Committee to ready Chatham-Kent area long term care homes for possible pandemic crisis
Friday, December 1, 2006 -- Craig Anderson
A committee of long term care nurses and directors of care in the Chatham-Kent region is developing a best practices manual to prescribe ways to manage and mitigate the effects of a pandemic.

The Pandemic Planning committee, which includes representatives from more than 20 long term care and retirement homes in the area, is working with the Public Health Unit, and meeting once a month to brainstorm creatively.

The group is asking the tough questions, says Michelle Johnson, Co-director of Care at Meadow Park Chatham.

“We are asking questions like – what if there are multiple deaths?” asks Johnson. “What do we do with the bodies?”

These questions and the resulting themes are being compiled into an A-Z index. This method, says Johnson, has also helped to lessen some of the anxiety that participants feel over what appears to be a daunting, almost insurmountable task.

Examples of the index include:

* Admissions to Hospital during Pandemic

* Communications to family during Pandemic

* Housekeeping responsibilities

* Evacuation plan

This collaborative effort, and the ideas the monthly meetings have generated, has “opened doors,” says Johnson.

“They’ve opened our minds to things we may not have thought about,” says Johnson, who is by training a registered nurse. Johnson has been with the 97-bed home, owned by long term care provider Jarlette (see www.jarlette.com), since 1998.

The committee will also be attending other information sessions about pandemic planning, in particular a London workshop on Wednesday, November 15th on dietary issues pertaining to pandemics.

This initiative dovetails with the Ontario government’s recently released Provincial Coordination Plan for Influenza Pandemic, or PCPIP. The PCPIP stresses that emergency planning and preparedness begin at the individual community level.

To highlight this, the Ministry is providing monthly updates on local pandemic initiatives through an on-line newsletter – The Pandemic Planner. The planning efforts of Spruce Hill Lodge, a retirement residence in South Porcupine, are but one of a number of local initiatives examined in the October issue.

Johnson says that due to the enormity of the task of preparing for a pandemic, the committee sees their work in building a manual, expected to be completed in Spring of 2007, as a “process.”

Apart from being an effort to prevent loss of life, pandemic planning is also about establishing safer workplaces.

“We’re giving staff the knowledge, and it will help create some order within [the home.] It re-assures them that we are doing our best to ensure a safe workplace.”