Steadfast focus on residents, staff and families earns Best Managed recognition
Waterloo, Ontario, May 5, 2021 – peopleCare Communities has been named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for the eighth year in a row. Chairman and CEO Brent Gingerich says peopleCare is honoured and grateful to have earned this recognition in a particularly challenging year.
“Being named a Best Managed Company in the midst of a global health crisis reflects our organization’s steadfast focus this past year on keeping residents, staff and families safe, while supporting quality care and quality of life,” says Gingerich. “At the same time, we maintained operational excellence and an emphasis on innovation that informed COVID solutions for our Homes and the sector. We thank Deloitte and CIBC for this acknowledgement of our commitment to leading in alignment with our Values.”
Each year, Best Managed Company applicants participate in a comprehensive evaluation process to demonstrate their calibre as high-performing leaders in their sector. This year, organizations were also asked to articulate how their commitment to excellence allowed them to effectively respond, recover and thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic: “In moments of uncertainty and concern, it’s not only about what Best Managed companies do, but equally how they do it, that matters.”
peopleCare recognized early on, the threat posed by COVID to the more than 1,000 people in our care – many of whom are Ontario’s most frail and vulnerable – and took decisive action to protect residents, staff and families. Strengths include early, ongoing infection prevention and control (IPAC) interventions, quick action to secure and sustain the necessary personal protective equipment and staffing levels to provide safe care, and balancing precautions while supporting resident quality of life.
As a family-owned, values-based organization, peopleCare also prioritized keeping families informed and engaged. New and enhanced communications strategies included ongoing personal outreach to families, and virtual visits – practically unheard of pre-COVID. Across our Homes, our teams have supported more than 10,000 virtual visits between March and December 2020 alone, helping residents and families to stay connected and share both special occasions and life’s quiet everyday moments.
Forming and fostering partnerships made it possible for peopleCare to bring new resources into our Homes during pandemic to benefit residents. As an example, early adoption of resources developed by the Ontario Caregiver Organization is enabling peopleCare to support hundreds of family caregivers to spend time with their loved ones in our Homes each and every week, including during outbreaks. Studying the positive impact of family presence in long-term care is the aim of peopleCare’s latest research project, thanks to a funding grant from Healthcare Excellence Canada and in collaboration with the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation (CLRI) in LTC.
peopleCare’s President Megan Allen-Lamb says that being a Best Managed Company this year would not be possible without the unwavering commitment of our caring and dedicated frontline teams to uphold the trust and confidence of our residents and families at a time when it never mattered more.
“It has been a long, tough year for everyone, in our Homes, our communities, and with our own families and loved ones. And through it all our caring and dedicated teams have continued to step up with incredible heart and resilience,” says Allen-Lamb. “They’ve been the calm voice, the steady caring hands and the compassionate leaders we needed to support our residents, families and one another.”
peopleCare’s vision is to change the world of senior living and be a proving ground for promising practices. In the last twelve months, we actively engaged with our government and community partners to inform testing, staffing, IPAC, adoption of innovative technologies and more.
“This global health crisis has intensified systemic issues in our sector and beyond. A silver lining is a broader recognition of the need for change, and stronger commitment to collaborate,” says Gingerich. “peopleCare’s ongoing focus is to think differently and transform long-term care in ways that benefit seniors, our communities and the broader health system. And that’s also our challenge to our sector and partners. Let’s embrace this opportunity for positive change.”
About Canada’s Best Managed Companies
About peopleCare Communities
peopleCare Communities is a Canadian, family owned values-based leading operator of senior living communities with a 50-year history of service. We are committed to engagement and collaboration to create vibrant communities of care that deliver meaningful experiences, clinical best practices, engaging programs and integrated services that meet seniors’ changing needs. peopleCare’s innovation and leadership has earned Accreditation Canada Exemplary Status, Canada’s Best Managed Companies Platinum designation, and the single largest research grant from the Ontario Centres of Excellence, which funded our award-winning Clinical Pharmacy Model, a first-of-its-kind for long-term care in Canada.
Our vision is to Change the World of Senior Living.
For more information: Sheena Campbell, Vice President, Communications and Engagement, scampbell@peoplecare.ca
