THUNDER BAY — St. Joseph’s Care Group has been evolving and changing for 138 years to meet the needs of the community. The past year saw it face new challenges to meet community needs.
“It’s a very large organization providing care across numerous streams,” said Kelli O’Brien, who took over the reins this year as president and chief executive officer, overseeing more than 2,400 staff.
Like all healthcare organizations, O’Brien says St. Joseph’s Care Group’s adaptations to the pandemic have been a challenge in ensuring people can move in and out of programs and hospitals. Alternate level of care is another barrier the care group faced in terms of utilizing resources which have been affected by COVID.
“We’ve maintained programs and services by deploying staff and putting alternate staffing models in place,” she said. “Those are some of the challenges and hurdles that I feel that we have overcome during this past year.”
Between August 2021 and July 2022 the organization welcomed more than 850 students across its sites offering them exposure to a range of careers under the guidance of experienced staff.
“We want people to choose to work and have a career with St. Joseph’s Care Group,” she said. “Recruiting and retaining staff is really about building those relationships, so we try to start those relationships very early.”
A broad range of students at different levels of their education are included in the recruitment.
O’Brien added that they have been collaborating with a federal government program that helps rural and northern areas attract immigrants who have skills that can meet needs in those communities.
“We take part in the supervised practice experience partnership for internationally educated nurses, creating those pathways for nurses to meet the requirements,” she said.
The impact of healthcare worker shortages, particularly in long-term care facilities, was offset this year by support from essential care visitors, family members and other individuals.
“Our teams have definitely adapted and have changed some of our staffing models,” O’Brien pointed out.
She explained how they reached out to their teams asking for willingness to take on a role as a unit helper and volunteer for shifts to help their colleagues during periods of shortage.
“You’d be amazed at the number of people who came forward,” she exclaimed.
For the third consecutive time, St. Joseph’s Care Group has been awarded an exemplary standing with Accreditation Canada in 2022. The accreditation takes place every four years and compares their programs and services to national best practices.
For the first time, the organization has received international recognition for three of its practices.
“We received (recognition) for our quality improvement huddles in long-term care, for the community rehab worker role for remote First Nations in Northwestern Ontario and for our collaboration with community-based services to build pathways to isolation support for vulnerable populations during COVID-19,” O’Brien explained.
St. Joseph’s continues Indigenous reconciliation work as they move from their Walking with Humility plan into the Looking to the Southern Direction program, which launched in June.
“It’s really core to our current strategic plan and we’ve really taken steps to realize the plan through action with a director of Indigenous relations, an Indigenous health team, elders, and an advisory council,” she said.
O’Brien says she is impressed with the breadth of partnerships and collaboration to meet client needs which she calls the “core of the work that they do.”
Research partnerships are among those relationships that are making a difference.
“We have a centre of applied health research that supports us to create new knowledge translation, particularly in those areas relevant to the care streams that we provide,” she said adding, that they include rehabilitative care, rehab and addictions and mental health. “It really is about the research relevant to Northwestern Ontario, how to incorporate it into your practice if you’re a clinician, and about networking and developing those partnerships.
St. Joseph’s Care Group’s annual research showcase returns to an in-person format this February.
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