The Kenora-Rainy River Community Care Access Centre is raising its profile in an effort to increase public awareness and perhaps entice three or four more people to apply for a seat on its board, which began 2004 with just five members.
“We would like to get to be better known,” CCAC board chair Walter Kostantin said late last week from Kenora. “In the past, we have remained low key.”
The CCAC board has yet to recover its complement after it suffered the loss of several board members when the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced restructuring plans two years ago.
“The board, at one time, had 12 members who worked well together and then with the changes, we have not really addressed what our needs are because of the uncertainty of our board trying to rationalize what our needs are,” Kostantin said.
The CCAC board’s current membership includes representation from Rainy River, Atikokan, Sioux Lookout, and Kenora.
Back in late August, the board recommended two new candidates—one from the Red Lake area and one from Dryden—to the health minister for an Order-in-Council (OIC) appointment and now are awaiting approval.
Kevin Holder, interim executive director for the Kenora-Rainy River CCAC, is urging more people to apply to sit on the board, especially from the areas of Fort Frances, Emo, Sioux Narrows/Nestor Falls, and Ignace.
True geographic representation from all areas of the districts ensures board membership is working at peak efficiency. The waiting period for OIC approval for board candidates is long, but that isn’t overly discouraging to Holder.
“As far as OIC’s [are concerned], they are probably no different across the province. Things are progressing and we will find out when we find out,” he reasoned.
The Kenora-Rainy River CCAC is one of 42 in the province which are mandated by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to provide, directly or indirectly, health and related social services, as well as supplies and equipment for the care of persons, including goods and services to assist caregivers.
The CCAC also is mandated to manage the placement of people into long-term care facilities, to provide information to the public about community-based services, long-term care facilities, and related health and social services, and to co-operate with other organizations that have similar objectives.
“If there are potential clients out there, they can phone [CCAC] and they will be put in direct contact with a case manager who can give them all the information they need on the services that are out there,” noted Holder.
“Clients who are in need of service, we are in a position to help,” stressed Kostantin.
The Kenora-Rainy River CCAC provides services to more than 1,500 clients, in all age groups, per month in over 50 communities within the areas of Kenora, Fort Frances, Dryden, Rainy River, Atikokan, Red Lake, and Sioux Lookout.
CCAC services include nursing, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, personal support/homemaking, school health support services, access to adult day programs, information and referral, physiotherapy, social work, and nutritional counselling.
CCAC’s nursing and personal support/homemaking programs account for about 75 percent of the total provided services, with another 20 percent shared between occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech-language pathology.
Both Holder and Kostantin agreed that CCAC’s future initiatives will depend on the programs and priorities established by the newly-elected Liberal provincial government and its vision of health and social service provision throughout the province.
“You have to realize that with every change in government, they will knock the heck out of everything. We know that and we abide by it and we be patient,” said Kostantin.
“It is the same as when there are any changes like mergers, or corporate takeovers—they [review] everything,” he added.
Among the greatest challenges ahead for the Kenora-Rainy River CCAC include securing funding for such a vast area of service and drawing in other service providers, especially to more remote areas.
“Funding and size are our limitations—what really hurts us is size,” said Kostantin. “CCACs in places like Toronto and Chatham cover 50 square miles and their people can be quite concentrated.
“But here, we have [challenges like] five hospitals 300 miles apart with different needs and services from each of those localities,” he noted.
“Yet we don’t have the same set of challenges that CCACs in Toronto have,” reasoned Holder. “They have the homeless—we have some of that here but not to the extent that Toronto has—and we don’t have the volumes of staff or the number of contracts to worry about.”
Locally over the past couple of years, CCAC has been involved in many collaborative efforts with other health-care providers to improve the delivery of services to the people of both districts.
CCAC has created a newly-mandated Community Advisory Council, which has looked at such things as the Alternate Level of Care crisis in Northwestern Ontario and also has developed a nutritional education program for seniors.
The CCAC also played a key role in the development of a supportive housing proposal for the Kenora-Rainy River districts. It struck a supportive housing sub-committee to study, review, and make recommendations to fill this need.
In co-operation with about 15 other interested groups, including the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, CCAC has initiated discussions on the importance of such a program—and the ways and means to accomplish it.
Anyone interested in applying to sit on the CCAC board for Kenora-Rainy River may submit a résumé to its office in Kenora.
For more information on the CCAC and its services, contact Holder at 1-877-661-6521.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
