via canada.com

Institute sets up shop in basement of continuing care facility

Jodie Sinnema, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Monday, February 25

EDMONTON - Lindsey Rayner first met Richard Boswell last year when she helped with his dinner at CapitalCare Dickinsfield.
Now, she’s hoping to become a licensed practical nurse and is being trained in the basement of the continuing care facility as part of a pilot project that better links nursing students with patients who need continuing care.
The project is part of a new partnership between CapitalCare, NorQuest College, Capital Health and the University of Alberta to create the Institute for Continuing Care, Education and Research.

We get the real opportunity to have one-on-one contact and the closeness with the residents

“We get the real opportunity to have one-on-one contact and the closeness with the residents,” said Rayner, 18, who now sees Boswell, 49, and other residents while on school coffee breaks. Students see trends and issues facing the residents and take that knowledge back to classroom.

Farther into the nursing program, she and 25 other students will move upstairs to practise their skills at the bedsides.
“We can ask them real questions,” Rayner said. “You get the real impact.”
She also believes the residents enjoy seeing young people going into the nursing profession.
“With the opportunity to see the students, they will be having a sign of hope that they will be better taken care of,” she said. Rayner began the diploma program in January.

Joan Crawford, 66, has even taken the opportunity to go into the basement to watch the NorQuest students.
“We know that there is continuing education going on and, hopefully, some of these will come work with us,” said Crawford, who used to be a licensed practical nurse herself. She said Dickinsfield is sometimes so short-staffed she helps feed other residents.
Iris Neumann, chief executive officer at CapitalCare, said she hopes the new institute will encourage more people to consider a career in continuing care.

“Continuing care is not about the glamour of saving lives but helping people live their lives,” Neumann said.
The Institute for Continuing Care, which does not yet have a physical space, will first find an interim director to coordinate grant proposals and build a knowledge base. It will start up research projects, such as one that is placing physiotherapists and physiotherapy assistants in the same clinical practice together to enhance interdisciplinary teams.
Eventually, the institute plans to have its own building with a continuing care centre where student nurses learn under the best teachers.