Stories demonstrating the quality OMNI Health Care delivers to residents and their families are crucial to meeting the Peterborough, Ont.-based long-term care provider’s mandate, and the OMNIway has been doing just that in 2011, says president and CEO Patrick McCarthy.

Quality, says Patrick, has been a major focus in 2011 for the provider of 17 Ontario long-term care homes, and this will continue in 2012. Stories highlighting quality, he says, demonstrate OMNI’s important contribution to long-term care and the greater health-care sector.

Stories celebrating successes in areas like restorative care and skin health attest to the value OMNI brings to residents, and Axiom News, which has worked with OMNI since 2001, has been a vital component to the process, says Patrick.

The OMNIway, which publishes online news, a print piece and an e-news letter for the company, has covered many stories focused on quality throughout the year, and there are a few that Patrick says one stand out for him.

There’s the article published Aug. 17 about former Maplewood resident Emily Peppy, who’s now living at home again thanks largely to the efforts of the Brighton long-term care home’s staff.

The resident came to Maplewood with serious mobility issues, but with the help of the home’s restorative-care team she was able to improve her strength and her overall health. After 11 months at Maplewood she was on her way home.

The story explains how Emily’s health improved, and what interventions were used.

“(The story) demonstrates best practices and demonstrates what’s possible,” says Patrick, adding that this article “got a lot of traction” on the website.

Patrick also points to a recent story series centred on successful wound-care interventions.  These stories have outlined how residents have moved into OMNI homes with serious skin breakdown, but after treatment from front-line staff are enjoying healthy skin and enhanced life quality.

Some stories have illustrated how residents have had Stage 3 and 4 wounds reduced in both size and severity, ensuring physical and emotional health.

The tie biding restorative-care and skin-health stories is quality, and showing how quality is being demonstrated every day at OMNI homes, says Patrick.

“These stories demonstrate where the health system is trying to move — it’s (not about) putting someone in a bed and leaving them there, but actually restoring (health) and making sure their quality of life is maximized.”

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