POLICY AND PROCEDURES
The Beginnings
The Seniors Reassurance Program was initiated when the James Bay Community Station was opened in 1985. This program was supported by volunteers who were concerned that seniors had become ill or had falls and no one had knowledge that they might need help until after the fact. At that time the program was totally supported by the Victoria Police Department. Joyce Hore, a retired Nursing Officer Grade 7, (trained in England) joined the James Bay Community Station in 1998 and was asked to assist with improving the coordination of this service. She soon took on the role as the volunteer coordinator. Joyce introduced an interview system identifying the clients’ medical and personal background so it would be available if required by the police or paramedics in the case they had to be summoned to enter the home of one of the participants. Intake interviews were always done in person whenever possible. The program is administrated and staffed by volunteer callers who phone everyone on the list each weekday morning.
In 2005, the Victoria Police asked that James Bay New Horizons assume the responsibility of the Senior Reassurance Program. Since then, the program has resided at James Bay New Horizons, a natural fit for our busy and bustling seniors’ activity centre. It continues to be supported by the Victoria Police Department, if a client cannot be reached our next step is to call a designated contact person, in the event that we cannot confirm the client is well, or has been admitted to any of the area hospitals, the police can still be called upon to enter the home of the client to ascertain their status.
Our program continues to grow and we are always happy to take on clients requiring this service. We are please to answer questions and if it is felt we are able to make a potential client comfortable and confident that our program will meet their needs, we will gladly complete the intake process (sometimes personally but more often over the phone). We are able to introduce the program to the new client the next day. We advertise via word of mouth in the James Bay neighbourhood as well as local newspapers. The JB Medical Clinic is also aware of our program.
Policies
To make it easier we have outlined our policies in point form.
1. Potential clients must meet the following criteria (and we reserve the right to make, and certainly have made, exceptions to this):
2. Clients receive the following benefits:
3. Clients have the following responsibilities which are essential to the success of the program:
4. If we cannot reach a client on the first attempt in the morning we go through the following process, step by step:
5. Volunteer Management
6. Information Management
Documents
Examples of the documents we use to manage this program:
The Seniors Reassurance Program was initiated when the James Bay Community Station was opened in 1985. This program was supported by volunteers who were concerned that seniors had become ill or had falls and no one had knowledge that they might need help until after the fact. At that time the program was totally supported by the Victoria Police Department. Joyce Hore, a retired Nursing Officer Grade 7, (trained in England) joined the James Bay Community Station in 1998 and was asked to assist with improving the coordination of this service. She soon took on the role as the volunteer coordinator. Joyce introduced an interview system identifying the clients’ medical and personal background so it would be available if required by the police or paramedics in the case they had to be summoned to enter the home of one of the participants. Intake interviews were always done in person whenever possible. The program is administrated and staffed by volunteer callers who phone everyone on the list each weekday morning.
In 2005, the Victoria Police asked that James Bay New Horizons assume the responsibility of the Senior Reassurance Program. Since then, the program has resided at James Bay New Horizons, a natural fit for our busy and bustling seniors’ activity centre. It continues to be supported by the Victoria Police Department, if a client cannot be reached our next step is to call a designated contact person, in the event that we cannot confirm the client is well, or has been admitted to any of the area hospitals, the police can still be called upon to enter the home of the client to ascertain their status.
Our program continues to grow and we are always happy to take on clients requiring this service. We are please to answer questions and if it is felt we are able to make a potential client comfortable and confident that our program will meet their needs, we will gladly complete the intake process (sometimes personally but more often over the phone). We are able to introduce the program to the new client the next day. We advertise via word of mouth in the James Bay neighbourhood as well as local newspapers. The JB Medical Clinic is also aware of our program.
Policies
To make it easier we have outlined our policies in point form.
1. Potential clients must meet the following criteria (and we reserve the right to make, and certainly have made, exceptions to this):
- The client must live in the municipality of the City of Victoria or Esquimalt as
it is this municipality’s police department that supports the program - The client must live alone
- The client must not be so hard of hearing that they routinely miss phone calls
- The client must have an intake interview with the volunteer co-ordinator. James Bay New Horizons will have the final say in accepting clients.
2. Clients receive the following benefits:
- Clients receive a phone call from a volunteer every morning, Monday to Saturday, between 9 and 10 am
- A birthday card is sent to every client registered with the program
- Every client is invited to an annual tea, usually around Christmas time held at James
Bay New Horizons
3. Clients have the following responsibilities which are essential to the success of the program:
- If they know they are going to be away for any given morning or longer period of time, clients are required to call our message line and let our volunteers know
- If anything changes in their status that affects their eligibility in the program, they are required to let us know, including moving into a facility or moving out of the municipality
4. If we cannot reach a client on the first attempt in the morning we go through the following process, step by step:
- We make a second attempt at the end of the calling session
- If still no response, we try their contact list, usually starting with a building manager (if they are in an apartment) to knock on the clients door and to find out if they are okay. Sometimes a building manager will open the apartment and look around.
- If still no response, we check all the area hospital admission lists to see if they are in hospital
- If still no response, particularly if the client lives in a detached home, we call the police and have them gain entrance to check on the status of the client. This is, of course, a last resort after all other options have been tried.
5. Volunteer Management
- The volunteer coordinator interviews and arranges training for all program volunteers
- The volunteer coordinator also sets the weekly roster of volunteers. Coverage for holidays and breaks is arranged so as to make calls every
Monday to Friday morning
6. Information Management
- When clients are interviewed for the program, the volunteer co-ordinator will complete a comprehensive inventory of their health risks, next of kin and their phone numbers, emergency contact numbers, doctors’ name and phone number, etc.. All this information is filed confidentially in a locked cabinet
- A smaller information card is then generated with all the clients contacts, and the volunteers use this to track calls
- These smaller green cards are placed alphabetically in a file box and as the volunteer calls each client, small point form notes are recorded on the card, citing how the client is doing that morning and time contact was made.
- A communications log book is also kept, containing the weekly volunteer rosters, and anything that needs to be noted from each volunteer’s shift, as well as information notices for the volunteers to read
Documents
Examples of the documents we use to manage this program:
| policy__procedures_update_2009.doc |
| seniors_reassurance_brochure.pdf |
| letter_sept_09.doc |
