The Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services endorsed the requested expenditure for $50,615.87 plus taxes for the purchase of  lounge seating from the General Donations Account at Castleview Wychwood Towers.

Each home has a variety of donations accounts and Toronto Long-Term Care Homes and Services has an overarching policy that requires any expenditure request from a donations account to have the support and endorsement of both the Home Advisory Committee and the General Manager.  Further, expenditure requests over the amount of $7,500.00 also require the endorsement of the Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services.

The policy related to designated uses of the donations accounts states that expenditures shall not be made for the ordinary operation and maintenance of the home.  The policy further states that the purpose of the donations accounts is to enrich or enhance the quality of life for residents.

On September 10, 2009, the Castleview Wychwood Towers Home Advisory Committee has reviewed and unanimously endorsed an expenditure request for $50,615.87 plus taxes to purchase seating for lounge/entertainment areas.

The expenditure request is referred to the Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services for the committee’s further consideration.

The Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services received the item for information.

Staff recognized an opportunity to improve processes in directly determining resident satisfaction amongst residents with moderate to significant dementia, as none of the other satisfaction tools bridged the communication gap for this group of people.  As well, past discussions at the Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services guided staff to consider non-traditional means in capturing resident satisfaction with the care and services offered in relation to dementia care.

The Resident-Client Advocate completed research (including medical, behavioural, scientific, and research data-bases) related to valid, reliable tools for measuring satisfaction amongst individuals with dementia.  This research resulted in selection of the Quality of Life in Late-Stage Dementia (QUALID) tool as a possible additional tool to measure resident satisfaction.

Wesburn Manor agreed to pilot use of the new tool and the use of QUALID has been in place in the home since March 2009.  Feedback has been positive.

This report responds to the request of the Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services (November 8, 2007) to consider expanded methodologies in measuring satisfaction, when the committee received a report titled “Various Approaches for Monitoring and Improving Resident Satisfaction” and provides a high level overview of the QUALID tool, the experiences at Wesburn Manor and the plan to implement the tool in other homes.

The Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services received the item for information.

At the May 22, 2009 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services, the Committee received and reviewed the findings on resident and family satisfaction contained within the report entitled “Your Opinion Counts Survey - January 1 to December 31, 2008”.

During this review and subsequent discussion, members suggested that specific to the Advocacy section within the survey, perhaps the division may want to re-consider the current questions within the set survey as a means of soliciting feedback and improving data collection.  Given this review and discussion, members questioned whether the current questions were “user friendly” for the respondents completing the survey, and given the history on the completion rate on this section of the survey, if the current format within this section of the survey extrapolated the most useful data for the division.

As a result, there was a commitment expressed that the division would consider this input and respond back to the Advisory Committee at a later date.  This report provides the Advisory members with an update on the activities undertaken within the division, and the plans that have been initiated in addressing the issues and concerns noted within the Advocacy section of the “Your Opinion Counts” satisfaction survey.

The Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services received the item for information.

The Long-Term Care Homes and Services Division values the active, involved, engaged and vocal Residents’ Councils present in each of the ten (10) homes.  The division has a commitment to and a reputation for supporting and enabling the Residents’ Councils, at both a home and divisional level, viewing Residents’ Councils as critical organizations, as their efforts in planning, organizing and advocacy positively impact the quality of life for all residents in the community of their homes.

In 2007, the division established a process of hosting annual Residents’ Councils Summits, bringing together the Presidents/designates and other representatives from each of the Residents’ Councils for a half-day of learning, information sharing and networking.  The 3^rd annual Residents’ Councils Summit was held on September 23, 2009 at Cummer Lodge.

This report provides a high-level overview of the proceedings of the 3rd annual Residents’ Councils’ Summit and the intended next steps.

The Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services received the item for information.

The purpose of this report is to provide members of the Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services with a copy of the report that was forwarded to Community Development and Recreation Committee for its September 22, 2009 meeting.

The Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services received the item for information.

The Residents’ Interest Reserve Fund is used for the general benefit of the residents in the ten Long-Term Care Homes to enhance their quality of life through social and recreational activities.  Annual expenditures are based on 90 percent of all interest recorded in the fund in the previous year.  The fund balance as at September 30, 2009 is $1,866,024.65.

The Advisory Committee on Long-Term Care Homes and Services received the item for information.