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Community and Primary Health Care – Lanark, Leeds & Grenville (CPHC)
By Nicole Zummach
BROCKVILLE, ON // Whether we like it or not, we're all getting older. We begin to age the moment we are born and, although the cosmetics companies would like us to believe different, nothing can reverse the process. But good health care and community support can help us cope with changes along the way. That's why nonprofit organizations like Community and Primary Health Care – Lanark, Leeds & Grenville are so important.
For almost a century, the agency has been providing health care and community support services to people in need, particularly the elderly. And the demand for programs and services is increasing all the time. Yet, whether they have ten clients or ten thousand, executive director Ruth Kitson knows the services CPHC provides are critical to the well being of the community, and staff and volunteers never lose sight of that fact. That may be why they have twice received the Donner Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Services for Seniors - in 2006 and 2007. CharityVillage spoke with Kitson about the evolution of CPHC, the challenges it faces, and the growing demand for services as baby boomers enter the next phase of life.
CharityVillage: I understand you've undergone some big changes in the last few years.

Ruth Kitson: We were a VON [Victorian Order of Nurses] from 1913 to 2006, and then we exited VON and became Community and Primary Health Care. So we've been around a long time; it is our 95th anniversary this year. Everything that we've done in the last seven years has been to try and provide more services that will address the needs of people who want to stay in their home so, hopefully, they won't have to go into long-term care facilities as quickly as they normally would.
Every program we've taken on has just allowed us to better serve the community. And the growth has been phenomenal. In 2000 we had about 1,500 clients; this past year we had 12,000. We used to just serve Leeds and Grenville, but three years ago we merged with the VON Lanark to form CPHC - Lanark, Leeds & Grenville. So it's a fairly large geographical community that we serve.
CV: CPHC manages many different programs and services. What does your work encompass?

RK: Basically, there are two big categories. One is the primary health care and the Family Health Teams, which include doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, program support staff, dieticians, social workers, psychiatrists. The community support services, which is primarily what we were recognized for by the Donner Awards, includes Meals on Wheels, Diner's Club, telephone reassurance. There are 15 of those programs under community support services.
We find that clients access both [primary health care and community support]. You can't really separate the two; they overlap each other. So someone at the Family Health Team, which is primary health care, may see a patient and tell them they need foot care or Meals on Wheels. So it's bringing the services together under one umbrella. And we now have plans to build a centre of excellence to bring them all together in one building. That way a client doesn't have to make five or six stops after they see their health care provider. Our overriding goal is to make sure that people can remain in their homes, healthy and safe, for as long as possible - primarily seniors, but really prenatal right to the end of life.
CV: As the baby boomer population ages, how is your organization preparing for the inevitable increase in demand for your services?

RK: There is going to be a tremendous demand as the baby boomers retire, and that's something that governments, community agencies, hospitals have to work together on to make sure we are ready to provide those services. This past fall, there was an announcement that $700 million, over the next three years in Ontario, is going to be geared toward aging at home. And that's positive because we really do need to find ways to help people control their own destiny, so to speak. 'What do I need to stay in my own home?'
In terms of our own organization, we are working really closely with our partners, which I think is important. Instead of having duplication, we want to help be part of the integration. And we are working very closely with our Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) as well, to look at where it is best to put limited health care dollars. The programs that we do, a lot of them are not expensive. It would be a lot cheaper to have those programs in people's homes rather than have the people in the nursing homes. We have a $5 million budget and the whole focus is keeping people healthy in their homes, so hopefully we can redirect more dollars to the community from acute care over the long haul.
CV: We hear all the time about shortages of doctors, nurses and other critical health care workers. Is recruitment and retention a challenge for your organization?

RK: Right now, our turnover is really low, as it has been over the years. The board just finished its strategic plan for the next three years and one of our priorities is to be the employer of choice. I think that is going to be really important in the future too. I've always said there are three things that are very important in an organization when you're the leader. Service is critical. Satisfaction of the staff and volunteers is equally important. And then making sure you honour all contracts and laws of the province. If you can do all three you are going to have a strong organization.
CV: The Donner Foundation provides an evaluation to each award applicant. What did you learn from your evaluation about the strengths of your organization and areas to improve upon?

RK: Certainly we excelled in the whole service delivery piece, as well as satisfaction of staff and volunteers. Our turnover is very low. I would say that our biggest challenge is new funders. The largest percentage of our funding comes from government so we are quite dependent on Ministry funding. We know that the more you can diversify your funding, the more you can protect your organization and the services you provide. A lot of the programs we provide are Ministry-funded so in some respects we really don't have a lot of control over [diversity of our funding]. These services really couldn't be provided without Ministry funding.
CV: What advice would you give to other organizations working to achieve excellence?

RK: Never lose touch with your focus and your vision, because sometimes when you are working away in an office you can lose sight of that. One of the things I try to do is get out to see some of the services being delivered. It brings you right back to why you are doing what you are doing. Our staff, our volunteers, our board - they can see that what they do makes a difference. I think all of us are on this earth to feel that we've made a difference, and I think our staff and volunteers know that they make a difference. When you can focus on why you are doing what you are doing, the tough days aren't as tough.
Ruth Kitson is the executive director of Community and Primary Health Care – Lanark, Leeds & Grenville (CPHC). She has been with the organization since 2000 and served on its board of directors prior to that.

To learn more about the Donner Awards, visit: www.donnerawards.org.