Riverview Manor aiming to become peritoneal-care expert

Demand for dialysis exists, treating in-home would enhance life quality for residents

July 31, 2012 -- Deron Hamel

PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - The Riverview Manor team plans to submit a funding application to the Central East Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) in September to deliver on-site peritoneal dialysis, in an effort to meet a current demand and enhance life quality for residents.

Currently, residents at Riverview Manor who require peritoneal dialysis are being transferred to Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) for treatment. By having registered nurses and registered practical nurses trained in peritoneal dialysis, Riverview Manor could significantly reduce the number of residents being transferred to hospital.

This, says administrator Mary Anne Greco, is important in the home’s effort to enhance quality of life for its 124 residents. It’s also a more cost-effective way of treating people, she adds.

“If we can offer the same care and nursing expertise and everything like that, long-term care is (providing) a far lesser charge per diem than a hospital stay,” she says.

The home’s application will come at a time when the CCAC will be announcing available grants and funding initiatives for care providers in its catchment area. If provided the funding, the home would use the money to train registered staff in peritoneal treatment.

In recent years, the Peterborough long-term care home has seen an increasing number of residents requiring peritoneal dialysis, a treatment for chronic kidney disease that helps control fluid and electrolyte levels.

Having the ability to provide in-home peritoneal care to residents is an important step in advancing quality because any hospital stay can negatively impact residents, says Greco.

As part of the process, Riverview Manor will have to make an application for the funding, and the CCAC will then make a decision as to accepting the proposal.

One of the things that will bode well for the home is the fact that Riverview Manor has already had successes with its participation in the Central East Local Health Integration Network’s Nurse Practitioners Supporting Teams Averting Transfers (NPSTAT) program, notes Greco.

Greco says Jeff Gardner and Sandy Darlington, the nurse practitioners who visit the home through the NPSTAT program, are available to Riverview Manor on a daily basis, and their expertise would be readily available. http://www.omniway.ca/news_details.php?id=9439

“They would be great as resources and support for the staff . . . when it comes to doing checks upon the new residents that would be involved with the procedure to make sure that we are following all the correct protocols and to be available if we thought we were encountering some difficulties,” she says.

If you have a story you would like to share with the OMNIway, please contact the newsroom at 800-294-0051, ext. 23, or e-mail deron(at)axiomnews.ca.

— More to come

If you have feedback on this story, please call the newsroom at 800-294-0051, or e-mail deron(at)axiomnews.ca.






Back to News