AUNDECK OMNI KANING—The Aging at Home program at Noojmowin Teg Health Centre generally provides services to those living on First Nations reserves or aboriginal people living off-reserve, but in the case of the Aging at Home Transportation Services, through a collaboration with the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), the program extends to non-Natives as well.
“It was originally only a First Nation program,” said program administrator Janet Fathers, who added that being in its fourth year, the program is beyond the pilot project stage. “It wasn’t as big as it could be, so a request was made to the LHIN (to extend the program to the non-Native community).”
The numbers from the First Nations were not as robust as had been originally anticipated; most likely due to most reserve communities having their own medical transport van programs in place.
Through the program, seniors in the Manitoulin region needing transport to medical appointments can call the Noojmowin Teg Health Centre and book transportation to their appointments with the Aging at Home Van.
This free program is accessible to all Manitoulin Island residents age 55 years and older and provides pick-up and drop off transportation services only, stressed Ms. Fathers. “It is not intended to provide medical care or assistance.”
The Aging at Home Van may be used for medical appointments, instrumental activities of daily living such as home management (banking or shopping), traditional gatherings and social events such as elder picnics, diners’ clubs and group berry picking.
The Aging at Home Van operates on a first come, first served basis for up to 75 hours a month. But in the interests of providing ‘equitable’ service to all clients, the van is available to each client for a maximum of three bookings in any one month.
“The bookings are limited to day trips to ensure availability of the service to other clients the next day,” said Ms. Fathers. “But there may be exceptions for a series of medical appointments that may require more than three bookings a month.”
The van does have some limitations. It does not have a special wheelchair lift, but the van can transport clients in wheelchairs provided the client can transfer from the wheelchair to the van with the assistance of one person maximum. “The client must not need to be lifted into the van,” she noted.
The van operated on a first come, first served basis, but Noojmowin Teg Health Centre reserves the right to call clients to discuss options for booking changes, based on necessity. Basically, an urgent medical appointment may trump a client who has booked the van for a non-medical booking, with the non-urgent client being asked to reschedule their trip to accommodate the more critical need.
Under the Aging at Home Van usage policy, clients must sign an agreement/consent that will allow Noojmowin Teg to request the client provide proof of age, an agreement to adhere to the cancellation policy and consent to verify if the client is in fact receiving medical transportation services from their First Nation community. Of course clients accessing the Aging at Home Van will not be able to claim travel expenses for the same trip from their First Nation (or any other travel grant program).
The Aging at Home Van has been a work in progress over the last few years and the cancellation policy has been developed to meet the demands of the real world. Under that policy, clients are asked to call the day before the booking if they need to cancel. Although there are times when unforeseen events can make that impossible, such as awakening sick on the day of the booking, the health centre requires a client call at least three hours prior to the booking or the cancellation will be recorded as a ‘no show.’ Of course if the driver arrives to pick up the client and they are not available, that is also a no show.
Three ‘no show’ occurrences will result in the privilege of using the van being removed for that client. “The reason for this policy is due to the expenses incurred by the cancellation,” noted Ms. Fathers. Those expenses include paying the driver for their time, the cost of gas for the van to travel to pick up the client and, of course, the van being out of use and unavailable to others when it is booked for the ‘no show.’
Ms. Fathers noted that working with the Northeast LHIN has been very positive for the program. “Anytime we can work collaboratively on programs here in the North I think it is a very positive thing,” she said. The challenges of a dispersed population in both the Native and non-Native communities presents challenges to delivering the services that people need to remain in their homes, close to family support groups and the familiarity of their communities, as they grow older.
The Aging at Home program provides many of the services to First Nations members on and off-reserve that the Community Care Access Centres provide to the non-Native communities.
To book the Aging at Home Van, clients aged 55 years and older can call Noojmowin Teg Health Centre at 705-368-2182 and request the service.
