Help with Living at Home

While there is variation in the services provided in adult day services across Interior Health depending upon location, examples of services that we provide include:

• Health monitoring, such as physical assessments, blood pressure, nutrition, pain and personal care concerns

• Supporting caregivers’ well-being by providing respite care to clients as well as providing education about community resources that are available

• Purposeful therapeutic social and recreational programs

Caregiver support is provided in various ways and is available through Home & Community Care services. It can be provided at home with home support or in the community through adult day services. Support is also available through short-term stays, called respite, in a care facility or hospice.

Care managers work with you, your circle of care and family, your doctor or nurse practitioner and/or other health-care professionals to help you determine:

• What services best meet your goals, needs and situation

• How your family and community can best support you to meet your needs

• What services are available

• How long you need these services

• Costs, if applicable

The care manager, also known as the Most Responsible Clinician, will then:

• Work with you to develop a collaborative care plan

• Consult with other health-care professionals to ensure your needs are met

• Arrange and coordinate services

• Assist you with your transitions through care

• Review and make changes as your goals and care needs change

You may be asked to attend a home health clinic for nursing care or other professional services.

Examples of services offered in the clinics include:

• Wound care treatments performed by a nurse

• Intravenous antibiotic treatment

• Client teaching related to treatments or specific diseases or conditions

• Rehabilitation

• Social work consultation

• Group education on managing a chronic health condition

If you require acute, chronic or palliative support, we can help with community care nursing services. A community care nurse (a Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse) will provide care on a non-emergency basis to help with services such as administering medications and changing dressings. In some communities, these services may be provided at a community clinic or in your home, if homebound, as appropriate.

Nursing services may include:

• Pain management

• Chronic disease management

• Intravenous care

• Ostomy care

• Post-hospital care

• Wound care

• Palliative care

• Self-care teaching

• House cleaning or laundry

• Grocery shopping

• Rehabilitation equipment/aids

• Driving to appointments

• Companions

• Foot care

For people with certain health issues, age-related limitations or other disabilities, managing everyday tasks can be challenging. Community care health professionals can arrange for home support services to be provided by trained community health workers so you can continue to live at home safely and independently.

Community health workers provide home support services. They are trained, screened and registered, and their services meet established standards. Policies are in place that govern health care and support services provided to people in their homes to protect both clients and care providers.

Home support services provide assistance with:

• Daily living activities at home such as bathing, dressing and grooming

• Special exercises, medication administration and other care needs

• Support and relief for your primary caregiver

There are services that home support services does not provide. However, we would be pleased to connect you to the following services:

• House cleaning or laundry

• Grocery shopping

• Rehabilitation equipment/aids

• Driving to appointments

• Companions

• Foot care

CSIL is a "self-managed model of care," which means you receive funds from Interior Health to become an employer and directly purchase your own home support services. As a CSIL employer, you assume full responsibility for the management, co-ordination and financial accountability of your personal care services, including recruiting, hiring, training, scheduling and supervising home support workers.

While  Community Living British Columbia is responsible for planning and delivering services to youth and adults with developmental disabilities, we collaborate in the delivery of specific health services for clients living in home settings.

Services include:

• Access to a range of non-emergency community health services including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing, nutrition, dental hygiene and swallowing assessments

• Professional assessment of your actual and potential health care and safety needs

• Consultation with you and your family to create and implement a plan of care designed to meet your health-care needs

• Training and support for your family members and caregivers regarding direct care and safety needs

• Monitoring of your health for specific concerns over time

• Referrals to other health-care providers as needed

• Advocacy and referral for you to specialist care as needed

The HomeSafe buttons provide emergency response at home. The regular-style button must be pressed, while an auto-alert style button can detect most falls from a standing position.

The GoSafe auto-alert button provides emergency response anywhere in Canada. Worn as a neck or wrist-style help button, you or your loved one will be able to summon help in an emergency, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Personal Medication Dispenser can hold up to 60 doses of medication. The dispenser supports people to take the right medication at the right time with audio and visual cues. The service automatically alerts a caregiver within 90 minutes of a missed dose.

Lifeline can be helpful if:

• You are home alone on a frequent basis

• You are at risk for falls

• You use adaptive devices to assist you with walking

• You are managing a medical condition

• You would feel more comfortable knowing help was always available

You can access these services for yourself or a family member by contacting a Home & Community Care office in your area or contact a health care provider and/or physician to complete and submit the following external home health referral form.

• New or Returning Clients:
  • For Home Health referrals by Physicians and Nurse Practitioners – access the Home Health External Referral form here
  • For Home Health referrals by families, self referrals, and the public to connect directly to the Home Health services call Home Health Central Intake at 1-800-707-8550
• Existing clients without a Home Health Most Responsible Clinician (MRC) assigned to them:
  • Contact your local home health office here

Our home & community care health professionals will work with you, your family, doctor or nurse practitioner, and other health-care professionals to assess:

• Your eligibility for home & community services

• What services best meet your goals, needs and situation

• How long you need these services for

• The costs, if any, for these services

To prepare for a home & community care assessment you will need to have the following:

• Advanced Care Plan

• Personal Health Number (PHN)

• Medication prescriptions

• War veteran and pension cheque stubs or regiment number

• Most recent income tax return or notice of assessment (some services charge a fee based on your income)

• Name and telephone number of your doctor or nurse practitioner

• Name and address of a close relative or friend

It’s important that our home & community care health professionals fully understand your health-care situation and needs. Please ask questions if you’re not sure what services are available to you. If you’ve documented your wishes about the health care you want to receive, at the moment or in the future, in an advance care plan, representative agreement, advance directive or similar document, bring this to the attention of your family and health-care providers.

If you’re eligible for services, a home & community care professional will work with you and other health-care professionals to develop a collaborative care plan that meets your needs. The care plan will be updated as your care situation changes. If there is a waiting list for the services that best meet your needs, the home & community care health professional will work with you to ensure that the best services are in place to address your health needs while you’re waiting.

To be eligible for these services you must:

• Be a Canadian citizen or have permanent resident status (be a landed immigrant or are on a Minister’s permit approved by the Ministry of Health Services)

• Require care:

  • after you have been released from the hospital,

  • at home to prevent you from going to the hospital, or

  • for a life limiting illness

You must meet additional eligibility requirements for some of our services, such as home support, assisted living, adult day services and long-term care, including:

• Be 19 years of age or older

• Have lived in British Columbia for three months

• Be unable to function independently because of chronic, health-related problems or have been diagnosed by a doctor with an end-stage illness

• Community care nursing

• Care management

• Occupational and physical therapy

• Health Services for Community Living

• Personal care for eligible palliative clients

• Acquired brain injury

• Caregiver support

• Home support services – there may be a daily charge, depending on your income

• Adult day services: These programs usually charge a nominal daily charge to supplement the cost of transportation, supplies and meals

• Caregiver support (respite, convalescent, hospice/palliative): The rate is set at the lowest monthly long-term care rate (prorated) so the client is able to maintain his/her primary residence while in respite, convalescent or hospice/palliative care