Program

Presenters

Title & Description

Mike Saks - Opening Keynote

University Campus Suffolk, UK

The Power of PSW's: Advancing the Role of Personal Support Workers in Health and Social Care

The importance of the rising number of personal support workers in health and social care has pleasingly been acknowledged by the Ontario government. The power of their role and the significance of their supervisors is highlighted, not least with a growing population of seniors with complex needs. Given finite resources, health and social care services in the home, community and institutional settings can no longer depend simply on the work of a professionalized labour force, including nurses and physicians. With reference to the experience of the UK and the difficult circumstances in which the diverse group of personal support workers often operates, suggestions are made as to how their role may be further advanced in future in health and social care. 

Deborah Kimmet - Closing Keynote

Change Direction and Say 'Yes"

Embrace change! Easy to say but sometimes not easy to do. Using wit and wisdom, improvisational expert Deborah Kimmett lays out the components of change and rolls out what you require to put them into action. Go from idea to implementation without losing your sense of humor. Learn to manage your own mindset and break down resistance from your team. Let Deborah reveal strategies on how to communicate, keep your team accountable and focused. This is a must-attend session. You will learn - and you will laugh!

Monita Laura Persaud

Elder Abuse Ontario

A Quick Guide to Elder Abuse: Identification & Intervention

Often it is difficult to know “what to say or do” when you suspect a client may be at-risk of or experiencing abuse. This workshop will teach PSWs to recognize red flags of abuse, and discuss strategies for intervention and response. Learn how to start the conversation about suspected abuse, clarify your reporting and documentation responsibilities, and know when to inform police.

Angela Brown

DeafBlind Ontario Services

Tracey Veldhuis

DeafBlind Ontario Services

Experience the Impact of Sensory Loss

Sensory loss is defined as a decreased ability to respond to stimuli that affect our senses such as vision, hearing and touch. This workshop aims to increase awareness of the practical and emotional impact of having a sensory loss and a communication need. Through live simulation, participants will experience what it is like to have a sensory loss, and then engage in discussion and information sharing with their colleagues. We will discuss practical tips and strategies for adapting environments to people receiving support, focusing on simple, “do it yourself” ideas (max. of 32 attendees).

Kim Miller

Saint Elizabeth Health Care

Yusuff Falola

Saint Elizabeth Health Care

Claudia Morris

Saint Elizabeth Health Care

Bringing Person and Family-Centered Care to Life

Everyone is talking about person- and family-centred care (PFCC) – but what does it mean for PSWs in home, community and long-term care settings? What supports do PSWs need to continue to provide PFCC? A panel consisting of a PSW, personal support supervisor and an educator will lead the discussion about the opportunities and challenges during a culture shift toward PFCC. Takeaways include PFCC tip sheet and info on how to access additional online resources.

Paul Holyoke

Saint Elizabeth Health Care

Promising Practices in the Delivery of Spiritual Care

Best practice end of life care includes attention to spiritual needs. Often, this responsibility falls to frontline healthcare providers who feel ill-equipped to handle this important task. This workshop will present organization-level promising practices from spiritually-based North American hospices, including video footage. Delegates will discuss how these promising practices might be adopted by their own organizations.

Laurie Graham

Brain Injury Services

Managing Professional Boundaries

Providing care to others over a long period of time often leads to an emotional attachment, but as caregivers, it is crucial to maintain professional boundaries with clients. This interactive workshop will include scenarios which explore potential ethical considerations. Participants will identify whether appropriate boundaries are being maintained by closely examining the line between friendships and professional relationships. It will also explore possible consequences for both PSWs and clients.

Emily King

Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - University Health Network

Tilak Dutta

Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - University Health Network

Problem-Solving To Provide Care Safely Under Difficult Circumstances

PSWs experience a high rate of injuries, but this doesn’t need to be the case! Recognizing that PSWs are challenged by the need to care for ever-more complex clients and residents in a wide range of physical environments, this interactive workshop will build delegates’ ability to find the safest ways to perform care in difficult and unusual care scenarios. The workshop will include two new tools to help PSWs to assess whether your work puts you at risk of back injuries.

Hillarie Klass

Public Services Health and Safety Association

How Aging Affects Personal Support Workers

Projections estimate the number of seniors in Ontario aged 65 and older will more than double by 2041. The home and community care work force is also aging – 75% of care workers in Canada are 40+. This workshop will help PSWs understand the effects of aging, including biological, physical, emotional and psychological changes they may experience. It will also provide suggestions for slowing down those effects, and discuss the effects of aging for clients.

Lynelle Hamilton

OCSA

2 (or 3 or More) Heads are Better Than 1: Creating (and Maintaining) Great Communication with Your Staff

Open and comfortable communication between support workers and their supervisors is fundamental to excellent support.  In this roundtable discussion for supervisors, we’ll address the challenges of supporting this unique workforce, and discuss key strategies for building mutual trust, respect and open communication. This session will have time for you to share how you've created a positive communication culture...as well as share your challenges!

Kath Murray

Life and Death Matters

Supporting Family in the Last Days and Hours

It is not uncommon to hear PSWs say, “Caring for the dying person is easy; it is caring for the family that is difficult." In this workshop, we will reflect on the challenges family members may experience as they witness the physical changes in their loved one's last days and hours. Learn practical strategies for supporting family members, decreasing your stress, and increasing your confidence in providing care.

Lynelle Hamilton

OCSA

Your Client Deserves No Less: Sharing What You Know in Support Conferences

You spend a great deal of time with clients: more than any other professional and often nearly as much as family. Because of this, you have a unique – and valuable –perspective on the client's needs and desires. Your knowledge is essential to good support and should be shared. Through case examples and role play, this session teaches practical techniques to help you get essential information across to other professionals by determining what information is important, identifying client strengths and concerns, and presenting information to encourage acceptance by others.

Lisa Sever

Homecare RX

Finding your Voice: When Medications Might Be Causing Harm

This workshop prepares PSWs to support the unique needs of clients using complex medication regimens. As PSWs spend so much time with clients, they are in a unique position to identify medication use that may cause harm. Using case examples, you will learn common medication symptoms, high alert medications and risky medication usage patterns and feel prepared to observe, recognize and report potential dangers.

Kelly Breuls

One Care Home and Community Support

From Post-It Notes to Portable Devices: Engagement as a Strategy for Change Resiliency

Through a strategy of engaging our PSWs, we took our front line workers from ‘post-it notes’ to ‘portable devices’ - no small feat considering two-thirds of our workforce works in the field. This workshop will demonstrate Facilitated Dialogue Sessions, which we used to encourage the flow of ideas, feedback and input, create a safe environment for discussion, and ensure frontline staff became active participants in the process of this change.

Catherine Brookman

Geriatric Medical Services Inc.

Have Your Say: Shape the Future of PSW Health and Safety Recommendations

There are over 90,000 personal support workers (PSWs) in Ontario, and approximately 25% of them work in community care. For a number of reasons, PSWs are thought to be particularly vulnerable to work-related health and safety hazards. This workshop will profile the results and preliminary analysis of the 2015 Ministry of Labour funded “PSW Health and Safety Matters Survey.” Don’t miss this special, interactive opportunity for PSWs to participate in an important research project by helping to interpret results and shape future solutions..

Tom Ladd

Magellemed.com

New and Emerging Technologies

Have you seen the YouTube video for the Google Liftware Spoon? This innovative device allows individuals with essential tremors and Parkinson's Disease to eat without spilling food by sensing shaking and making instant adjustments. This is but one example of how technology is being integrated into supporting the aging population. Tom Ladd from the Toronto chapter of Aging 2.0, a global movement bringing innovation and technology to aging and senior care, will preview new services, products and developments that may soon be improving the independence and care of seniors.

Clem Pelot

The Mills Community Support Corporation

Caleigh McCabe 

The Mills Community Support Corporation

Jenni McGrath 

The Mills Community Support Corporation

Providing Person-Centred Support to Seniors at Home

We believe that seniors living at home should be able to direct their own care and maintain their independence as long as possible. This workshop will describe the methods we use to support seniors the way they want to be supported. We will share real examples and practical strategies you can use to make this vision a reality, including documenting your learning to enable improved consistency of care and using person-centred skills developed by Helen Sanderson and Associates.  We will also discuss a volunteer program we have developed and the ways we recruit our volunteers using person-centred practices.