What’s New

There will be a Family Council Meeting on Wednesday, January 11th from 3:30pm to 4:30pm at the RK MacDonald Nursing Rhubarb Patch Room.

For more information on the Family Council please click here.

Reflections of our Residents were recently featured in the The Casket.

    For Mary E. Walsh, memories of a young teacher putting on a Christmas concert in a one-room schoolhouse came flooding back.

You can read the full article here on the The Casket’s website.

A Country Christmas at the RK MacDonald Nursing Home was recently featured in the The Casket.

  “I was kind of bored one day and I decided ‘well, I have got to do something,’” the Margaree Valley, Cape Breton native, said, when asked where he came up with the idea for the holiday celebration.

You can read the full article here on the The Casket’s website.

A donation to the RK MacDonald Nursing Home was recently featured in the The Casket.

“It’s very heartwarming to see their contribution,” she said. “We all have a connection to dementia and it’s great to see groups, like the S&B ladies, using their talents to contribute in such a meaningful way.”

You can read the full article here on the The Casket’s website.

There will be a Family Council Meeting on Wednesday, December 14th from 3:30pm to 4:30pm at the RK MacDonald Nursing Rhubarb Patch Room.

For more information on the Family Council please click here.

The RK MacDonald Nursing Home’s Remembrance Day Ceremony  was recently featured in the The Casket.

The celebration, which took place Nov. 8 in the R.K. Chapel, included residents, family members and staff, along with Royal Canadian Legion Arras Branch 59 members and veterans.

You can read the full article here on the The Casket’s website.

Join us to celebrate Christmas this year by helping the R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home to light up our tree with a bulb dedicated to love. As in previous years, our ‘Lights of Love’ Christmas tree will be lit to honour people in whose name donations were made. These people do not have to be residents of the R.K.

Your donation will be used to fund A Dementia-Friendly Healing & Sensory Garden. 

You can dedicate a bulb in memory of a deceased loved one or to honour someone presently in your life. There is no limit to the number of bulbs you can purchase. In addition to a tax receipt for your donation, you can receive a card which you may send to anyone you have honoured.

The tree will be lit and dedications read at 7.00 p.m. on Sunday, December 4^th, 2016, in the R.K. Chapel.  Following prayers, dedications and carols, refreshments will be served in the R.K. Dining Room.  All dedications will be entered in a ‘Lights of Love Memorial Book’ which will be on display in the R.K. Chapel for the next year.

If you would like to donate to the Lights of Love Campaign, you can download this years’ form here.

RK Mac Donald Nursing Home

Family Council Committee Meeting

Wednesday Sept 13, 2016: 3:30 pm

 Present:

Jim Mulcahy (Chair), Cathy L Mac Donald, Cathy D. Mac Donald, Barb Mac Kinnon, Mary Mac Donald & Marian Mac lellan.

Regrets:

Dorothy Ludlow, Jim Peters & Mary Lynn Mac Intyre

1. The Chair introduced the new members and passed out the Terms of Reference to new members. Marian Mac Lellan volunteered to record the minutes.
2. Michelle Thompson CEO read an update from her report re activities that are on going at the RK, see attached report from Michelle Thompson.
3. Questions were raised re the status of the number of volunteers at the RK and the role that they play within the organization.
4. Clarification was also received regarding the “feedback process”. The ability to provide feedback electronically is now available through the RK website.  The “Feedback process” can be found on the website under “contact”.
5. Next meeting date Wednesday October 12^th, 3:30, an agenda will follow prior to the meeting.

Respectively Submitted by

Marian MacLellan

September 2016 CEO Update to Family Council

1. Thank you for Terms of Reference. I want to thank and acknowledge the Council members for the thoughtfulness that went into them. I have shared them with Senior Leaders and the Board of Directors as well.
2. The Strategic Plan is on the website as well as the priorities for 2016. “Plan on a Page”
3. There is a new CCA course starting at the R.K. MacDonald on September 12, 2016. We have partnered with Futureworx as the course provider..
4. Accreditation Update: We have registered with Accreditation Canada. As we are currently not an accredited facility there is a 2 year process called the “Accreditation Primer” that is essential preparation phase before moving into full accreditation phase. We will be in touch with the Family Council when we receive more detailed information about the process and how we can partner to meet the Standards. In particular doing a survey with Resdeints and families would be a great opportunity to partner together.
5. Summertime: we continue to be challenged with staffing, particularly in the nursing department. We recruited heavily in the Spring and despite a significant number of new employees hired across all disciplines, we had times where shifts weren’t filled. There are a number of staff currently off on leave and we are supporting their return to work to the best of our ability. In addition we are undertaking the following actions:
   1. We are looking into workplace wellness programs through provincial health care associations to understand if there is potential to roll out a program here.
   2. We are working with local rehab specialist to learn more about mental health supports and rehab programs for people experiencing significant stress and/or mental distress and mental illness.
   3. We have been encouraging all staff enrolled in benefits to utilize the benefits for self care and preventative health programs
   4. We are encouraging folks to utilize the Employee and Family Assistance Programs. They are anonymous and free of charge and the organization only receives aggregate numbers regarding uptake. No details are shared
   5. We are doing a workplace wellness survey asking staff how we can best support their wellness as an organization

We want to encourage staff to care for themselves and we want to support their wellbeing as an organization.

6. We will be undertaking staff education over the course of about 10 months focused on care of residents with dementia. We will be incorporating the Positive Physical Approach from Teepa Snow. All staff in the building will be going through training sessions so it will take a significant amount of time to have staff attend. We don’t want to rush the process however and we want to ensure that the training days are paced well and spaced well in order to translate learning to practice. The training days will begin in October

Again, if there is anything you need from me, or the Senior Leadership Team, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to the R.K. MacDonald and the residents who live here.

Michelle Thompson

Notice to Residents and Families

Administrative Change

R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home has recently enrolled in the Accreditation Canada process. Accreditation Canada is a not for profit organization which sets national quality and safety standards for healthcare organizations. As the organization works toward achieving these standards we will require someone to support the implementation of a more robust quality program throughout the Home.

Effective October 17, 2016 Maryann Chisholm assumed the role of Director of Quality and Terry MacIntyre has assumed the role of Director of Clinical Services.

This means that the delivery of clinical services, including the Nursing Department, will be managed by Terry MacIntyre. Any issues related to care areas may be brought directly to him.

Terry’s office is directly across from Maryann’s office on the Main Floor of the Home.

Maryann’s office location has not changed.

As the Quality Program grows, you can expect that we will be soliciting feedback about the services provided at the R.K. We will be asking where we are doing things well and where we can improve. This will happen through a surveys, focus groups, committee work and individual conversations.

As always, we welcome your observations and feedback about the Home at any time.

Please join me in thanking and congratulating Terry and Maryann for taking on these new roles

Sincerely,

Michelle Thompson CEO

There will be a Family Council Meeting on Wednesday, November 9th from 3:30pm to 4:30pm at the RK MacDonald Nursing Rhubarb Patch Room.

For more information on the Family Council please click here.