says Dr. Jago, “but at this point that’s not the essence of our plan. Our plan is to work with health professionals to keep people home and in the community as long as possible.”
Northern Health CEO Cathy Ulrich says there has been a great deal of discussion on how Northern Health can re-organize what it is currently doing to provide a focussed effort for people who are frail and elderly in the community. “There is work underway in the community and we are already seeing results from that.”
That work includes the Car 67 model which pairs a police officer with a mental health professional to handle calls which are not criminal in nature, and can link people with the help they need rather than making a visit to the ER. There has also been the addition of convalescent beds at Gateway, which also reduces pressure on the University Hospital of Northern B.C. There is a ‘rapid mobilization’ program which involves Licensed Practical Nurses to get people back into the community quicker than has been the case in the past.
The plan also calls for collaborative work with communities and BC Housing to ensure there is appropriate affordable housing for seniors who are able to live independently. That is a key point as the recent report from B.C.’s Seniors Advocate indicated 93% of seniors are living independently and many would like to continue that path if they can afford to do so.
Comments
The plan is add more and more managers who take more and more money from actual healthcare.. It’s not a new plan but one that they have been sticking to since its inception.
P Val, did you even bother to read the article above?
Yes, and I have numerous dealings with northern health.. It’s a joke.. I spent 25 min in their office one day because no one could figure out how to send a fax to another office.. They are a huge waste of our tax dollars.
Have they accounted for the influx of older, sick and needy Syrians that are coming this way?
‘The plan is add more and more managers who take more and more money from actual healthcare.. It’s not a new plan but one that they have been sticking to since its inception.’
Christ P Val, stop complaining. If you have all the answers then apply to be the chief administrator of the Northern Health Authority.
You take complex social and political issues and distill them down to the ‘Idiots Guide For’ narrative. Do you have any idea how complex the real world is or have your brethren and sistren convinced you that it’s a simple management vs. labour monologue?
Difficult issues demand leadership, work and perseverance, for the benefit of those other than you individually.
“no one could figure out how to send a fax to another office”
What is a fax?
I got rid of my fax … I have a printer/scanner/copier with which I can send a document and attach it to an email, all in full glorious colour that looks almost like the original.
I can file the correspondence in an electronic program or project file all of which can be backed up at the end of the day or each time I leave the computer. I can search for files/messages/emails, etc. by word in the document.
BTW, tell me what clerks have to do with too many managers?
PG101 wrote: “Have they accounted for the influx of older, sick and needy Syrians that are coming this way?”
You obviously have not been following the refugee situation.
The young, the old and the sick die on the way getting here. It is survival of the fittest. Those are the ones who make it to a safe haven.
gopg2015, survival of the fittest? Those are the ones that make it to a safe haven?
By chance, would those ones be young healthy males, a demographic group that one might consider the most likely to be of the terrorist kind?chance?
Young healthy terrorists! Yup, that’s what we need! Welcome to Canada!
Glad to see that someone at N. Health is thinking ahead, demographically speaking, as I will be one of those (well) over age 65 come year 2030.
gopg2015 says: “What is a fax?”
I have heard that (figuratively speaking) several times in the last couple of years.
I would tend to agree with you gopg, at least in terms of business to business, including government. Got to keep up, to some extent, or face being left behind.
Although many may feel that the fax machine has gone the way of the Dodo bird, rest assured that there are still lots of them in operation, including one in our home based business. Although electronics are very affordable these days, we simply cannot justify the cost of upgrading to the latest technology, for the amount it would be needed.
metalman.
WinFax, you might have that or might recall it.
If you need to send to a fax machine or if you want to receive a fax on your computer, it was the program to use. Developed around 1990, I used to use that to send with documents which were created on the computer. Otherwise sent documents by fax machine. The latest version is about 10 years old I would think and can still be used.
Thanks, gopg, yes I remember Winfax.
metalman.
Hart Guy wrote: “a demographic group that one might consider the most likely to be of the terrorist kind?chance?”
Sure, if one is paranoid one may say that.
If one does not suffer from paranoia one is more likely to think that they are young people who see little hope in their country which is breaking apart and threatens their livelihood as well as their lives. They are those who are the smart self-starters who prefer to start a new life in a new country which holds out more promise than their country does. This continent if full of such people. It is those who built this continent and made it what it is. Many of them were even outcasts and outlaws in their home country. Remember, Australia, another country of immigrants, was started as a penal colony.
Then again, it might not be paranoia at all but simple racisms and lack of understanding and acceptance of other cultures.
As the signs used to say in Boston, “No Irish need apply”. Racism, oppression, persecution, discrimination, hatred, fear of the Irish then and Muslims now, and all the others in between and yet to come.
It is the way of the world, it seems. So thanks for keeping up the good work to make sure it stays that way, Hart Guy.
“If one does not suffer from paranoia one is more likely to think that they are young people who see little hope in their country which is breaking apart and threatens their livelihood as well as their lives.” – or one could do a little research, and watch how many of these ungrateful ‘migrants’ are rioting in Germany, because the food isn’t up to their standards, the internet is slow, and the TV doesn’t have enough channels.
They aren’t dealing with ‘refugees’ , neither will Canada be. They are illegal migrants flocking from safe countries, to abuse the system in the EU.
Love to see how Canada will house 25k immigrants, when we can’t take care of our own natives or homeless.
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