Patients embrace community care

CHRIS SIMNETT
AHS Communications

Health care doesn't only happen in hospitals.

Every day, Albertans are receiving the care they need in the community and, sometimes, right in their homes.

Albertans prefer it that way.

"The majority of people I've encountered said they would rather not be in hospital and prefer to be as close to home as possible," says Dr. Mary Hurlburt, Medical Director for Community Care Services in the Edmonton area.

"If people can receive care in the community for ongoing problems, such as chronic illnesses, then that's better for these individuals and that's better for their quality of life."

However, every day about 160 patients in Edmonton and 190 in Calgary are in hospital when the same care could be provided in community-based settings.

That's why AHS has launched a three-year, three-step co-ordinated plan to improve access to health services by adding almost 800 community living spaces in Calgary and Edmonton which will allow for the transfer of hundreds of patients currently waiting in hospital beds for placement into more appropriate care settings in the community.

Bill Guscott can vouch for the advantages of community living spaces.

The wheelchair-bound, 60-year-old military veteran spent a year living at the Rockyview General Hospital before moving this summer to Beverly Centre Lake Midnapore, a facility that combines long-term care and supportive living spaces in southeast Calgary.

"I'm really happy here," says Guscott.

"This is the next best thing to home. When I was in the hospital, I needed someone to take me everywhere. I have more freedom here."

His room is filled with flags and jerseys of his favourite sports teams and features a fridge, large television and his own private bathing facilities. His second-floor window looks onto a green space.

Guscott's wife gives him his shots at the Beverly Centre, while Val Stevenson, Guscott's respiratory therapist, says he receives treatment and care on his terms.

"If we come into his room and he's having a bad day and doesn't want us to do anything, we leave," says Stevenson. "When you are in acute care, the health care providers are in total control of the patients' environment and care. Here, in the community, the resident is in control."

Guscott says he appreciates other advantages community living has over hospital life: he gets to wear his own clothes and doesn't have to hear loudspeakers paging doctors and calling various codes at all times of the day and night.

Of course, hospitals will always be needed to care for acutely ill patients.

However, increasing community living options - including home care, supportive living and long-term care - will ensure patients across the system are getting the right care in the right place.

Hurlburt believes this is the right thing to do.

"There's a lot of really good work around community care that's being done in the province right now. It's really exciting," she says.

"Everyone from family physicians, Home Care nurses and diagnostic staff knows what their role is and how to communicate with each other, so they can co-ordinate their actions. When individuals are able to stay in the community, they are closely monitored and can receive the care needed to prevent them from being hospitalized."

The three-year plan is also designed to improve access to mental health care, make better use of hospital beds for acutely ill patients and address pressure on emergency departments.

Dr. Grant Innes, Regional Clinical Department Head for Emergency Medicine in Calgary, says community living expansion is good for the entire health system.

"When people can get the health care they need in the community, they are less likely to require an emergency department visit or a hospital stay," he says.

"That can ease some of the pressure on our emergency departments, allowing them to do what they do best - care for the very sick in a timely fashion."