Patient Advisor, The Ladysmith Family Practice Clinic – Frailty, Linkages and Improved Outcomes for Seniors

As a patient advisor, you will be instrumental in redesigning how older adults with frailty are communicated with, assessed and connected to community resource supports in the Ladysmith area!

Open to: Patient partners in Ladysmith or Cowichan area

Lead Organization or Department

Island Health, Primary and Community Care

Aim

We want to learn and apply patient- and caregiver- centred care, quality improvement tools, and measurements to ensure the rapid, successful and sustainable design and implementation of primary and community care in the Ladysmith area. The Patient Advisor will attend meetings, identify needs and solutions, test ideas, and evaluate outcomes to advise the rest of the team on a patient-centred approach to care.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of collaborate on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will work together with you to formulate solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

Eligibility

• Open to patient partners from the Ladysmith and Cowichan areas
• Comfortable sharing their patient/caregiver perspective and experience in a group setting
• Either is an older adult (65+) health care service user or supports an older adult health care service user
• Familiarty with or able to use teleconference numbers and access the Ladysmith Health Centre for video or in person meetings, as required
• Please note:
  • This opportunity is not open to patient partners who are currently employed by Island Health
  • The placement process for this opportunity may include an informal interview between the volunteer and the health care partner.
  • Applicants must have previously attended a PVN orientation session and completed the Volunteer Agreement. If you have not attended an orientation session but you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Ashley Clark directly to see if accommodations may be possible.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 2
• Project Meetings: Regularly set meetings as per below, with potential follow up discussions in between.
  • November 19, 2019 Project Orientation 9-10:30
  • Dec 10, 2019 9-10am;
  • Jan 28, 2020 9-10am
  • April 21, 2020 9-10am
  • May 28, 2020 9-10am
  • June 30, 2020 9-10am
  • Sept 16, 2020 9-10am
  • November 3, 2020 9-10am
  • Jan 27, 2021 9-10am

• Location:  Ladysmith Health Centre
• Commitment: One year with option to renew

Reimbursement

Pre-approved transportation & parking costs to attend meetings will be reimbursed by Island Health within 3 weeks.

Background

We want to be part of the Canadian Foundations for Healthcare Improvement Collaborative to learn and apply patient- and caregiver- centred care, quality improvement tools, and measurements to ensure rapid, successful and sustainable design and implementation of care. CARES (Community Action and Resources Empowering Seniors) partners with primary care providers, family physicians, and nurse practitioners to proactively identify vulnerable seniors at risk for frailty. Based in research, CARES empower seniors by addressing frailty early, then supporting the collaborative development of a personalized care plan to connect seniors to community-based resources that enable them to live longer in their community. CARES offer seniors access to community based free health coaches and social prescribing resources to keep them engaged, active and connected to helpful resources. Canadian Foundations for Healthcare Improvement has put out a call for applications across Canada for interest in improving care for older persons with frailty, through implementing one of our four nationally recognized and celebrated models of care. We have chosen the CARES model, born and based in BC, that aligns with our seniors strategy to improve primary care and optimize on community resources. The full applications details can be found here. The Patient Advisor offers their experience and expertise as a service-user or supporting a service user within the Ladysmith (or Cowichan) area to advise the rest of the team on what is patient-centred approach to care and patient co-design. Patient and family/friend caregiver advisors will be integral members of the improvement team – attending meetings, identifying needs, and solutions, testing ideas, and evaluating outcomes. As well, this role may service a liaison between the initiative and other patients and caregivers/councils within the organizations and support broader engagement practices throughout the initiatives.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Ashley Clark
Engagement Leader, Patient & Public Engagement | Vancouver Island
250.812.8908
aclark@bcpsqc.ca