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Episode Transcript
Melissa Therrien, RN (00:07)
Welcome to Caring Conversations.
Okay, welcome to Caring Conversations, the podcast where we explore the world of caregiving, family support, and the power of compassionate connections. Whether you’re a caregiver, family member, or someone looking to understand more about home care services, this podcast is here to provide you with valuable insights, share stories, and break down the barriers to understanding caregiving in all of its forms. Here at Caring Conversations, we believe that making
that meaningful discussions can help families navigate the complexities of care with more ease, knowledge, and confidence. Our mission is to create a space for learning, support, and understanding because at the heart of it all, caregiving is about human connection. So welcome to our first episode.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (01:05)
Yeah, happy to be here, Melissa.
Melissa Therrien, RN (01:10)
I am here with my co-host Liz Lewington. Liz joins us from Vancouver Island. So thanks for joining today.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (01:21)
Yeah, thanks for having me Melissa. I am happy to be here. I’ve been a nurse working with seniors for 18 years now. I love what I do and I love every day working with seniors in their own home to keep them happy, healthy and safe. I know that that’s your passion as well. Today we’re excited to dive into a very important topic and understanding in home care, breaking myths and misconceptions. There’s a lot out there for sure.
Melissa Therrien, RN (01:38)
Yes.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (01:48)
We’ll be talking with Melissa, an experienced care manager from Ohana Care.
who will help us break down some of the most common myths surrounding in-home care. Many people believe that in-home care is only for the elderly or for those nearing the end of life, but Melissa’s here to explain how in-home care can serve a wide range of people from those recovering from surgery to individuals with disabilities or chronic illnesses. In this episode, we’ll address what in-home care really looks like, who can benefit from it, and how it differs from options like assisted living or nursing homes.
tackle concerns about cost, quality, and emotional aspects of starting the conversation about care within a family. So if you’ve ever been curious about an in-home care or are unsure if it’s the right fit for you and your loved ones, this episode’s for you. Let’s get started with Melissa on Caring Conversations. So what is in-home care?
Melissa Therrien, RN (02:45)
Thanks Liz.
So in-home care is really just what it says it is. It’s care in your home and your home can be any number of things from your actual home where you’ve resided for several years. It could be home in a senior’s residence. Could be home in a hospital, which we hate to call home, but we do offer services there as well. So yeah, I mean, it’s different from care that you may receive like in assisted living, nursing home or hospice care because
we do you know offer home care that covers the entire spectrum of the home like housekeeping meal prep you know all of the home care would be full encompassing of all each of those things transportation things like that where you’re not limited to care just in a home
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (03:37)
Yeah, yeah. I like to think of it as all those little things that go along with staying in your home. And the folks that we support are the people that need help with those little things. And it may not be something massive that’s changed in their life. It could just be that they can’t get the garbage can out to the side of the road. And that’s going to be a barrier for them. So I love that. I love in-home care. And that’s why I think we’re both in this business. So who benefits from in-home care?
Melissa Therrien, RN (04:07)
Yeah, so we actually can offer home care to anybody. You know, it can be the elderly, it can be the terminally ill. It also can be just like you said, people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, post-surgical support, so after an operation that you’ve had. Or really anyone that’s just struggling to meet their activities of daily living, which may be showers, reminders for medications,
Going out and getting groceries to make sure that you’re eating nutritious meals. Supporting with keeping your house safe. may be cleaning up the kitchen, getting rid of the garbage, maybe shoveling the walk, any number of things to keep you safe and comfortable at home.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (04:38)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, that’s a lot of services that are being offered through Home Care. What is the typical person that comes in needing support? What are they asking about? Do you know what the usual questions are that you get?
Melissa Therrien, RN (05:10)
Yeah, I mean, lots of people will come to us and seeking home care. Usually they’re not the people that are actually requiring the care very often. It’s family members that are concerned about their loved ones who are maybe needing that next little bit of assistance and not ready to leave their homes to go to a senior residence or a long-term care, wanting to keep them out of hospital because of a recent hospital admission due to fall or otherwise. So yeah, I mean, I think the typical person is looking for
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (05:20)
We’ll be right
Melissa Therrien, RN (05:39)
additional support and it typically is a family member sometimes it’s you know the client themselves looking for support but in all honesty it does take someone a long time to get to the point where they acknowledge that maybe they’re in need of some additional support and usually it’s a loved one that comes to us first saying I don’t think mum or dad are managing anymore and need that next level of care.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (05:43)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I agree. I mean, you in my experience, you you you run into people and they’re at a place where if they had had that support six months prior, they wouldn’t be in the state that they’re in. So the lovely part that I mean, that I really enjoy about about the in-home care is being able to give that person back a little bit of themselves that they’ve they’ve lost due to changes in their capacity, changes in their mobility and their overall health. And that’s what I like personalized nature of in-home care where
you can you make a care plan and it isn’t just the tasks it’s not a task oriented care plan yes the tasks are in there because they will get done we’re professionals it’s what we do but those little pieces where you say let’s get what do you like in your coffee in the morning you know does your dog you know what time does the dog go out for a pee those kinds of little things that you put into the care plan that are not your typical task oriented
Melissa Therrien, RN (06:55)
Mm-hmm.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (07:00)
care plan and being able to offer that flexibility and timing and the ability to give people what they need when they need it instead of a one size fits all model, is unfortunately the alternative. Yeah, I love that personalized side of the home care that we provide.
Melissa Therrien, RN (07:14)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and I think a lot of it is proactive, right? Where, you know, we’re helping people with queuing versus doing. That’s something I tell my team all the time. You know, let’s queue our clients to stay as independent as possible doing the activities they want to do. We have the luxury of time because we’re not task oriented, you know, so they can take 15 minutes to put their socks on and then feel the pride and the ownership of being able to have complete that task on their own. That’s so important.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (07:21)
Absolutely.
Melissa Therrien, RN (07:49)
physically and just really spiritually where they’re able to feel you know that pride of completion.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (07:56)
Absolutely. So what are some of the biggest misconceptions that you’ve run into over the years about in-home care?
Melissa Therrien, RN (08:03)
Probably number one that it’s expensive and far more expensive than living in a seniors residence or a long-term care. I would say actually even with the government support these days people are being encouraged to stay home and
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (08:11)
Yeah.
100%. Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (08:19)
Yeah, and there’s lots of resources out there that can support if funding is a barrier, lots of home care companies that will support in making sure that that budget is not a barrier. So there’s lots of options out there, but I would say probably money and it being an expensive service is number one misconception. Another one that I would say is that you need to be sick to get home care. Like you don’t need to be sick. You don’t need to have an ailment really at all. It may be a disability.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (08:37)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Therrien, RN (08:49)
that you’ve been living with all of your life. It may be you’re 75 years old and just tired of washing the floor. So there’s lots of things that may be prohibitive and prevent you from being able to doing those things to maintain your household and to be looking after yourself and those personal care items. What about you?
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (09:13)
Yeah, yeah, I agree. So are there any age… gosh. Ditto? Have you ever run into any age groups or demographics that you feel would benefit from in-home care that don’t really consider it an option?
Melissa Therrien, RN (09:28)
you
Well, I mean pediatrics, think families in general. Yeah
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (09:37)
100 % agree, yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (09:40)
I don’t think we look to a home care company for support when we are a struggling family. Maybe we have a child with a disability or we have a couple of kids and we have a newborn. You know, we’ve had some clients that need sleep as a mom. I can totally relate to that. And having someone around that can support with the daily activities while I just get a break. think respite is so, so important for everyone. I mean, if you’re caring
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (09:57)
Absolutely. Yeah.
Absolutely.
Melissa Therrien, RN (10:09)
for someone, whether that be a kid, a senior, someone in palliative care, you need to look after yourself first before you can be a caregiver. Burnout is a real thing.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (10:20)
100%. Yeah, that self-care, being able to … I mean, there is part of a grieving process that goes along with accepting that you need care as well. Sometimes people embrace it with open arms, but other times you’re brought into it kicking and screaming because this is a necessity for you to stay in home.
Melissa Therrien, RN (10:28)
Thanks.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (10:40)
And if you haven’t considered what it looks like when you come to somebody like us at OhanaCare, you’re going to be pleasantly surprised at how it looks, what it feels like, and that support that you get over time, how you can rely on the person, you have a relationship with them, they know what you eat, they know what time you go to bed, they know what you like to wear on a Wednesday, things fall in place.
Melissa Therrien, RN (10:59)
Uh-huh.
Your favorite lipstick. Yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (11:05)
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And whether you want to wear it today or not, because you know what you’re eating, you don’t want to get it on your cup. Yeah. So, I mean, those sorts of little things that we don’t really consider part of the home care sort of journey. When they come to us, the outcome is always this really positive feeling. I think that’s why we’re both suckers for the business, because this is, yes, it’s a business, but really, at the end of the day, I get to go to sleep happy, knowing that I’ve been able to provide that
Melissa Therrien, RN (11:21)
you
you
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (11:32)
good quality care that is lacking in other areas of our healthcare system at the moment. shouldn’t say that out loud, but I do.
Melissa Therrien, RN (11:38)
you
And fulfilling people’s wishes. I mean, I don’t think anyone thinks about aging and is like, I am super excited to go to long term care and I can’t wait to get that old, right? I think there’s a grieving in that and the fear of the loss of independence and that, you know, I’ll be an invalid, you know, at that time. So if we can fulfill people’s wishes in staying home safe and comfortable, that gives me a huge sense of pride in what we offer.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (11:50)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and pride really is a lot to do with it. You know, like you said, putting on your socks in the morning may very well be, you know, a sense of pride for somebody, you know, and, and you may not, and it’s not, it’s not a, it’s not something that you’re overtly going to say wasn’t that great that you put your socks on. Like nobody feels that way. But really at the end of the day, if you, if you’ve put your socks on for the first time in six months,
Melissa Therrien, RN (12:20)
Yeah, an accomplishment.
you
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (12:35)
you know, this is a positive move, right? So little wins, focusing on that is really important as well. So when should they consider going to a facility instead of staying at home? Like, is there a catalyst for that that you’ve found?
Melissa Therrien, RN (12:42)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Thank
Yeah, so I think it’s totally dependent on what the family wants, what the family can afford. There is a financial aspect to it, of course, and the family’s wishes and what they can commit to the care. There is no question that people can stay at home till end of life and through their end of life journey. We can absolutely support that with the luxury of having companions, healthcare aides and nurses and the support of the healthcare region.
as well. So there is no reason why people can’t age in place and that place be their home. But I do think there are situations where financial constraints or risk to a client to stay home. And those are conversations that I’ll openly have with families. You know, we have had clients that were active elopement risks, where, you know, the decision was made that it’s no longer safe for mom to stay at home.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (13:28)
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (13:51)
And think that’s a really tough decision, but very much a collaborative decision and lots of conversations around that.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (13:58)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I find, you with the dementia diagnosis, it’s always really difficult for the family to feel like there’s stability in that decision. So I always like to counsel people to look into long-term care. So if there is an incident that happens that stands in the way of allowing them to stay in their home, something safety related that we couldn’t.
Melissa Therrien, RN (14:09)
Yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (14:22)
you know, we couldn’t mitigate them. Yes, of course, do your research. Research is always important in this stage of everyone’s life. There’s not a lot of education around it unless you’ve been in the field. You don’t know what you’re facing and there’s a lot of fear around that as well. So education, learning about what resources exist and what facilities are in your area so you can stay closer to your home, your family, your community. But yeah, setting up that safety net so that
Melissa Therrien, RN (14:30)
Mm-hmm.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (14:48)
you don’t have to come to that decision lightly. know, you have to, you know, you have to really invest in creating that safety net in your community, reaching out to neighbors and family and yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (14:58)
Yeah, and knowing.
Yeah, and knowing that you have put in time and effort into making an educated decision versus a crisis decision, and no one wants to make those sorts of decisions in a crisis. You know, very often families will have second thoughts when they’ve made a decision in a crisis and be like, this was absolutely not the right decision. You know, we can support through that. And I strongly suggest, you know, your resources, get multiple opinions, talk to people in long term care in supportive living.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (15:07)
Exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (15:31)
home care and just see what’s what is available. It’s an education for sure.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (15:36)
Absolutely, because you find your families are in the hospital with their loved one. Often it’s a fall or something along those lines that’s changed everything overnight immediately and they’re being pushed to a facility, you know, because the, you know, the…
the hospital needs the bed, the space, and that’s always the push and pull, right? Get out of acute care, get into long-term care. So when they’re being faced with that, they need to know that they have the ability to say no, that there’s other options out there. You don’t just have to accept moving into a long-term care bed because that’s what’s the easiest choice for that health authority or for the nurses or the doctors that are working that day. I know it’s easy to say, but really…
Melissa Therrien, RN (16:05)
Huh.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (16:18)
It’s a holistic approach. can’t just look at somebody and say you need to go to a long-term care facility. You need to go to their home, see what they’re living like. Have they lost weight? Are they drinking enough? Is this something that’s preventable that’s brought them in? And can we fix it and return them to the home where they sleep better, they eat better, they have their community? Pets are able to stay with them because I mean, I know I love my dog and my cat and having to…
get rid of them. You know, a lot of folks have to get rid of their pet or give it to a family member or whatever it is like that. That’s heartbreaking to have to face that at such a bleak time in your life when you’re in the hospital with not a lot of options, not knowing that we exist. Absolutely.
Melissa Therrien, RN (16:59)
Mm-hmm. And dealing with so many losses, right? You know, dealing with that loss of independence and then you add dealing with the loss of an animal on top of that. yes. Yeah, for sure.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (17:09)
Yeah, yeah, and the home that you potentially raised your family in and your yeah and your community. Yeah, it’s it’s an awful it’s an awful situation.
Melissa Therrien, RN (17:18)
And I think to the point of what you say with being in hospital and providing an education, sometimes it’s a matter of providing an education to the nurses and the transition team that are there as well. Very often, you know, they’re busy and very focused on one stream of care. And so being prepared to advocate for mom or dad’s wishes, as far as where they’d like to live and, you know, providing that team with an education like, look, I’ve spoken to this home care provider and this is what they can manage.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (17:28)
Absolutely.
Melissa Therrien, RN (17:48)
can we make this work?
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (17:49)
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. think there’s a lot that needs to be done as far as educating everybody, you know, like, and you can think that a doctor or a liaison at the hospital, a discharge planner, you’d think that they knew all that’s going on because we have this sense that, you know, a doctor knows all, but really the niche that we are supporting is not a well-known niche because it’s not connected to a health authority.
Melissa Therrien, RN (17:55)
Thank
Yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (18:18)
but sending somebody home with care from us, we can support them, like you say, all the way through their journey until the end of life. Yeah, and that’s the most beautiful part. I love that part, being able to move forward with the person, know, bring in occupational therapy so that we can support any mobility changes, lifts, transfer belts, wheelchairs, you know.
Melissa Therrien, RN (18:18)
Mm-hmm.
Agreed.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (18:42)
It doesn’t have to be just done with somebody in a facility or in a hospital. We can do that as well.
Melissa Therrien, RN (18:49)
Yeah, and I think back to the misconceptions too, is if you choose home care, you no longer get funded support. And in fact, that’s not true. All of the resources that are available to anybody in their home, whether they choose private home care support or not, those resources are still available. You know, so ADL to support with continence care, you know, support for getting a lift installed in your home, all of those financial resources are still available, even if you choose to
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (19:18)
Absolutely. Yeah, and you know the health authority prefers somebody else to take over the care, so they’re happy to support us in remaining in place for them as well. So how do you and our team create personalized care plans for your clients? What are the
Melissa Therrien, RN (19:19)
stay in your home.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, so I think it all starts with those initial conversations like what brings you to home care, what prompted the phone call to us and what are you dealing with? And then I think with experience you start learning the nuances of you what people’s goals are, how their interactions are with their families. Sometimes we get families that are like I’m exhausted, I need to step away, here’s the problem, you know, and we build a care plan around that where we need to give the rest of the family
family at break. There’s times it’s, you know, someone who just wants that additional support to keep mom safe and comfortable at home. And then we pick up on those little nuances like favorite lipstick, mom must be wearing her lipstick every day or mom never wants to be seen wearing pajamas. She always wants to be fully dressed, or dad must have his coffee one way or the other. So there’s so much that we can learn through conversation, spending time with people in their homes, understanding how their home is set up.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (20:14)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Therrien, RN (20:38)
Whether that home again be their home that they lived in for the last 65 years or their seniors residence. Maybe it’s participating in activities that previously they didn’t want to participate in because they have mobility issues or some cognitive deficits. Now if we send a companion, they’re able to attend those activities that previously they enjoyed.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (20:58)
Mm hmm. good answer. Well done. You know, I going back to creating that care plan, putting in all those little things, but also I like to add in
Melissa Therrien, RN (21:01)
I’m
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (21:15)
You know if there’s been urinary tract infections in the past, what does it present as and how can we cut that off beforehand and increasing fluid intake so taking not just those little personal nuances that everybody has you know and creating the care plan with that but also adding in as a nurse, know, you add in your What does it look like when this is happening? We need to keep an eye on this area on your leg because it’s broken down before What does it look like right now so that our staff can go in and monitor it and if there’s any concerns
Melissa Therrien, RN (21:18)
You’re fair.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (21:44)
they alert us, we follow up, and then we can get a doctor involved before it turns into an acute care situation. So keeping us or a home care provider in place can really cut down on hospitalizations and poor outcomes because we can jump in and we can assess and we can get the medical attention that’s needed when it’s needed instead of waiting until it’s an acute care situation, which is also a lovely part of the job.
Melissa Therrien, RN (21:51)
Totally.
Mm.
Yeah.
I totally forget about the clinical aspects of things, not that I forget about them in a care plan, but I don’t often talk about the clinical aspect of things because families want to just talk about what’s going to make them happy. But for sure, I mean, the benefit of having a nurse involved and a nursing team involved is for sure being proactive and being able to be preventative, you know, in some of those things, avoid those hospital visits for sure. And yeah, I mean, I guess that
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (22:16)
Thank you.
Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (22:42)
gets back into the task piece of things. sometimes our documentation involves pictures of wounds and things like that so that we can monitor progression. So very similar to the services that you would get in a facility or in a hospital as far as monitoring those things go. So yeah, for sure, I often just bypass those.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (22:52)
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely. Yeah. So that’s sort of our role as a care manager. What do you do? Well, once we’ve set up, we’ve got the care plan in place, what is the role that you kind of jump into as a care manager once the ball’s rolling?
Melissa Therrien, RN (23:19)
for sure. So any change in status, I’m actively involved. I love to be able to be on call and support our team in the field. You know, from a manager’s perspective, a leader’s perspective, I always like to stay in touch with the team in the field, make sure that they’re safe and that they have the support that they need. And I think families, you know, providing that reassurance that there is a nursing team in the background monitoring what is happening. Much of my job involves like sitting back and watching
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (23:37)
You
Melissa Therrien, RN (23:49)
watching it all unfold, pivoting as needed, making changes based on feedback that we’ve received and conversations, right? We strongly believe in finding a caregiver that’s a good fit, right? I never want to put someone in a position where either the client doesn’t like them and there’s not a good energy between them or the caregiver hates going to work every day.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (24:03)
Absolutely.
Melissa Therrien, RN (24:14)
that’s not a situation that we want to be in. So definitely a lot of the job is adapting to that, making changes to that. So it’s not just learning our clients, we learn a lot about our caregivers too and the services and the care that they can provide.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (24:29)
Yeah, yeah. mean, they are the people on the front line. They’re the ones that give us our good name from the compassion that they bring to their work every day. So they’re invaluable human beings. mean, couldn’t, society couldn’t function without our care staff. Absolutely. So when you’re building trust with a family, how does that look for you? What’s the relationship? How does it look when you’re building that trust with them?
Melissa Therrien, RN (24:40)
100%.
Yeah.
Thank
Yeah, I think sometimes it’s innate. know, people are calling us and they just say, here’s my dad deal with it. And, you know, that’s totally fine. Other times it really is a process. You know, you have to build that relationship with them. I have clients that I’ve been working with for months, you know, developing that relationship, building that trust with them. Maybe it’s trust with the family members. Maybe it’s trust with the client and
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (25:11)
Mm.
Melissa Therrien, RN (25:25)
building those resources and creating that package that they’re like, yeah, I mean, this is going to benefit my life versus become a hindrance to my life. And so sometimes it really is very dependent on where the client or the family is at in that stage and how much care is involved too. Sometimes if we have a palliative client, you know, and there’s a ton of care involved and the family wants to stay very, very involved, it takes a little bit longer for them to gain that trust.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (25:34)
Yeah, absolutely.
Melissa Therrien, RN (25:55)
in us and understand that you know they can go to sleep at night and know that we are there to care for their loved one.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (26:00)
Yeah, that we’re here. Yeah, we’re here. Your loved one is comfortable. Yeah, and I mean, like you say, trust looks so different for everybody. It can just be a matter of please help. Dear God, please help. Yeah, yeah. And you’re like, okay, that’s great. Thank you. What am going to do here? And then, you know, your nursing kicks in and the compassion that comes with the position, of course, kicks in. But yeah, the communication between you and then
Melissa Therrien, RN (26:05)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, here take this.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (26:29)
education, like that is such a big part of building that trust. Because you can go in and if your client is not ready, it doesn’t mean that they won’t be ready eventually, or that you’re not going to be able to go out and give the information that the family needs to take a different approach or you know what, this isn’t going to work for your loved one.
Melissa Therrien, RN (26:30)
Hmm.
Yes.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (26:51)
have you considered these resources that also exist? It doesn’t mean necessarily you’re signing with us, don’t worry, we’ll take over and your hands are sort of wiped clean of this. It is an education, especially around like dementia, Alzheimer’s, teaching people that this is not, this isn’t the behavior that your loved one has had their whole life. You know that. And that this is presenting because of the dementia. This is not under their control. And just that education component.
Melissa Therrien, RN (27:03)
Mm-hmm.
yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (27:21)
Really, I feel like that is a big place where I build trust with my clients as well, just keeping communication open and listening to their feedback and then giving feedback as to how things have gone. How did the visit go today? Did they eat anything? just that sort of trust that builds over time that they then are, they’re so grateful for it as well, really. So grateful. Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (27:25)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. And I like I think some clients come to us with, I need you to tell my mom that she needs help. Like, I’ve tried, it’s no, no luck. So I need you to come in and support too. And sometimes hearing that from a nurse makes it all the world of a difference. Other times hearing that from a professional that whether they know I’m a nurse or not, just hearing it from someone else to say, Look, we’re not going to take away your independence. We’re
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (27:52)
yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (28:15)
not going to come in as babysitters and do everything for you and tell your neighborhood that you’re you know you’re getting care for the things that you need every day right it’s maintaining that sense of independence that’s so huge.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (28:22)
Yeah, yes.
Yeah. Yeah. Another good answer. You’ve done this for a while, hey? So what other services do you coordinate with? Are there other areas of nursing or areas of healthcare that you’re coordinating with to make the best care in for the client?
Melissa Therrien, RN (28:37)
Maybe a little bit.
Yeah, for sure. mean, it’s a multidisciplinary team and I love to pool resources and take support from any number of people that want to be involved, whether that’s a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, speech language pathology, physicians we liaise with very often, funded home care. If they’re coming in and providing support three times a day for medication assistance or otherwise, we’ll happily liaise with them, take on some dressing changes.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (29:12)
You
Melissa Therrien, RN (29:21)
things like that. So I would say that the it’s an endless realm of possibilities as far as who we can collaborate with pharmacists, you name it. Family members, my goodness, family members can span across the globe too, right? Where we utilize technology to keep people involved in care for mom or dad. So I think that’s a big part too.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (29:37)
Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. And everybody’s different. Like we say, everyone’s different and their journey is going to be different. So those resources that you’re out there scouting, it’s kind of like you’re a detective all the time. Like what exists? Does this hairdresser go to the home? Is there somebody that will do the foot care? Is there an RMT? This person has what looks like a pinched nerve or they’re stressed or whatever it is. And bringing those little things in that can make the big difference. An OT, course, keeping our staff safe.
Melissa Therrien, RN (29:56)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (30:15)
keeping our clients being able to ambulate. I love getting in the OT and then physio, they prescribe the exercises, we assist with them so we can increase ROM and range of movement and just their overall health, know, have people being able. I love it when you can work with somebody through their physio and you come back in two weeks later or a week later and they can get up out of their chair again.
Melissa Therrien, RN (30:40)
Yes. huge. Yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (30:41)
It’s who knew? I mean, as a mom, I hate getting up. I hate it so much. I want to sit. But you know what? When you’re a senior and this is your Mount Everest, that moment of being able to get up out of a chair, you know, I don’t want to say that I’ve been brought to tears with that sort of thing, but it’s definitely been a moment in the vehicle when you get back in and you send to yourself and you say, you know what? This is why I do what I do. I love it so much. And seeing those winds, just they hit home. It really is a lovely thing.
Melissa Therrien, RN (30:47)
you
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and sometimes they’re small wins, right? Like finding a set of shoes that fit someone with a size 13 feet and has peripheral edema, like swollen feet, and has not been able to wear shoes for so long. And it’s a matter of like going to Red Cross and looking for the pair of shoes that work. And finally, you see a client wearing shoes instead of slippery socks in the house. Huge win. Yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (31:10)
100 %
my god, yes! Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. yeah. Yeah, I know those moments. It’s funny. Unless you’re a nurse, I don’t know if that’s the kind of thing that you would take home and be like, Hey, at the dinner table, I found shoes for somebody today. Yeah, you’ll never believe what happened. Yeah, we’re a sick group. But I think we have a have the same tensions. I know. I know. It’s a very we’re an odd odd crew. Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (31:42)
Yeah, this was so exciting!
the things that excite us, right?
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (32:01)
It’s nice to have you in my wheelhouse here with me. Yeah, So what do you think, what are the future trends for home care? What are you hoping? Let’s say, imagine home care in the future. What are you imagining it to look like?
Melissa Therrien, RN (32:05)
Yeah, good company, good company.
Mmm.
Yeah, for sure. mean, I would love to see the integration of technology while still supporting that person to person care. You know, I think we’re going to see home care, we’re going to see an increase of people staying in their homes related to capacity issues that we see in acute care or otherwise. And I think we’re going to see a lot of support from the government as far as keeping people in their homes, know, debunking some of those myths as far as finances go, and starting to talk about what
there is available to people to stay in their homes and to age safely and comfortably in their home. And then technology too. mean, I think being able to access cameras in the home and knowing that you’re keeping your loved one safe and that they’re not wandering the streets when it’s, you know, minus 10 and two feet of snow out there, you know, knowing when mom or dad has taken a fall and being able to respond immediately, you know, those sorts of things I think too will be integrated into the home care.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (32:57)
Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (33:23)
industry and what that looks like in the future.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (33:25)
Yeah, and every time I go on the internet, you you look up something, we need to make sure that if they’re using the stove, there’s a trigger that it will turn off after an hour, or that if the smoke alarm goes, it’ll cut the electricity to the stove. I mean, those things pop up all the time. So just that ability to stay connected to what AI is doing, what technology is doing, how we can further support people.
Melissa Therrien, RN (33:33)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (33:54)
by taking those little things away that are a safety concern and bringing in the human aspect. So it definitely is that marriage of technology and being there, physically being there. Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (33:58)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and you know, it may be things that you and I don’t even think about, like the Instacart for grocery deliveries, or the robot vacuum. You know, so many of those things we’ve integrated into our lives without issue and don’t even think at all. But how much independence those sorts of things would create for a senior in their home living alone. So, you know, I think it’s happening. And we’re even just oblivious to the fact that it is happening.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (34:16)
Yes. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, I do. I mean, I love finding new things to help keep our seniors in their homes. I know there is a lot of technology push for, you know, medication administration, those sorts of things. So I’m interested to see what happens in the future. And I think that, you know, government funding, absolutely, there needs to be a push for that. And it doesn’t mean that there’s going to be them and us as far as public and private. It is 100 % going to have to be an integrated approach.
Melissa Therrien, RN (34:37)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (35:00)
to keep our folks to age in place. I know they push that term so much, the aging in place, but really what does it look like? And that conversation needs to be pushed up. So if anybody out there listening has any clout anywhere, please push for home care because it is definitely a forgotten place. Acute care, long-term care, there’s other options out there for folks.
Melissa Therrien, RN (35:06)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, honey, pull.
Yeah, and I think it goes beyond seniors too, and how that technology is integrated in the home. You know, with some of our pediatric clients, you know, what AI is doing, you know, text to speech and how they’re supporting kiddos in their homes and how, you know, cameras in the homes or air tags are keeping their kiddos safe. mean, any number of things, I think, again, we overlook in our day-to-day lives, but those elements of technology can support anyone of any age group when you’re
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (35:42)
Absolutely.
Melissa Therrien, RN (35:52)
with disabilities or ailments of any sort.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (35:55)
Yeah, yeah. So I mean, home care, it’s such a beautiful place to be able to call our field of expertise, to call home. I was trying to avoid that, but yes, it is a beautiful place to call home. This is a position that I have.
Melissa Therrien, RN (36:03)
full.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (36:14)
loved every moment of every day that I’m in. As a nurse, it’s really difficult to find that place in your life where you can say, is what drives me, absolutely. Do you have anything that you want to say before we wrap up?
Melissa Therrien, RN (36:22)
Mm-hmm.
No, think I’m, you know, I’m really excited about this podcast and to be able to provide that education and those resources to people. I mean, it’s not about Ohana care. It’s about, you know, talking about home care and the options that are available. And how can you support people of all ages to be where they are most comfortable and to keep them as safe as possible.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (36:52)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it sneaks up on you. My God. You know, when you take a phone call from somebody and you think they’re, you know, they’re talking about a loved one, a parent that’s 72, my mom is 72. no. You know, what I’m… And I’m a professional. So for folks that aren’t in it, you know, it can be a really scary thing. So I think this education is really important to get the word out there. What does it look like? What’s the approach? What options are there?
Melissa Therrien, RN (37:06)
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (37:21)
100 % this is important work that we’re doing here. Yeah.
Melissa Therrien, RN (37:23)
And that it’s not scary. Like we’re here to keep people as independent as possible. We’re not here to take that away. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it’s just us. Yeah, we’ll become a familiar face. Yeah.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (37:29)
Yeah, we’re part of the community. Yeah, we’re part of your part of your home part of your community. Yeah, just don’t worry just me. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you.
Melissa Therrien, RN (37:44)
Well, thanks so much, Liz. I mean, I think this was a great first conversation and appreciate, you know, digging deep into some of these issues and talking about some of these myths that surround home care. So thanks so much. And I am really excited to chat next week on our next topic. But yeah, this is Melissa signing off from Calgary in the bitter cold and the snow today.
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (37:56)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
And this is yeah, this is Liz. I’m over on Vancouver Island in BC. It is a lovely overcast day today.
Melissa Therrien, RN (38:17)
Hmm All right guys take care and we’ll chat soon. See ya
Elizabeth Lewington, LPN (38:23)
You got it. Thanks.
