Safety

Safety & Outbreak Prevention

At AgeCare, our highest priority is the health and well-being of our residents and staff. We continue to take all necessary infection prevention and control precautions in our residences to protect those living, working and visiting our communities. This includes following all recommendations from provincial and public health authorities and regularly checking in with residents regarding their health and well-being. Some of the enhanced safety measures you may see in our homes include:

• PPE available and required for staff
• Enhanced Infection Prevention & Control education for all staff and residents
• Screening of visitors and staff
• Visitor restrictions when required
• Promotion of good hand hygiene and physical distancing
• Hand sanitizer readily available
• Increased cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces

Safety measures implemented in all aspects of residents’ daily life, including the dining experience, life enrichment activities, services like hairdressing and personal support, etc.
It is thanks to the dedication of our staff and the patience and understanding of our residents and their families that we are able to maintain our communities as safe, engaging and fulfilling places to call home – where residents are always supported, and their best interests are put first. Our Administrators are available if you have any questions about AgeCare’s safety and outbreak prevention measures. Call us today to learn more.

Compliments, concerns and complaints

AgeCare is committed to the delivery of quality accommodation, services and care to all our residents. In the event you, a family member or advocate are dissatisfied with any part of the accommodation, services or care we provide, you/they are encouraged to speak directly with the Department Manager or Administrator regarding the concern.

If you are dissatisfied with the home’s response or prefer to speak to someone at the corporate office, please reach out to Deborah DiMauro, Vice President of Long Term Care at the following contact numbers and addresses:

Telephones:
289-914-1912 (Deborah DiMauro’s office)
289-914-1900 (AgeCare’s office)
Fax: 905-501-4711
Address: AgeCare Ontario Office, 7070 Derrycrest Drive, Mississauga, ON L5W 1G3
Email: Deborah.DiMauro@AgeCare.ca

All complaints are welcome and will be acknowledged within 24 hours from the time it is received. Once received, whether from a known or anonymous source, it will be thoroughly investigated and solutions sought to ensure that the issue is resolved and practices put in place to make improvements, wherever possible. Regular contact with the complainant will be maintained throughout the investigation and resolution process.

We adhere to all Ministry of Long-Term Care policies related to complaints.

If you still have concerns or do not wish to submit your concern through the home, you can reach out to the following:

Call the Ministry of Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care Family Support and Action Line: toll free at 1-866-434-0144
Hours of Operation: 8:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., 7 days a week

The person who answers the call will:

• Take down your information
• Ask some questions
• Give the information to an inspector for follow-up

(You should hear back within two business days)

Write to the Ministry
Send a written letter, by mail to:

Director – Long-Term Care Inspections Branch
Long-Term Care Operations Division
119 King St. W. 11th Floor, Hamilton ON L8P 4Y7

(You should receive a reply letting you know that they have received the letter and an inspector will look into the matter)

Contact the Patient Ombudsman

If you already contacted the home directly and the Long-Term Care Family Support and Action Line and were unable to reach a satisfactory resolution, you can contact the Patient Ombudsman:

Online: https://www.patientombudsman.ca/Complaints/Make-a-complaint/Submit-Complaint
Call: 1-888-321-0339 (toll free) or 416-597-0339 (in Toronto)
TTY: 416-597-5371

Quality

Continuous Quality Improvement

Our home utilizes a continuous quality improvement program as a multidisciplinary management strategy to ensure goals, objectives, audits and performance indicators are established, reviewed and analyzed in order to achieve service excellence.

We complete a comprehensive review of the health indicators established by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and the publicly reported indicators. We also consider the priorities set by Ontario Health and through our Long-Term Care Service Accountability Agreement.

We review our processes, quality reports, resident satisfaction and employee engagement scores, trending and outcomes, to determine our opportunities for improvement.

We partner with our Residents' Council and Family Council in the development of our quality improvement initiatives, and we share our plans with all our stakeholders.

Our current Quality Improvement Plan which has been submitted to Health Quality Ontario is available through the link below or can be accessed through the on our website. It is also available at the home by request or posted on the communication board.

​Long-Term Care Home Service Accountability Agreement (LSAA)

Long-Term Care Home Service Accountability Agreements (LSAAs) are established between Ontario Health and health service providers, like AgeCare, who operate long-term care homes. LSAAs help ensure long-term care homes provide high quality care for residents by outlining the operator’s responsibilities and accountabilities and the government’s expectations for service delivery and performance.

To see AgeCare’s LSAAs for Ontario, click here.

ACCREDITATION 

The quality of care our residents receive is important to us. Our voluntary accreditation through CARF Canada is evidence of our commitment to quality and our efforts to provide our residents with the best care and services possible. 

Being an accredited home means that we voluntarily ask to be evaluated by an outside, independent organization of health care professionals for compliance with national standards set by our peers. Those standards represent best practices around quality in health care in our country. Our accreditation status means that we have been evaluated for compliance with those standards and have met or exceeded them. 

Emergency

Emergency Planning Preparedness

Our home is committed to the safety and security of our residents and our staff. To ensure our staff our prepared in an emergency situation, we have developed a comprehensive emergency plan in collaboration with our emergency service partners, systems partners, Resident and Family Councils and others. Our emergency plans consist of, but are not limited to, the areas that have been set out by the Ministry of Long-Term Care, which include:

• Outbreaks of communicable diseases, outbreaks of a disease of public health significance, epidemics, and pandemics,
• Fires (also required as part of the Ontario Fire Code)
• Community disasters
• Violent outbursts
• Bomb threats
• Medical emergencies
• Chemical spills
• Situations involving a missing resident
• Loss of one or more essential services (examples below)
• Gas leaks
• Natural disasters or extreme weather events (e.g., earthquakes, tornadoes, extreme heat or cold, drought)
• Boil water advisories
• Floods

We have a communication strategy for announcing emergency codes. We practice our response to these codes on a regular basis so that we can analyze our response and adjust our plans as needed. Below is the list of our Emergency Codes:

Our plans include communication systems, emergency staff fan-out lists, relocation strategies, plans for essential supply acquisition such as food, water, medications, personal protective equipment and care items, and a strategy for supporting residents and staff during the emergencies and after the traumatic event.

Below is a link to our Emergency Response Plan which outlines in more detail how our home will respond in an emergency situation.