August 7, 2025 • 19 mins
Welcome to Harbouring Hope, a podcast brought to you by the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation, hosted by Foundation CEO Barney Ellis Perry. In each episode, we’ll take you behind the scenes of the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Oceanside Health Centre, and other facilities supported by our Foundation to explore the many departments, innovations, and dedicated professionals who keep our healthcare system running. From doctors and nurses to administrative leaders and patients with lived experience, we’ll hear powerful stories that reveal both the challenges and the triumphs within our hospital walls. Most importantly, we’ll shine a light on the critical role our community plays… because behind every success story is a network of generous supporters helping to make it all possible. In this episode, we meet Shelley Gallant, Executive Director Of Operations and Community Care, Palliative End of Life, and Seniors Strategies. Shelley oversees delivery of community health services at a variety of service facilities around Central Vancouver Island. She shares what services are provided to the population of Central Island, which is the oldest population in Canada.
Meet our Guest: Shelley Gallant, Executive Director Of Operations and Community Care, Palliative End of Life, and Seniors Strategies
Meet our Host: Barney Ellis-Perry is the Chief Executive Officer of the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation. He has served in this role since 2022. His role includes engaging members of the community in support of a vital and growing hospital along with three long-term care facilities and two businesses that support their mission. Under his leadership, the Foundation has developed and implemented a new strategic plan to double fundraising in three years, increased cash donations by 50% in year one, and grown a terrific staff team by 40%. Additional Resources from this Episode We've gathered the resources from this episode into one helpful list: Nanaimo & District Hospital
Foundation: https://nanaimohospitalfoundation.com/
Donate now!: https://nanaimohospitalfoundation.com/donate/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
As the population ages, a lot of the services that they need really don't exist inhospitals because hospitals have a very specific focus and a very specific reason why they
exist.
And when we go to the hospital and we're frail, actually it has the opposite effect and itmakes us frailer.
Yeah, that's the thing.
The worst place to be is for someone to come into hospital.
(00:41):
Welcome to Harbouring Hope, a podcast brought to you by the Nanaimo and District HospitalFoundation.
I'm Barney Ellis-Perry, CEO of the foundation and your host for this series.
We're on an exciting journey with our dedicated donors who you will hear from throughoutthis series as they share why it is in our nature to give and their collective vision for
improving health across Central and North Vancouver Island.
(01:02):
In each episode, we'll take you behind the scenes at the Nanaimo Regional GeneralHospital, Oceanside Health Centre and other facilities supported by our foundation to
explore the many
departments, innovations and dedicated professionals who keep our healthcare systemrunning from doctors and nurses to administrative leaders and patients with lived
experience.
We'll hear powerful stories that reveal both the challenges and the triumphs within ourhospital walls.
(01:26):
Most importantly, we'll shine a light on the critical role our community plays becausebehind every success story is a network of generous supporters helping to make it all
possible.
Today we're joined by Shelley Gallant from Island Health.
Shelley is the Executive Director of Operations and Community Care, Palliative, End ofLife and Senior Strategies.
(01:48):
Let's get into our conversation.
The Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation is known best probably for supporting thehospital and the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is our title almost.
But we do a lot more now.
In the last couple of years, we've been expanding our mandate and have some greatpartnerships to really support
the improvements to healthcare throughout Central Vancouver Island.
(02:10):
One of the absolute keystone players in all of this is the wonderful and talented ShelleyGallant.
And Shelley, from my simplistic point of view, is basically, it seems like, responsiblefor everything outside of NRGH in our community.
I mentioned her title earlier.
It's a long one.
Shelley is responsible for a heck of a lot of stuff.
(02:32):
I asked her to explain to me what she does around here.
So I'm responsible for the delivery of community health services.
Some people know that as home health care, as well as the palliative services that wedeliver locally, seniors services we deliver locally.
And then I also have our owned and operated primary care.
And I do a lot of work with our local divisions of family practice and some of our primarycare network
(02:56):
work that we do because we have island health teams that also support some of our privateprimary care offices and we do a lot of work with the division on that.
And then recently they've added owned and operated long-term care to the bundle of localservices so I also have responsibility over our owned and operated long-term care
facilities.
So in Nanaimo we have Dufferin and then in Oceanside we have Trillium Lodge and EaglePark.
(03:22):
So it is a bit
of a different kind of a role than acute care, but it's kind of exciting.
And it is really about how do we support people to stay living healthy in the communitiesand try to avoid going to the hospital or when they have to go to the hospital, how do we
really get them home and help them get back on their feet at home?
(03:43):
This work is so
important. As we mentioned in the last episode with Damian Lange, the population that weserve here in Central Island is the oldest population in
Canada. And it's
Keeping people at home longer as opposed to entering the hospital is much better for theiroverall health and well-being.
I asked Shelley to explain why this is.
As the population ages, a lot of the services that they need really don't exist inhospitals because hospitals have a very specific focus and a very specific reason why they
(04:13):
exist.
And the services and the support people need is more about
function and reducing frailty than it is about fixing something, which acute care isbasically, you go and you have a medical problem or a surgical problem and we fix it and
then you go home.
But as people age, they get more chronic conditions, they become frailer due to age.
(04:36):
We do know that there's things we can do to prevent frailty and to make frailty less of animpact on people.
And so really, when we're looking at outside of the hospital walls, we're really lookingat services that
promote health and keep people functioning in the way that they function when they wereyounger, longer.
And when we go to the hospital and we're frail, actually it has the opposite effect and itmakes us frailer.
(05:01):
Yeah, that's the thing.
The worst place to be is for someone to come into hospital.
Exactly.
Can you tell us a bit about
examples and some of the creative things you're doing around helping people be less frailand be more robust in the community?
So when you think about frailty, there's really sort of four pillars that support peoplestaying healthier and becoming less frail.
(05:24):
So we talk about activity, like staying active, keeping your body moving...
vaccination, because older people are more susceptible to some illnesses that actually wecan prevent with vaccines.
So vaccination and then interaction.
So we know that social interaction and having purpose in doing things and interacting withpeople also reduces the impacts of frailty on people.
(05:49):
So really looking at how do we support people to interact.
And then there is optimizing medications because a lot of older people and a lot of peoplethat have a lot of chronic conditions, they have a lot of medications and sometimes those
medications interact with each other.
So it's really important to regularly review those and make sure that those medicationsare optimized and that you're only taking what you need to take.
(06:13):
And then diet, diet and nutrition is also a big thing.
So these are some ways that the older population is supported when it comes to being morerobust in the community and preventing frailty.
Let's dive a bit deeper into the programs that Island Health is conducting, includingsomething super interesting and innovative: social prescribing,
which is a practice of prescribing folks to non-clinical resources.
(06:36):
When we think about interaction, we're doing in Nanaimo, a pilot with the Division ofFamily Practice and with United Way.
It's called social prescribing.
Physicians can refer their patients to the social prescribing program.
So we make the referral and that program has been very, very successful.
We're serving hundreds of people and we're getting them connected in the community to
(07:01):
programming at the rec centres or coffee or lunch programs, things where they're going outplaying cards, they're meeting people, they're becoming more active and it's reducing that
social isolation which can lead to depression and all sorts of things.
So that's been a pretty powerful program and that was a good partnership in the Nanaimocommunity.
(07:22):
So what else is going on?
Some of the other work we're doing, we're really partnered with BC Ambulance right now.
BC Ambulance has low acuity services, so people that don't necessarily need to go to thehospital, but they've called 911, the low acuity paramedics will go out and see them in
their home.
And so we've been doing a lot of work so that those paramedics can make referrals directlyto our community health services for people that will benefit from some of our services
(07:50):
that help keep people at home.
Oceanside Health Centre is an urgent care centre in Parksville, about half an hour up theisland from NRGH.
It's one of the many health centres that Shelley helps oversee.
On an average day, 150 people are walking through the doors seeking care, including folksfrom Nanaimo.
I asked Shelley to tell me a bit more about what's going on there and if there's anythingnew and exciting happening.
(08:12):
We're doing some other innovative things in Oceanside.
We have a partnership with the Division of Family Practice there and we had somephysicians that wanted to
open up practice and do primary care and attach people in Oceanside, but they didn'treally have any space or anywhere where they could actually start that.
So we worked with the division and the family practice providers and they've actuallyopened up a clinic in the Oceanside Health Centre called Oceanside Medical and they're
(08:39):
starting to attach patients off of the health registry, the provincial health registry,and then they also have
potentially some other physicians that would like to join them in the future.
So we'll be able to expand that service.
And that was another really good partnership with the primary care network, the Divisionand Island Health and the Oceanside Health Centre.
(09:00):
Thanks to donors like you, our foundation is actually going to be helping fund this.
Yeah, and that's an amazing partnership that we have with the foundation because some ofthese innovative things we wouldn't be able to do unless we were
partnered up and pooling kind of our resources together to look at how do we support someof these things in community outside the walls of the hospital because we know that, like
(09:24):
I said before, we can support people in the community to stay healthier longer in theirhomes.
And so the relationship and the partnership that we have with the foundations be reallykey to some of the things that we're doing, even in the urgent care centre.
The home care workers...
So you have a large
group of people that's based out of Oceanside that are out actually in people's homes.
(09:47):
I don't think people really know how many people that...
I understand there's like several hundred who are doing that.
Can you talk a little bit about that?
Nanaimo provides about 1,900 home support visits a day, per day.
Last year we did over 500,000 hours of home support and home support is a non-clinicalservice but it helps people with what we call activities of daily living.
(10:08):
So people that have difficulty maybe
getting in bed, getting out of bed, dressing, bathing, meal preparation, medicationmanagement, things like that.
So we provide that service.
And so like I say, 1,900 visits a day.
We did 500,000 visits last year.
And Oceanside provides about almost 300,000 hours of home support in their area.
(10:32):
And the Oceanside area covers from Deep Bay
to Nanoose and then Nanaimo goes from the Nanoose border right through to past theairport.
So some people with Ladysmith addresses and then Ladysmith office takes over.
We have 16 home, CHS, Community Health Services, offices across the island.
So last year across the island, we provided almost five million hours of service.
(11:00):
That's insane.
That is absolutely insane.
Five million?
That number is impressive and it makes me feel extremely hopeful.
There are additional home visits as well for things like palliative care, plusprofessionals who help folks with chronic conditions and occupational therapists,
respiratory therapists and more.
Last year about 11,000 people were provided home care in this way and professionalservices were provided to 35,000 people.
(11:25):
These home visits have been able to reduce visits to the emergency room by 30%.
Yep, 30%.
This helps ease the pressure on the emergency room and improve care for everyone.
There are some other exciting things happening, like a new family doctor center inQualicum, and there's even talk of a mobile health van that will be able to service rural
and remote communities, where it is very common that people don't have direct access tothe care they may need and where it's harder to build these brick and mortar buildings.
(11:52):
This is all so exciting.
So tell me about
five years from now, like, how do you see things being different?
What do you see success as, with all this incredible work you're doing?
I think when we look at the way that our population is aging on the island and we see ourover 75 and our over 85, I think it is, is growing at the fastest rate.
(12:17):
So helping people just really stay healthier longer.
And some people, like most people, avoiding long-term care
because people can age and stay at home and they never need to go to long-term care.
But sometimes people don't realize that that's really what community health services is.
It's not just about assessing people to go to long-term care, it's about helping peoplestay home longer.
(12:38):
So my vision is that we're providing more services to more people earlier on andthroughout their lifespan so that they can actually stay at home and we can help them meet
their goals of staying at home.
I love it.
So NRGH is empty.
The streets of Oceanside are full of people out walking and playing pickleball.
(12:59):
It's just going to be chaos.
Okay.
I like it.
No frailty.
And people are just living their lives in the community.
Living their best lives in the community.
That's great.
I love it.
If you're anything like me, you're really impressed with what Shelley has been talkingabout, but there's still more coming.
So we have a regional program and it's a virtual program.
So it's called Community Virtual Care,
(13:20):
and it's delivered across the entire island.
So it doesn't matter where you live, there's no wait list, it's just the next availableclinician takes you on.
That service provides a lot of support to people that have all sorts of different chronicmedical conditions and we help people learn how to manage their conditions and stay
healthier with that chronic condition.
(13:41):
So people with diabetes and heart disease and COPD and kidney disease, all sorts ofdifferent
chronic diseases we provide services to.
And that service is really nimble and we've been able to implement what we call asupportive discharge program.
So that service is also looking at supporting people that have had an emergency room visitor a hospitalization
(14:07):
and connecting with them when they're discharged from the emergency room or the hospitaland providing some support.
We provide it for up to 72 hours, but some people we provide it longer and we really helpthem to understand like what the discharge instructions were.
Did they get their medication?
When do they need to follow up with their provider?
If they don't have a provider, how can we help them follow up?
(14:29):
That service has been very successful.
We rolled that out last June and you don't need to make a referral.
So it's really easy for the physicians in acute care.
No one needs to worry about making a referral.
Our team goes in and we have criteria, we find people and then we connect with them.
And we've served 900 people since last June in that program as well.
(14:52):
And we have some very great stories that people have...
like compliments or when people have been touched by the service that they've reached outand said, you know, like if I didn't have this service, I wouldn't have taken the
medication that the physician ordered me at the hospital or I wouldn't have known to do,you know, to follow up or I wouldn't have understood how my diabetes was impacting my
(15:14):
health.
So there's a lot of promise there as well because we do know that when you go to thehospital or when you've been admitted, you're kind of stressed out.
And so when you get discharged, you don't necessarily remember
everything that everybody was telling you to do or to follow up.
And so that's been a really positive addition and it's really innovative because we havenurses and social workers and pharmacists and dietician as part of that service.
(15:38):
And so we're able to provide services, doesn't matter where you are on the island.
So it breaks down all the geographical barriers.
It really optimizes the people power because it takes less people to do it virtually
and there's no wait list.
And and it fills a gap that we had in the way we deliver services because a lot ofliterature and a lot of feedback from patients and families were about, I have to go back
(16:03):
to the emergency room because I don't remember what to do or I forgot the prescription.
So that's been really great for people.
So where can you learn more?
I asked Shelley.
So we have what we call a single point of access for community health services in IslandHealth.
So we have Community Access Centres.
We have three Community Access Centres.
There's a North Island, a Centre Island and a South Island Centre.
(16:26):
So if you go on our Island Health website and you click on Right Care Right Place, youjust scroll down to community services and it will tell you the phone number you can call.
And you do not need a physician referral for any of our community services.
So you can call yourself, your family can call, your neighbour can call, and we will beable to provide services.
(16:49):
So it doesn't matter if you have a physician, a primary care physician or NP or not, ifyou're unattached, as we like to call people that don't have a provider, you can still
access our services and you access it through that Community Access Centre.
This conversation has been riveting and leaves me feeling great about what lies ahead.
I asked Shelley for her final closing thoughts.
(17:11):
I'm just really excited for the partnerships that we've been able to develop like outsideof the hospital because really people live 99% of their lives outside of a hospital and so
you know really great from a partnership perspective and the innovation and the abilityand the willingness for you guys to come to the table from the foundation's been amazing
(17:32):
and then just really excited to support people at home so like,
if you're not sure if you need a service, call that Access Centre because we really wantto support people and we really want to provide a good experience for people.
And it's not necessarily a great experience if you have to go to emergency and try toaccess things.
So call us and we'll try to provide services for you.
(17:56):
We at the foundation are absolutely thrilled about everything Shelley shared today.
Her passion, her vision, it's inspiring.
And we want everyone to know that we're standing behind her 100% of the way.
Now don't let the name Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation fool you.
Yes, we're proud to support the incredible work happening every day at NRGH, but ourcommitment goes far beyond that.
We're here for the Oceanside Health Centre, for the Dufferin Long-Term Care Facility, forTrillium and Eagle Park Long-Term Care, and for all the care that happens across Mid and
(18:24):
Central Island to help keep our communities healthy.
Whether it's acute care, long-term care, or specialized services,
we're invested in making sure every healthcare team has what they need to do their bestwork, wherever they are.
If you'd like to be part of that impact, we invite you to donate to the foundation today.
Every gift, big or small, helps strengthen care across Central and Northern VancouverIsland.
(18:46):
Thank you for joining us today on Harbouring Hope.
To learn more about the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation, please visitnanimohospitalfoundation.com.
I'm your host, Barney Ellis-Perry.
If you are a current or future partner of the foundation, thank you.
With your unwavering support, we are delivering a new standard of care for all who callthis amazing region home.
Together, it's in our nature to give.
(19:24):
Another Everything Podcasts production.
Visit everythingpodcasts.com, a division of Pattison Media.
As the population ages, a lot of the services that they need really don't exist inhospitals because hospitals have a very specific focus and a very specific reason why they
exist.
And when we go to the hospital and we're frail, actually it has the opposite effect and itmakes us frailer.
Yeah, that's the thing.
The worst place to be is for someone to come into hospital.
(00:41):
Welcome to Harbouring Hope, a podcast brought to you by the Nanaimo and District HospitalFoundation.
I'm Barney Ellis-Perry, CEO of the foundation and your host for this series.
We're on an exciting journey with our dedicated donors who you will hear from throughoutthis series as they share why it is in our nature to give and their collective vision for
improving health across Central and North Vancouver Island.
(01:02):
In each episode, we'll take you behind the scenes at the Nanaimo Regional GeneralHospital, Oceanside Health Centre and other facilities supported by our foundation to
explore the many
departments, innovations and dedicated professionals who keep our healthcare systemrunning from doctors and nurses to administrative leaders and patients with lived
experience.
We'll hear powerful stories that reveal both the challenges and the triumphs within ourhospital walls.
(01:26):
Most importantly, we'll shine a light on the critical role our community plays becausebehind every success story is a network of generous supporters helping to make it all
possible.
Today we're joined by Shelley Gallant from Island Health.
Shelley is the Executive Director of Operations and Community Care, Palliative, End ofLife and Senior Strategies.
(01:48):
Let's get into our conversation.
The Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation is known best probably for supporting thehospital and the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is our title almost.
But we do a lot more now.
In the last couple of years, we've been expanding our mandate and have some greatpartnerships to really support
the improvements to healthcare throughout Central Vancouver Island.
(02:10):
One of the absolute keystone players in all of this is the wonderful and talented ShelleyGallant.
And Shelley, from my simplistic point of view, is basically, it seems like, responsiblefor everything outside of NRGH in our community.
I mentioned her title earlier.
It's a long one.
Shelley is responsible for a heck of a lot of stuff.
(02:32):
I asked her to explain to me what she does around here.
So I'm responsible for the delivery of community health services.
Some people know that as home health care, as well as the palliative services that wedeliver locally, seniors services we deliver locally.
And then I also have our owned and operated primary care.
And I do a lot of work with our local divisions of family practice and some of our primarycare network
(02:56):
work that we do because we have island health teams that also support some of our privateprimary care offices and we do a lot of work with the division on that.
And then recently they've added owned and operated long-term care to the bundle of localservices so I also have responsibility over our owned and operated long-term care
facilities.
So in Nanaimo we have Dufferin and then in Oceanside we have Trillium Lodge and EaglePark.
(03:22):
So it is a bit
of a different kind of a role than acute care, but it's kind of exciting.
And it is really about how do we support people to stay living healthy in the communitiesand try to avoid going to the hospital or when they have to go to the hospital, how do we
really get them home and help them get back on their feet at home?
(03:43):
This work is so
important. As we mentioned in the last episode with Damian Lange, the population that weserve here in Central Island is the oldest population in
Canada. And it's
Keeping people at home longer as opposed to entering the hospital is much better for theiroverall health and well-being.
I asked Shelley to explain why this is.
As the population ages, a lot of the services that they need really don't exist inhospitals because hospitals have a very specific focus and a very specific reason why they
(04:13):
exist.
And the services and the support people need is more about
function and reducing frailty than it is about fixing something, which acute care isbasically, you go and you have a medical problem or a surgical problem and we fix it and
then you go home.
But as people age, they get more chronic conditions, they become frailer due to age.
(04:36):
We do know that there's things we can do to prevent frailty and to make frailty less of animpact on people.
And so really, when we're looking at outside of the hospital walls, we're really lookingat services that
promote health and keep people functioning in the way that they function when they wereyounger, longer.
And when we go to the hospital and we're frail, actually it has the opposite effect and itmakes us frailer.
(05:01):
Yeah, that's the thing.
The worst place to be is for someone to come into hospital.
Exactly.
Can you tell us a bit about
examples and some of the creative things you're doing around helping people be less frailand be more robust in the community?
So when you think about frailty, there's really sort of four pillars that support peoplestaying healthier and becoming less frail.
(05:24):
So we talk about activity, like staying active, keeping your body moving...
vaccination, because older people are more susceptible to some illnesses that actually wecan prevent with vaccines.
So vaccination and then interaction.
So we know that social interaction and having purpose in doing things and interacting withpeople also reduces the impacts of frailty on people.
(05:49):
So really looking at how do we support people to interact.
And then there is optimizing medications because a lot of older people and a lot of peoplethat have a lot of chronic conditions, they have a lot of medications and sometimes those
medications interact with each other.
So it's really important to regularly review those and make sure that those medicationsare optimized and that you're only taking what you need to take.
(06:13):
And then diet, diet and nutrition is also a big thing.
So these are some ways that the older population is supported when it comes to being morerobust in the community and preventing frailty.
Let's dive a bit deeper into the programs that Island Health is conducting, includingsomething super interesting and innovative: social prescribing,
which is a practice of prescribing folks to non-clinical resources.
(06:36):
When we think about interaction, we're doing in Nanaimo, a pilot with the Division ofFamily Practice and with United Way.
It's called social prescribing.
Physicians can refer their patients to the social prescribing program.
So we make the referral and that program has been very, very successful.
We're serving hundreds of people and we're getting them connected in the community to
(07:01):
programming at the rec centres or coffee or lunch programs, things where they're going outplaying cards, they're meeting people, they're becoming more active and it's reducing that
social isolation which can lead to depression and all sorts of things.
So that's been a pretty powerful program and that was a good partnership in the Nanaimocommunity.
(07:22):
So what else is going on?
Some of the other work we're doing, we're really partnered with BC Ambulance right now.
BC Ambulance has low acuity services, so people that don't necessarily need to go to thehospital, but they've called 911, the low acuity paramedics will go out and see them in
their home.
And so we've been doing a lot of work so that those paramedics can make referrals directlyto our community health services for people that will benefit from some of our services
(07:50):
that help keep people at home.
Oceanside Health Centre is an urgent care centre in Parksville, about half an hour up theisland from NRGH.
It's one of the many health centres that Shelley helps oversee.
On an average day, 150 people are walking through the doors seeking care, including folksfrom Nanaimo.
I asked Shelley to tell me a bit more about what's going on there and if there's anythingnew and exciting happening.
(08:12):
We're doing some other innovative things in Oceanside.
We have a partnership with the Division of Family Practice there and we had somephysicians that wanted to
open up practice and do primary care and attach people in Oceanside, but they didn'treally have any space or anywhere where they could actually start that.
So we worked with the division and the family practice providers and they've actuallyopened up a clinic in the Oceanside Health Centre called Oceanside Medical and they're
(08:39):
starting to attach patients off of the health registry, the provincial health registry,and then they also have
potentially some other physicians that would like to join them in the future.
So we'll be able to expand that service.
And that was another really good partnership with the primary care network, the Divisionand Island Health and the Oceanside Health Centre.
(09:00):
Thanks to donors like you, our foundation is actually going to be helping fund this.
Yeah, and that's an amazing partnership that we have with the foundation because some ofthese innovative things we wouldn't be able to do unless we were
partnered up and pooling kind of our resources together to look at how do we support someof these things in community outside the walls of the hospital because we know that, like
(09:24):
I said before, we can support people in the community to stay healthier longer in theirhomes.
And so the relationship and the partnership that we have with the foundations be reallykey to some of the things that we're doing, even in the urgent care centre.
The home care workers...
So you have a large
group of people that's based out of Oceanside that are out actually in people's homes.
(09:47):
I don't think people really know how many people that...
I understand there's like several hundred who are doing that.
Can you talk a little bit about that?
Nanaimo provides about 1,900 home support visits a day, per day.
Last year we did over 500,000 hours of home support and home support is a non-clinicalservice but it helps people with what we call activities of daily living.
(10:08):
So people that have difficulty maybe
getting in bed, getting out of bed, dressing, bathing, meal preparation, medicationmanagement, things like that.
So we provide that service.
And so like I say, 1,900 visits a day.
We did 500,000 visits last year.
And Oceanside provides about almost 300,000 hours of home support in their area.
(10:32):
And the Oceanside area covers from Deep Bay
to Nanoose and then Nanaimo goes from the Nanoose border right through to past theairport.
So some people with Ladysmith addresses and then Ladysmith office takes over.
We have 16 home, CHS, Community Health Services, offices across the island.
So last year across the island, we provided almost five million hours of service.
(11:00):
That's insane.
That is absolutely insane.
Five million?
That number is impressive and it makes me feel extremely hopeful.
There are additional home visits as well for things like palliative care, plusprofessionals who help folks with chronic conditions and occupational therapists,
respiratory therapists and more.
Last year about 11,000 people were provided home care in this way and professionalservices were provided to 35,000 people.
(11:25):
These home visits have been able to reduce visits to the emergency room by 30%.
Yep, 30%.
This helps ease the pressure on the emergency room and improve care for everyone.
There are some other exciting things happening, like a new family doctor center inQualicum, and there's even talk of a mobile health van that will be able to service rural
and remote communities, where it is very common that people don't have direct access tothe care they may need and where it's harder to build these brick and mortar buildings.
(11:52):
This is all so exciting.
So tell me about
five years from now, like, how do you see things being different?
What do you see success as, with all this incredible work you're doing?
I think when we look at the way that our population is aging on the island and we see ourover 75 and our over 85, I think it is, is growing at the fastest rate.
(12:17):
So helping people just really stay healthier longer.
And some people, like most people, avoiding long-term care
because people can age and stay at home and they never need to go to long-term care.
But sometimes people don't realize that that's really what community health services is.
It's not just about assessing people to go to long-term care, it's about helping peoplestay home longer.
(12:38):
So my vision is that we're providing more services to more people earlier on andthroughout their lifespan so that they can actually stay at home and we can help them meet
their goals of staying at home.
I love it.
So NRGH is empty.
The streets of Oceanside are full of people out walking and playing pickleball.
(12:59):
It's just going to be chaos.
Okay.
I like it.
No frailty.
And people are just living their lives in the community.
Living their best lives in the community.
That's great.
I love it.
If you're anything like me, you're really impressed with what Shelley has been talkingabout, but there's still more coming.
So we have a regional program and it's a virtual program.
So it's called Community Virtual Care,
(13:20):
and it's delivered across the entire island.
So it doesn't matter where you live, there's no wait list, it's just the next availableclinician takes you on.
That service provides a lot of support to people that have all sorts of different chronicmedical conditions and we help people learn how to manage their conditions and stay
healthier with that chronic condition.
(13:41):
So people with diabetes and heart disease and COPD and kidney disease, all sorts ofdifferent
chronic diseases we provide services to.
And that service is really nimble and we've been able to implement what we call asupportive discharge program.
So that service is also looking at supporting people that have had an emergency room visitor a hospitalization
(14:07):
and connecting with them when they're discharged from the emergency room or the hospitaland providing some support.
We provide it for up to 72 hours, but some people we provide it longer and we really helpthem to understand like what the discharge instructions were.
Did they get their medication?
When do they need to follow up with their provider?
If they don't have a provider, how can we help them follow up?
(14:29):
That service has been very successful.
We rolled that out last June and you don't need to make a referral.
So it's really easy for the physicians in acute care.
No one needs to worry about making a referral.
Our team goes in and we have criteria, we find people and then we connect with them.
And we've served 900 people since last June in that program as well.
(14:52):
And we have some very great stories that people have...
like compliments or when people have been touched by the service that they've reached outand said, you know, like if I didn't have this service, I wouldn't have taken the
medication that the physician ordered me at the hospital or I wouldn't have known to do,you know, to follow up or I wouldn't have understood how my diabetes was impacting my
(15:14):
health.
So there's a lot of promise there as well because we do know that when you go to thehospital or when you've been admitted, you're kind of stressed out.
And so when you get discharged, you don't necessarily remember
everything that everybody was telling you to do or to follow up.
And so that's been a really positive addition and it's really innovative because we havenurses and social workers and pharmacists and dietician as part of that service.
(15:38):
And so we're able to provide services, doesn't matter where you are on the island.
So it breaks down all the geographical barriers.
It really optimizes the people power because it takes less people to do it virtually
and there's no wait list.
And and it fills a gap that we had in the way we deliver services because a lot ofliterature and a lot of feedback from patients and families were about, I have to go back
(16:03):
to the emergency room because I don't remember what to do or I forgot the prescription.
So that's been really great for people.
So where can you learn more?
I asked Shelley.
So we have what we call a single point of access for community health services in IslandHealth.
So we have Community Access Centres.
We have three Community Access Centres.
There's a North Island, a Centre Island and a South Island Centre.
(16:26):
So if you go on our Island Health website and you click on Right Care Right Place, youjust scroll down to community services and it will tell you the phone number you can call.
And you do not need a physician referral for any of our community services.
So you can call yourself, your family can call, your neighbour can call, and we will beable to provide services.
(16:49):
So it doesn't matter if you have a physician, a primary care physician or NP or not, ifyou're unattached, as we like to call people that don't have a provider, you can still
access our services and you access it through that Community Access Centre.
This conversation has been riveting and leaves me feeling great about what lies ahead.
I asked Shelley for her final closing thoughts.
(17:11):
I'm just really excited for the partnerships that we've been able to develop like outsideof the hospital because really people live 99% of their lives outside of a hospital and so
you know really great from a partnership perspective and the innovation and the abilityand the willingness for you guys to come to the table from the foundation's been amazing
(17:32):
and then just really excited to support people at home so like,
if you're not sure if you need a service, call that Access Centre because we really wantto support people and we really want to provide a good experience for people.
And it's not necessarily a great experience if you have to go to emergency and try toaccess things.
So call us and we'll try to provide services for you.
(17:56):
We at the foundation are absolutely thrilled about everything Shelley shared today.
Her passion, her vision, it's inspiring.
And we want everyone to know that we're standing behind her 100% of the way.
Now don't let the name Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation fool you.
Yes, we're proud to support the incredible work happening every day at NRGH, but ourcommitment goes far beyond that.
We're here for the Oceanside Health Centre, for the Dufferin Long-Term Care Facility, forTrillium and Eagle Park Long-Term Care, and for all the care that happens across Mid and
(18:24):
Central Island to help keep our communities healthy.
Whether it's acute care, long-term care, or specialized services,
we're invested in making sure every healthcare team has what they need to do their bestwork, wherever they are.
If you'd like to be part of that impact, we invite you to donate to the foundation today.
Every gift, big or small, helps strengthen care across Central and Northern VancouverIsland.
(18:46):
Thank you for joining us today on Harbouring Hope.
To learn more about the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation, please visitnanimohospitalfoundation.com.
I'm your host, Barney Ellis-Perry.
If you are a current or future partner of the foundation, thank you.
With your unwavering support, we are delivering a new standard of care for all who callthis amazing region home.
Together, it's in our nature to give.
(19:24):
Another Everything Podcasts production.
Visit everythingpodcasts.com, a division of Pattison Media.
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