During this pandemic the Ontario CLRI is organizing our activities to respond to the change in priorities for long-term care (LTC) homes in the time of COVID-19. New resources will be updated on this page as they become available. Some resources on this page are those from the sector and some are resources that predate COVID-19 but are relevant to the situation facing LTC teams today.
Use the following links to skip down to specific sections:
Resources for the Health and Well-Being of Team Members
Resources for the Health and Well-Being of Residents
Supports for LTC Staffing
LTC Orientation for Incoming Support
Resources Coming Soon
Share Your Education Needs
We know that LTC team members are working under increased pressure right now. We want to say thank you for all you are doing in the midst of this pandemic to make sure residents are well cared for!
Mental Health Supports From Homeweb.ca
Homewood Health is giving free access to their web resources to all Ontario LTC workers during COVID-19. These online resources include a self-directed cognitive behavioural therapy program for anxiety and depression, a health and wellness library, articles, 20+ e-courses and other resources to support the well-being of LTC team members.
Honouring Grief and Increasing Resiliency: Webinar Recording and Workbook
This resource will help leaders and team members learn how to strengthen self-awareness and self-kindness and how to build compassionate and resilient teams when working with individuals experiencing chronic illness, death and dying.
Mini webinars: Communication at End-of-Life
The Ontario CLRI at Bruyere in collaboration with Algonquin College is offering Ripples of Thoughtful Words, a series of six, 20-minute webinars to support and facilitate communication at end-of-life.
Wellness Together Canada
A government resource for everyone that needs support during COVID-19. The resource includes a mental health assessment and tracker. Mental health supports can be self-guided, community-based and one-to-one. All resources and supports are free to Canadians.
Virtual Peer Support for Social Workers/Social Service Workers
This community of practice is for social workers and social service workers in LTC. Join us and Family Councils Ontario to discuss psychosocial care of residents and impacts of COVID-19 on LTC social work practice. We will share relevant resources and discuss successes and current challenges.
Simple Activities for Stressful Times
Java Group Programs have created a short video and handout with tips on creating mindfulness in LTC team members and residents during COVID-19. ‘Creating Calm: Simple Activities for Stressful Times’, offers 5 practical activities to reduce worry and create calm for team members and for those that they are supporting.
Boredom Busters for LTC
In an effort to minimize boredom and loneliness for residents living in long-term care during this challenging time, the Ontario CLRI at Bruyère and iGen Ottawa have put together a list of online resources for recreation therapists and recreation professionals to use in programming for residents.
ECHO Care of the Elderly for LTC: COVID-19
Project ECHO Care of the Elderly is a telehealth, case-based learning program run by Baycrest and North East Specialized Geriatric Centre (NESGC) to enhance the quality of care to LTC residents by improving the knowledge and skills of their primary care providers. This session focuses on building resiliency in LTC team members during COVID-19.
These sessions are recorded and can be found here.
Virtual Visits Toolkit
The content was prepared by Family Councils Ontario, the Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils, and Tech Coaches Inc for LTC homes, residents and families to stay connected during social isolation. Includes examples of video calling initiatives that have launched with success since the COVID-19 pandemic started
Non-Pharmacological Approaches to Support Individuals Living with Dementia Maintain Isolation Precautions
This document provides suggestions for non-pharmacological strategies that care teams can use to support frail older adults living with dementia who are at risk due to wandering behaviour. Created by the BSO Provincial Coordinating Office.
eConsult COVID-19 Specialty Group
This initiative allows LTC homes to connect primary care providers with specialists using eConsult – a secure online platform that allows primary care providers to consult with experts from more than 100 specialties. In partnership with the Ontario eConsult Centre of Excellence and the Champlain BASE eConsult team.
More Coming Soon
RPNs
To help connect available RPNs with employers, WeRPN (formerly RPNAO) has launched a COVID-19 Staff Needed section where urgent jobs are posted. If you are an employer in need of RPNs, you are asked to fill out the form on the webpage which will allow WeRPN to list your organization as a job posting on the site.
Health Students
The Ontario Long Term Care Association launched a new job board, Link2LTC, powered by Tazwiz, to connect health students to paid openings for critical roles in LTC homes, such as resident support aides.
RNs/NPs
RNAO can now help homes find RNs and NPs. They have launched a web form for employers to fill out to get RNs/NPs to augment their nursing human resources. Please note that the RNAO is not the hiring organization.
PSWs
The Ontario Personal Support Workers Association (OPSWA) has created a provincial database of PSWs who have expressed an interest in returning to assist in both community and LTC settings. They also have PSW students available to work. If you are in need of PSWs, please email the OPSWA with high priority at info@opswa.com and include the subject line “EMERGENCY PSWS NEEDED.”
PSWs
The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario has a PSW Initiative web page that connects nursing students to LTC homes to work as PSWs. Students can search for facilities by city and by the name of the home and apply to the facilities via a web form. If your home would like to be on the list, fill out this PSW request web form.
Existing LTC/Health Care Professionals
The Government of Ontario is seeking those with experience in providing health care who are available to help provincial efforts to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, if required. They are looking for health care providers who may be working part-time and want to and are prepared to increase their work hours or former healthcare providers who are retired, or on inactive status with their regulatory college.
New to LTC Orientation
To help equip incoming students to work in support roles in LTC homes during COVID-19, the Ontario CLRI has created a free online training on the Ontario CLRI website. This webpage can supplement the training offered by LTC homes in order to orient new team members to LTC culture and give them basic skills for supporting residents and assisting PSWs, Nurses, etc.
This orientation is intended to support the orientation you will receive from an LTC home and contains both Ontario CLRI and external/partner resources. Additional resources will continue to be added. If you have any questions or suggestions for content, please email info@clri-ltc.ca.
Health Staff Redeployed to LTC
The rapid rise and severity of COVID-19 cases in LTC has led to the urgent redeployment of health professionals to LTC environments. The Ontario COVID-19 Education Task Force, in partnership with the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care and the Baycrest Centre for Education, developed an LTC section on covidcarelearning.ca, an online learning management system to support upskilling for health-care workers being redeployed for COVID-19 care.
Please share this resource with incoming team members who are new to the LTC environment. These materials facilitate redeployment to a team-based model of care quickly and safely and support team members to bridge their knowledge from current practice to the requirements to care for COVID-19 and other residents.
Team Essentials for Engaging Families in Care: Compassionate Communication
An eLearning module to build individual and team skills for care situations involving families in distress. Topics include self-care in distressing family situations, compassionate communication, and working with families in distress. Learners will work through two pandemic case examples.
Peer Support Guide
A facilitator guide for LTC homes to host their own peer support group sessions for their teams. The guide includes facilitation strategies, discussion questions, and tips for handling difficult moments.
Leadership Support Mini Webinar Series
These mini webinars will enhance leadership skills in promoting staff well-being including informational, supporting anticipatory and active loss and grief, engaging with families in distress, and applying transformational leadership skills during COVID-19.
Communication at End-of-Life Education
Communication at End-of-Life
tools to help LTC teams deliver palliative care, end-of-life care, and unexpected death during COVID-19. Example tools to be developed include scripts and protocols for supporting people on the phone who are unable to come in to visit.
More Coming Soon
Do you have ideas on how we can better support LTC homes through education during the COVID-19 pandemic?
The Ontario CLRI is funded by the Government of Ontario and hosted at Baycrest Health Sciences, Bruyère, and the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging. This work is supported in part with funding from the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Province.