Health PEI - Margaret Stewart Ellis Home

At a Glance  

Region: Prince Edward Island

Setting: Rural and Urban

EAIP program principle(s): 

• Access to system navigation and support 
• Access to social and community supports 

Implementation (new, spread, and/or expand):   

• Expand 

Team Profile  

The organization leading this initiative is Health PEI, the health authority in Prince Edward Island. Collaborative team members include healthcare professionals from Health PEI, including administrators, managers, as well as representation from nursing and social work. As part of the team, an external consultant provides capacity building and evaluation support.  

Community

• This initiative is being offered in partnership with two communities: O’Leary, a rural community in Northwestern Prince Edward Island, and Summerside PEI, a small city with a population of 20,000 in Western PEI, both situated in the Prince County region of PEI.  
• In the Prince County region, individuals aged 65 and older, make up a quarter of the population (25.6%), notably higher than the national average of 18.9%.  
• The local area has a mixture of English and Acadian French demographics, with two French communities in the region, who each have a community school center and active seniors’ clubs. There is one First Nations community, Lennox Island First Nation, within the Country. 

Program Focus 

Program Description  

• The Margaret Stewart Ellis Home will expand and improve an existing respite care program that aims to prevent caregiver burnout. The program team has identified that its services are under-utilized because of lack of awareness, misconceptions about the ability for institutional settings to provide person-centered care, and barriers faced through administrative processes. These barriers were identified through community engagement in Phase 1 of the EAIP Collaborative.
• To improve the respite program and its utilization, the program team will investigate centralizing the administration processes to diminish barriers of transportation, develop promotion materials, and establish a more collaborative partnership with home-based care programs. These efforts are expected to help establish Long-Term Care (LTC) as a key community organization promoting aging in place.

Implementation Approach: 

• Promotion of Respite Program: Materials will be developed to raise awareness of the in-facility respite program, expanding promotion from home-based care service users to the public. The goal is to alleviate caregiver guilt and anxiety while reducing the stigma associated with LTC. The team plans to utilize various promotion methods (e.g., video, brochure, social media) based on input from community partners and caregivers. 
• Improve Communication and Accessibility to Respite Program: The team aims to enhance internal communication to facilitate a safe transition from home-based care to in-facility respite care. This includes clear communication during the intake process and establishing a discharge process with follow-up reports for families/carers. Additionally, centralizing the administration and admission process will reduce administrative barriers and prevent interruptions in healthcare services during respite access. 
• Enhancement of Respite Environment: Informed by service users, their families, and/or carers, improvements will be made to the respite environment to create a warm and welcoming setting. This may involve providing service users with private spaces and implementing design elements to encourage participation and better utilization of the respite program.