When Danielle Turpin stepped out of her job as a personal support worker (PSW) in a long-term care home, she wouldn’t have guessed that just a few years later, not only would she be running a not-for-profit home care co-operative, but she would be helping develop similar initiatives in communities across Ontario.
At Peterborough-based Home Care Workers Co-operative (HCWC), the profit motive is removed to ensure the best quality of care for clients as well as fair compensation for workers. PSWs own and run HCWC, with services that give clients a say and power in their own care. Woman-led and woman-run, HCWC ensures its workers are properly cared for so they can, in turn, provide proper care to their clients.
“The focus is on making sure caregivers stay and feel valued and making sure that seniors actually have care where they want it, and we all know that’s in their own home,” says Turpin. “We understand how important it is to build relationships with the client.”
At HCWC, the aim is to be proactive. Rather than waiting for seniors to be in crisis, they offer simple supports that keep them in their homes. That can range from assisting with cooking, transportation to and assistance with appointments, companionship, and helping with household management. However, the services depend on client needs and can extend to more intensive care for complex disabilities, dementia, and palliative care.
Turpin is also the founder of the Co-operative Care Alliance, which she started to support other communities seeking guidance in creating their own home care co-operatives. So far, there is one incorporated in the region of York-Simcoe, with more in the works to reflect the need of their respective communities.
With a grant from the Canadian Women’s Foundation, the Co-operative Care Alliance provides consulting to make it more feasible and accessible to grow co-operatives in the care sector by removing the barriers faced by women in business and, specifically, female PSWs who have not been entrepreneurs before.
On Wednesday, June 12 at 10:30 a.m., Turpin will be a speaker at the Trent Centre for Aging and Society Seminar Series at Trent University. The symposium shares insights on the Towards Just Care project which, led by assistant professor Dr. Mary Jean Hande, focuses on reimagining home care through the kind of grassroots coalition building Turpin herself has led.
For more information about Home Care Workers Co-operative, visit homecareworkers.coop or follow them on Facebook. For more information about the Co-operative Care Alliance, visit cooperativecare.ca.
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