In early February I attended an interRAI (short for International Residential Assessment Instrument) event at the Best Western Arden Park Hotel in Stratford. I heard a preliminary analysis of community-assessed clients and their home care services in Huron and Perth counties. The needs analysis and resource inventory findings were both enlightening and disturbing.
The full title of the forum was “The Sound Of Silence: HEALTH, WELL-BEING, LONELINESS AND SOCIAL ISOLATION IN OLDER ADULTS IN HURON-PERTH.” Surprisingly, of the eight areas examined in Huron-Perth, between January 2018 and January 2020, Stratford scored the highest on the Social Isolation Index. During the same period, Stratford had the highest percentage of community-assessed clients with no home help. When taking a broader regional perspective it was concerning to discover that the percentage of Long-Term Care Residents Who Potentially Could Have Been Cared for at Home in our Southwest Region was 56% higher than neighbouring Waterloo Wellington Region. Then for the period between January 2022 and June 2023 (during the pandemic), the community-assessed clients in Huron-Perth Stratford stood highest on the scale of Persons At Risk for Adverse Events. ( All data was the most recent available.)
I’m sure that these findings are a concern to all involved in accessing quality home care in Stratford and Perth. And while the data provides a preliminary analysis, naturally they include findings that must be a concern to families and caregivers. Nevertheless, and thankfully, we did have an opportunity to be able to take a closer look at 34 different indicators for the eight community areas in Huron-Perth. The downside of the day was not yet having received the most recent data sets from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care in order to complete a more fulsome residential assessment for the two counties.
InterRAI has been around for many years. It is a respected international collaborative not-for-profit network of researchers in 30 countries contributing to evidenced-informed management and policy making. The Stratford forum attracted geriatricians, community, and primary care providers from throughout Perth and Huron Counties. The aim was to examine and improve the quality of life for people trying to age in place…in their homes. The day’s proceedings were a result of an interRAI (University of Waterloo) partnership with the Canadian Red Cross made possible by a generous private donation to the Red Cross. The forum was led by Professor John Hirdes, PhD, University of Waterloo; Geriatrician Dr. George Heckman, MD; and Sydney Jones, Project Coordinator with contact support from Suzanne.Simpson@redcross.ca and Melissa Ziraldo, mziraldo@uwaterloo.ca