Through its corporate news program, OMNI Health Care, a Peterborough, Ont.-based long-term care provider, has an avenue to share its successes and best practices with others in the sector, as well as with the greater community, says the company’s chief operating officer (COO) Candace Chartier.
One thing Chartier enjoys hearing about is when another long-term care provider reads an article posted on the OMNIway website or in the bi-monthly print piece about best practices or a program the company has developed and, as a result, incorporates the idea or passes the message on to others.
“We have had calls from people at other long-term care homes who have read a story in the OMNIway, and say, ‘Wow, I loved that,’” says Chartier.
“That makes me feel very proud and it makes me feel invigorated because people are watching and learning and getting some sort of good feedback and benefit from reading the OMNIway.”
Adding to this, Chartier says that through stories told on the OMNIway website and in the print piece, which is distributed to long-term care homes throughout Ontario, the organization is positioning itself to enhance the image of long-term care homes not only as a viable health-care solution, but also to illustrate to the public that long-term care homes are brimming with opportunities for people to live enriched lives.
The news program also discredits false stereotypes about the sector, says Chartier.
Recently, Chartier says she read a newspaper article where a baby boomer mentions that she would never want to live in a long-term care home. This is exactly the type of mindset that Chartier says needs to change.
By telling stories illustrating life in long-term care — often told by residents living in the company’s 17 homes — the company is positioning itself through its news program to enhance the positive image of long-term care, says Chartier.
“You have to start spreading the good news in order for it to make an impact. And if we keep celebrating life in long-term care and keep promoting that message, then I think it will go beyond our walls,” she says.
To visit OMNI’s website click here.
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