St. Joseph’s Health Centre is a Catholic health care organization that operates a two-site rehabilitation hospital and two long-term care facilities in Greater Sudbury – offerring care to almost 400 patients and residents and employing more than 750 people.
The centre recently released its four-year strategic plan with its top priority being “care with purpose and compassion.”
On Monday, staff showed CTV News the gym at one of its two rehabilitation sites. The organization said their goal is to help patients recover and return home.
“The bulk of our patients are frail older adults who are in need of rehabilitation so that they can return to independent living in the community,” said president and CEO Kari Gervais.
“Our goal is really to avoid or delay people from being admitted to long term care or requiring long term care as much as possible.”
Gervais said staffing levels continue to be a focus at its rehabilitation and long-term care sites but they have stabilized over the last three years. The new strategic plan has a strong focus on staff retention, psychological health and physical safety – continuing the work that has led to this stability.
“Things have been rough over the last few years. We have a lot of people who are still recovering themselves from the pandemic and the trauma that it brought,” said Gervais.
“There is a lot of stress in healthcare in general. So, we really want to make sure that we are welcoming people from all walks of life into our workforce and making them feel included.”
Organization officials confirmed the top priority in the strategic plan at all sites is ensure they care with both compassion and purpose. This includes a people-centered care approach that helps rehabilitation patients.
“If the person says I want to go blueberry picking because that is what I do every August, then the clinicians actually say what is it that we need to help them with? Unsteady ground, getting in and out of the car, being able to have the strength to get up from a sitting position to a standing position,” said Vicki Lejambe, the organization’s chief of nursing and allied health.
“There is a lot of research that talks about the benefit of compassionate care specifically and implementing that model. So, we are really going to enhance those efforts,” added Gervais.
St. Joseph’s told CTV News that the strategic plan was developed after consultations with staff, residents, patients, family councils and post-secondary institutions along with community health partners.
