What’s New

You are invited to attend the R.K. MacDonald Annual General Meeting!

Thursday June 27th, 2024
5:30 pm
The RK Chapel

This is a great opportunity to meet our Board of Directors who are Representatives of The Town of Antigonish, The Municipality of the County of Antigonish, and The Congregation of the Sisters of St Martha.

Our Guest Speaker will be Dr. Katie Aubrecht, Canada Research Chair in Health Equity and Social Justice and Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at StFX.

There will be light refreshments served in the Main Dining Room following the AGM honoring the Foundation’s 30 year anniversary.

Due to space limitations we ask that you RSVP to Cathy.Brouwer@rkmacdonald.ca by June 24, 2024.

RK MacDonald staff were delighted to once again attend the Continuing Care Association of Nova Scotia’s (CCANS) Annual Conference and AGM at White Point Beach on June 12-14, 2024.

Topics of discussion were Emergency Management, Hot Topics in Health Care, and Culture Change From An Architectural Lens. Presenters included Noella Martin of law firm Burchell Wickwire Bryson, Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University Benjie Nycum, the President/CEO for SHIFT Strategies Lori Anne Jones, and Evan Bunkis, Shawna Larade, & Megan Macpherson of Davis Pier Consulting.

The chance to network with other continuing care organizations across the province is invaluable and ensures the RK stays abreast of the latest developments in long-term care.

If you plan to bring any shellfish products for a resident, please contact the nursing staff on the respective floor in advance to make arrangements. The resident will be accompanied by a staff member to the Main Dining Room to enjoy their shellfish, preventing any cross-contamination or exposure within the residential areas.

On May 5, 2024, Michelle Tinio is set to graduate from St. Francis Xavier University, achieving her Master of Adult Education and Health. This marks her second time crossing the stage for a significant academic milestone, the first being a decade prior when she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Michelle’s journey began as a student nurse at RK MacDonald Nursing Home, progressing to become a Registered Nurse upon licensure by the Nova Scotia College of Nursing. Over the years, she advanced to the role of Nursing Supervisor, and eventually, to Assistant Director of Clinical Services, now holding the title of Clinical Services Manager.

Michelle’s presence at RK MacDonald Nursing Home is invaluable. With a warm smile and a genuine passion for geriatric nursing, she engages with residents daily, extending personal greetings and showing genuine concern for their well-being. Her commitment is evident as she readily lends a hand whenever needed.

Amidst the challenges posed by the pandemic, Michelle demonstrated exceptional leadership by spearheading the IPAC (Infection Prevention and Control) team. She dedicated countless hours and remained accessible round-the-clock to provide support.

With her Master’s degree in Adult Education, Michelle is poised to contribute significantly to the realization of our vision for a center of excellence, laying the groundwork for future success.

Mark Chisolm, Dir. of Environment along with Maintenance staff , Eric Tulkens and Donnie Farrell attended the recent Seniors and Long Term Care (SLTC) ROAD SHOW 2024: Nova Scotia LTC Facility Information Event. The event hosted information sessions on such topics as HANS Bed and Mattress Program, Developing Your Building Maintenance Plan, Interpreting Facility Condition Assessments, Hazardous Materials in LTC Facilities, Opportunities for Saving and Reducing your Carbon Footprint and a presentation from the Office of the Fire Marshall related to safe exits and common code concerns. Unfortunately, nobody from the RK Team won a door prize.

Byron Donovan, OHS Consultant lead the RK staff in education sessions capturing the RK’s safety goals of: 1) Respect the autonomy of our residents including the right to risk within an informed and collaborative decision-making process and; 2) fostering a culture of safety and respect for all who come in contact with our facility.

Our commitment to a culture of safety is founded in always thinking about safety, which determines how we safely carry out our duties and in turn, defines our culture. The OHS Internal Responsibility System states: “All persons employed by the R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home share responsibility for their personal safety and that of their co-workers”. Safety is important to us!

During the presentation, Mr. Donovan touched on the OHS Act, Regulations, Standards and Code of Practice.  As well, he laid out our responsibilities as Senior Leaders and staff. Such responsibilities include a commitment to work safely, adhere to safety rules, conduct inspections, report incidents and hazards, wear PPE as required and to apply our safety training.

The topics covered during this presentation can be reviewed at the “Right to Know Board” located at the staff entrance.

The Palliative Care Team here at the RK has introduced the Resident Honour Guard, to honour deceased residents as they leave the Home. The Resident Honour Guard enables our staff and residents to pay tribute to the deceased resident and is initiated when the RK Quilt is laid upon the deceased resident. Staff and residents are invited to gather along the hallways to the honour the deceased resident as they leave the home.

As a family, we often struggle emotionally, quietly grieving on our own when a resident passes away. This process provides time and space for everyone to reflect on their time spent with the resident, to openly shed a tear, share a hug or to offer a silent prayer. It allows us to grieve and helps give us closure.

Our multidisciplinary Palliative Care Team continues to explore opportunities to support staff who have developed close relationships with our residents.

The RK is forever grateful to Dawn McKenna, LPN, who hand crafted and donated the beautiful RK Honour Guard Quilt. The quilt has quickly become an essential component of our end of life care and defines our respect for those residents that have lived here with us.

The Resident and Family Satisfaction Survey were carried in out in November of 2023 and are utilized as an annual continuous quality indicator ensuring the voice of the service users, i.e. our Residents and their families is heard by the service provider, i.e. the Home. Surveys were completed by 32 family members (SDM’s) and 62 residents – where some were completed independently or with the support of Recreation staff.

As a “service provider”, we are always looking for opportunities to secure valuable feedback from our “service users”, our residents and their families and our challenge is to be open to the feedback, respond to it and grow!

Survey Scoring: focus areas for follow up in our Quality Improvement Plan are identified as Strongly Agree + Agree survey responses that scored below 75% and/or any Strongly Disagree + Disagree that scored greater than 25%

Very special thanks to everyone that has contributed to our feedback highway…. your insights / experiences are greatly appreciated!

2023 Resident & Family Satisfaction Survey Results (PDF)

Over the past few years you have often heard me describe our group as being “awesome” ….. our collective “awesomeness” is evident by having met 97% of the required national accreditation standards … and coupled with the pile of thank you cards we regularly receive from families and friends … believe it … we are truly awesome!

In brief, the past 2 ½ years have presented a few significant challenges in terms of Covid and staffing … and as a group we not only rose to those challenges, we met them head on as we continued to provide excellent care for our residents and their families. And furthermore, we lived our core values and we supported each other!

So, let’s put the past few years in the rearview mirror and move on!

In 2024, we have three key focus areas; Catching Up to Technology, Occupational Health and Safety and Hearing the voices of our staff, our residents and their families.

Catching Up to Technology, we have started the process of moving from a paper-based system to a computerized system to improve efficiencies in Maintenance, Scheduling, Finance and Human Resources. Technology will make its’ presence known in Clinical Services as we continue to transition to an electronic version of medication administration known as e-MARS as well as exploring the implementation of electronic charting and continuing to boost our Inter RAI resident assessment capabilities.

Secondly, Occupational Health and Safety requires a significant investment in supporting a more robust Occupational Health and Safety Team …. a team that will be supported with training and the time to meaningfully participate in discussing safety concerns and advising Senior Leadership on occupational health and safety matters. Safety is a core value!

And third, Hearing the voices of our staff, our residents and their families …. how do we capture your voices? Our recent accreditation survey reminded us of the importance of recruiting your feedback which thereby influences our decision making. How do we engage everyone in providing feedback … what’s the best way to do this…. website, bulletin board ….. we need you to tell us!

If I was to ask folks what our biggest challenge is in 2024, all would likely offer “staffing”. Although I would agree, I also believe every storm cloud has a silver lining and a clear example is the enrichment of our cultural diversity …. all the new staff with the beautiful accents that have made Canada their home!

Lastly, our exciting new build! We anticipate the location to be announced in early 2024, and please know there is still time to provide feedback on the design plans which are posted in the Main Dining Room….. sticky notes and pens are on the top.

What a joy it is for me to be a part of this group! Together we have created a wonderful culture and in my opinion the glue that holds us all together is our commitment to our Core Values: Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Excellence and Safety. You are my heroes!

Wishing you all the very best in 2024!

Terry MacIntyre, CEO