As a full-time caregiver himself, Howard Goodfellow is excited to see a new program launch at Northumberland Hills Hospital in Cobourg that officially acknowledges the role of caregivers in a patient’s healthcare journey.
The hospital and Ontario Health Team Northumberland have launched a new pilot program, with guidance from the Ontario Caregiver Organization, called the Essential Care Partner (ECP) program. The first of its kind in Northumberland County, the program formally recognizes the role of caregivers in the hospital setting.
Goodfellow is a volunteer with Ontario Health Team Northumberland’s Experience Partner Council, launched in 2021 to give patients and caregivers a voice in local priorities for healthcare and community care services. He is also part of the ECP working group, whose members helped design and will monitor the pilot project.
“I think the ECP program will be vital to strengthening trust between families and the care team, reducing caregiver stress, and connecting caregivers with resources to assist them in navigating their caregiver journey,” Goodfellow said in a media release. “I am really pleased to see this program come to Northumberland and hope to see it expand beyond the pilot and throughout the county.”
Ontario Health Team Northumberland executive lead Andrea Groff shared her thoughts with kawarthaNOW about the value of the pilot and her hopes for its outcome.
“At its heart, this pilot is about recognizing the essential role that care partners play in a patient’s journey,” Groff said. “By formally including care partners as part of the care team, we hope to not only support caregivers in the vital work they do every day but strengthen communication leading to improved patient experience and outcomes.”
The ECP program, which recognizes one or two essential care partners who have been chosen by the patient, has three key pillars: identify the caregiver, include them as part of the care team, and support the caregiver.
Launched at Northumberland Hills Hospital in early November, the ECP program is now available to all admitted patients on the hospital’s first floor (1A/1B) units, inclusive of restorative care, inpatient rehabilitation, integrated stroke, and palliative care.
Participation is optional, and essential care partners do not replace professional staff roles.
Building on lessons learned from the pandemic, essential care partners will receive training and personal protective equipment in the event of an outbreak to enable them to continue to have access to the patient they support in alignment with infection prevention and hospital policies.
Jennifer Gillard, Northumberland Hills Hospital’s vice-president of patient experience, public affairs and strategic partnership, said the ECP pilot program builds on informal practices already in place at the hospital “to formally acknowledge the critical role caregivers play in supporting patients.”
Executive sponsor of the pilot project, Gillard acknowledged the work of the interdisciplinary ECP working group, which includes people with experience in primary care, nursing, allied health, social work, home care, and clinical information, as well as ward clerks, those in leadership positions, volunteers, and people with lived experience.
“There is much wisdom in this group and our pilot will be stronger because of the input that was so generously shared,” Gillard noted.
According to Groff, patient and caregiver partners identified the ECP program as a priority in the early days of Ontario Health Team Northumberland. She said she looks forward to seeing the impact of the program on patients, caregivers, and providers.
“Success for us will mean that patients and their care partners feel valued, informed, and supported,” Groff said. “Our hope is that this approach becomes a model we can expand across Northumberland, creating a more consistent, compassionate care experience for everyone.”
Now that the pilot is underway, upon admission to one of the 1A/1B units at Northumberland Hills Hospital, patients will be invited to identify the caregiver or caregivers who are important to them. Essential care partners can be family members, friends, or paid caregivers, who may or may not also be substitute decision makers or have powers of attorney.
Once identified as participants in the ECP program, caregivers will receive a badge identifying them as part of the care team. They will receive support in the form of resources, training, and materials to assist in their caregiving.
More information about the Essential Care Partner pilot program is available on the Northumberland Hills Hospital website at nhh.ca/patients/essential-care-partner-pilot-program.
