Brett Thoms
Quyon June 10, 2022
A party to recognize professionals in homecare was held at the Quyon Community Centre on Friday.
Homecare is when healthcare or supportive care is provided by a professional caregiver in someone’s home, as opposed to in a medical or care facility.
The event was . . .
attended by a range of professionals, such as doctors, nurses, social workers, paramedics, firefighters, physiotherapists, and their patients.
One attendee, Lise Gamble, the wife of a former homecare patient, was present at the party to give thanks to the professionals that helped her and husband.
“It was so much nicer for him to be at home,” said Gamble.
Gamble’s husband passed away in February. She said that homecare allowed her to be at home and to be with her husband in their own settings, instead of driving back and forth to the hospital. She said she was attending the gathering as a way of giving herself closure and to thank the team that helped her and her husband through the difficult time.
THE EQUITY also spoke to these various caregivers in attendance to get a sense of what the work of providing at home care entails.
One person, Georges Robitaille, works as a social worker in the Pontiac.
This means that he goes to the homes of people who require home care, evaluates what services the patient needs, and ensures those services are delivered, usually through the allocation of the appropriate human resources. This could be helping with meal preparation, housekeeping, in-home care, support grieving and other care work.
Robitaille has been doing his job for 27 years at the CLSC. He describes the work as difficult, but worth it.
“I am retiring in six months, but I’m going to come back to help them because there’s too much work and we don’t have enough employees so I’m going to try to do two days a week, ‘’ said Robitaille.
Dr. Maha Mikhail said that she strives to provide at-home care for her patients in order to ensure that they are comfortable and receive the best care possible. She primarily performs at-home visits for patients who are in palliative care.
“I really like to do this because I feel it’s very helpful to my patients”, said Mikhail. She says while commuting to provide homecare can be long, as she lives in Aylmer, she feels its worth ensuring her patients who are going through a difficult time are reassured as much as possible.
Sandra Burke, a homecare nurse who helped organize the party said during the pandemic the job became more difficult.
“During the pandemic, it was a little harder to get around,” said Burke. “We needed to make sure we were safe and to keep our clients safe. So, we had to follow all the guidelines like wear isolation gowns and masking and gloves just to keep everyone safe.”
Dr. Pascal Croteau, another doctor present at the meeting, said the main lesson the healthcare system should learn from the pandemic was the importance of teamwork and organization
“We have to be more prepared, more organized, because the pandemic. If there are some things that don’t go well before the pandemic will just make it worse,” said Croteau.
Given the severity of the last two years, Croteau said he was grateful for the time they recognized their collective contribution at an event like this.
“I’d like to recognize what the other people have done to help us provide care without them would be impossible. So, I think I’m very grateful to my colleagues within the system,” said Croteau.
All of the healthcare professionals that THE EQUITY spoke with expressed they were happy to see each other without masks.
“It’s a great thing Dr. Vander Stelt did to help recognize and appreciate the people that worked through the pandemic,” said Burke. “It’s just being honoured to know that we made a difference and we were there for people during the pandemic.”
