Mosaic’s submission to the Toronto Senior’s Strategy
Regarding – EX34.2, Toronto Seniors Strategy Version 2.0
Mosaic Homecare & Community Resource Centres would like to formally extend its support to the recommendations made in Toronto Seniors Strategy Version 2.0.
Mosaic is a private homecare company with a strong history of community outreach and has been providing community resources, space, fun and educational events throughout the Greater Toronto Area for the last eight years since its incorporation. It is committed to reducing social vulnerability through community interaction, education and outreach and has a strong history of non profit community engagement and focus.
For the last eight years Mosaic has been promoting the importance of collaboration between for profit, not for profit and public sector entities in addressing the need to make our cities age friendly, inclusive and accessible and fully supports the World Health Organisation’s plans and directives for healthy aging and age friendly communities.
Addressing social vulnerability, especially the social and emotional aspects impacting isolation and loneliness shapes both our service delivery and our non profit community interaction. As an entity operating in the private sector we are one of the very few firms operating in accordance with what we believe to be the evolution of the firm with primarily for profit objectives to one that incorporates a theory of the community at its operational core. We believe that successfully implanting an age and community friendly strategy across our cities will rely on much higher levels of private, not for profit and public sector engagement.
Mosaic has received global recognition for its person centered community integrated model of care in the community and has received Gold Medal Award recognition from the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare. It has been asked to speak at a number important conferences with respect to healthy aging in the community and will be speaking at the upcoming IFA Global Conference in Toronto In August, where Jane Teasdale our business development and community relations director will also be a session chair.
We are actively developing a model of care in the community that we feel provides a blueprint for much wider public sector engagement, especially in the realms of linking the socially vulnerable older adult to meaningful engagement with their communities. We see many gaps and opportunities to link people and their communities and would recommend that age friendly initiatives look at persons in general as beings of meaning and community. Age friendly communities are essentially person friendly communities and, as such, any community friendly initiative needs to develop a multifaceted concept of personhood that all ages and cultures and communities can recognise and closely associate with. We all differ in some respects, but what unites each and every one of us is our personhood, our drive for meaning and being and our engagement with others.
With respect to the Toronto Seniors Strategy Report 2.0 we make the following comments:
CALLING ALL KNITTERS! By our roving knitting reporter Dina Campeis
MOSAIC’S first SIT & KNIT
We are excited to be a host site for the World Wide Knit in Public (WWKIP) Day on June 9th!
Let it be said right from the start that I don’t knit. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I find it difficult to count stitches and relax at the same time and that stresses me out! I did knit a baby blanket for my best friend’s first child. Thankfully, babies don’t know when a square blanket isn’t really a square and when there are dropped stitches. That was 25 years ago.
More recently, I tried to knit a dish cloth. Much easier than a blanket as there were not so many stitches to count and again, the final shape doesn’t really matter. The unfinished dish cloth is in a bag in the back of my closet where it has sat for almost two years. I only have a few rows left. I’m hoping someone will show me how to cast off when we meet for – wait for it…
MOSAIC’S first SIT & KNIT
We are excited to be a host site for the World Wide Knit in Public (WWKIP) Day on June 9th!
This is a worldwide event that started in 2005 and has grown to cover all continents! Just looking at all the 2018 knit in public locations and names is interesting. Mosaic’s Sit & Knit name pales in comparison to Newfoundland’s Purl with Pints and South Africa’s Chicks with Sticks, but I’m sure ours will be a great party!
WWKIP Day started as a way to get knitters together to meet and socialize. Knitting, like other forms of needlework and art are often done on one’s own. There are many knitters who create and donate their projects to various agencies but never have the chance to meet each other.
What a great opportunity to start a new project! Or, better yet, pull out that bag with your half-finished project and bring that with you. If you need an idea, how about knitting a square for the kittens at the local Humane Society or try a Twiddlemuff to donate to those living with dementia. Neither of these projects require a lot of skill and the recipients would be most appreciative.
Perhaps I will try one of these. Because, really, do I need another dish cloth?
If you know an older adult who used to knit or crochet and has stopped because they have no one to knit for, this would be the perfect outing for a few hours. A chance to look at what others are doing, and maybe get an idea for a new project. While we won’t have any instructors, I am confident that there will be many who will offer to ‘teach’ those who need help. A chance to learn, teach, share, enjoy and laugh. Who wouldn’t want all of this in one event?
We are inviting people of all ages and abilities to join us for a fun filled event and a chance to get to know fellow needleworkers. This event supports our belief that being active in the community contributes to staying healthy.
The Shops on Steeles and 404 has generously offered space in the mall for this indoor event. Mosaic will be providing refreshments in our Community Resource Centre and will be on hand to offer help to those looking for community information.
RSVP now to help us meet our goal of 100 knitters!
Saturday, June 9th
10:30am – 1:00pm
Shops on Steeles and 404 (2900 Steeles Avenue East)
For more information:
www.mosaichomecare.com/events/mosaics-sit-knit/
www.wwkipday.com/mosaics-sit-knit
RSVP – 905.597.7000 or info@mosaichomecare.com
Toronto Knitters Guild – a resource for yarn stores, events and programs: http://torontoknittersguild.ca
Personal Support Worker Appreciation Day – May 18th & 19th 2018 at the Mandarin Yonge & Eglinton
“Personal Support Workers are the heavy lifters of the health care system and now have a day to recognize all their hard work!” P.S.N.O. (Personal Support Network of Ontario).
Mosaic Home Care recognized our front line staff on Friday evening May 18th and Saturday May 19th, 2018. Our caregivers were invited out to a special dinner or luncheon depending on their work schedules.
This was a chance to personally catch up with our family of caregivers, to let them know how much we appreciate all their hard work and to thank them for taking to heart our person centered approach to care in the community. This was also a chance for our office staff, marketing, operations and client services to connect socially and in person.
Here are a few pictures from our two parties at the Mandarin Restaurant, Yonge & Eglinton.
It was nice to find out what our caregivers like to do on their time off and had a change to talk outside of work, about hobbies, interests and family.
Many of our caregivers provided insight on how they provide our holistic approach to person centered care and our “The Meaning of Me®” program.
One of our caregivers mentioned that one of his clients used to be a photographer so our caregiver spends time taking pictures of nature, architecture and other objects and events. When he goes to the client he shows the pictures he has taken and they both discuss some of the finer aspects of photography.
Everyone had an amazing time filled with laughter, fun, conversation and of course lots of food!!!!!
Our caregivers are looking forward to our next event; perhaps a picnic for our staff and caregivers to include our clients and families if they wish to attend.
Stay tuned……….
If any caregivers are reading this, if you are able to, please come to our Mosaic Seniors’ Month Celebration on 8th June and our Sit and Knit event on 9th of June.
Nursing Week: “Hashtags” and Social Media; Voices to Lead “Health is a Human Right”; The Impact of Funding and Staffing constraints on holistic person centered care.
International Council of Nurses: “There is no other profession that attends to people’s needs in their most vulnerable periods of time as nursing does. The relationship between the client and the nurse provides a unique and intimate view of a person’s life. “
Mosaic’s Karyn Terrell (RPN), Client Services Nurse Consultant, at a North York General Hospital Event for Nursing week.
The National theme for this year’s Nursing Week is hashtag yes this is Nursing – #YesThisIsNursing. The objective of the theme was how to “leverage social media to raise awareness, promote advocacy and connect people across the globe on important issues.” Social media is of course important and nurses can indeed use social media to raise awareness of issues to the general public. We do not however believe social media or technology itself though is the most pressing issue facing nurses at the moment. Funding pressures within healthcare at a global level is we believe poignant and important and in this respect social media provides an important avenue for carefully weighted nursing communication.
The International Council of Nurses “HEALTH IS A HUMAN RIGHT ACCESS, INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH” provided important definition and context to the type of communication that could be delivered through the social media medium:
North York Seniors Centre – The Gem of North York
After a long delay creating Mosaic’s latest newsletter and participating in community events, Mosaic’s Kevin Lopes has finished this blog featuring our wonderful friends at North York Seniors Centre.
Mosaic’s Jane Teasdale has always referred to North York Seniors Centre as the gem of North York for the incredible contributions the Centre makes for the older adult community in the North York area.
This past January 15th 2018, Mosaic’s Kevin Lopes was taken on a guided tour of North York Seniors Centre with Arlene de Vera including meeting with staff members Kate Kukor, Rose Gyasi, and Liza Frances to learn more about the Centre, the programs and services that are available. Kevin was also able to sit down and interview volunteer Josephine Harauz about her experience volunteering at the centre.
It was an informative day that gave Kevin insight into the incredible work, programs and services that North York Seniors Centre offers to the community. With day programs, caregiver support groups, transportation services, and a community hub at the Active Living Centre, North York Seniors Centre provides a variety of incredible services to older adults in the community. For older adults looking to be active members of their community, North York Seniors Centre is a fantastic place!
On a snowy day in January, Kevin began his day learning about some of the services that North York Senior Centre offers to the community through speaking with Kate Kukor and Rose Gyasi which include:
Creative Collage: I (Dina Campeis) have always been “drawn” to mixed media art….
……..so when Mosaic Home Care booked Lesley White to facilitate a collage class, I thought, Wow, this is great. I get to play and work at the same time!
As Community Relations Manager, I can often join the various programs that we provide for free at our Community Resource Centres, and this was one such program.
The program was 1.5 hours in length, and Lesley gave instructions and provided all the necessary tools and magazines to get us started. And then the race against time began! I came across the words ‘Road Trip’ and so started my search for pictures that spoke to me about my upcoming trip to the east coast with 5 lifelong girlfriends. Yellow rubber boots got me started.
At first, the group was silent…………… So much concentration! But then a beautiful thing happened: the group started to chat and laugh and ask questions.
At the end, each collage was different, which I found fascinating:
They ranged from an entire collage of dogs by someone who wants a dog, but doesn’t have one, to all women (it was the day after International Women’s Day), to colourful pictures that went with the words ‘Feeling Jazzed’. One of my favourites was done by a cancer survivor who used pinking shears to cut stamp sized pictures and descriptive words of all the places she had visited all over the world. There was one gentleman in the group and he created a nature v’s building structures. They were all very inspiring!
This program, and others like it, link back to Mosaic offering programs that help reduce social isolation by creating opportunities to meet new people. While this program was meant to be fun and creative, the stories of ‘how’ and ‘why’ the pictures were chosen were really quite therapeutic. I obviously am looking forward to the ‘girls road trip’ and this was a fun way to get excited about it!
The “learnings” from this collage class are easily transferred to our caregivers who can use old magazines to create collages with our clients and have great conversations while doing so. How easy it would be to find pictures and words to cut out for dog lovers, gardeners, musicians, travellers, car enthusiasts. So many ways to create together – now THAT is Person-Centred Care!
For those of you who knit or crochet, or just like to work with textiles, stay tuned for a fun event we will be having!
For more information on organizations that offer creative programs, visit:
https://www.mosaichomecare.com/news-events/upcoming-events/
http://centraleglinton.com/index.php/50-programs
And for information about the collage class offered by Lesley White: lesleywhite@rogers.com
The week that was Social Work Week 2018: “Social Workers on The Front Line of Real Issues”
Mosaic Home Care, myself (Jane Teasdale), Dina Campeis, Kevin Lopes and our co-op student Laura Lee made our ways to three separate hospitals, Michael Garron, Mackenzie Health and North York General and hosted lunches for the social workers.
The North York General Hospital event was sponsored by Mosaic Homecare Services & Community Resource Centres, Elder Care Home Health and Revera.
The tag line for Social Work Week this year was “Social Workers on The Front Line of Real Issues”. Sometimes it is easy to see the health system as just the doctors and the nurses, but the gel that holds it all together is represented by the professional social work community. They are the front line as are indeed the people they serve.
We also know how tough a job social workers perform day in and day out, and how difficult it must be to work with the limited resources they are given when set against the significant issues of the social front line. As our society ages and the number of socially vulnerable adults with complex care needs grow this conflict between available resources and the needs of the front line is set to grow.
In fact, we see an ever growing need for increased social worker involvement, especially in the community, as the front line pushes out. As more and more care is pushed into the community we see the need for higher levels of focus not just on the delivery of care but on the non clinical psycho social engagement and infrastructure critical to social and emotional well being. We see a strong need for social workers to become actively involved in the growing macro..ness of our communities’ social ecologies, both structurally in terms of looking at how we can all work together as well as organically in terms of facilitating social interaction.
There is currently a growing interest in the on-going debate between the macro and the micro focus of social work and the following is some interesting literature on the subject:
Balancing Micro and Macro Practice: A Challenge for Social Work Jack Rothman and Terry Mizrahi
Re-Envisioning Macro Social Work Practice Bowen McBeath, Ph.D., MSW
Aromatherapy: A complementary treatment for Chronic Pain by Tara Johnston
Unfortunately, pain is something we have all faced or will face in our lifetime; anything from a tooth ache or cold to a severe injury or chronic conditions which may have limited treatments. But symptoms don’t necessarily present with just physical pain as I have discovered with my own health journey.
Anxiety, insomnia, stress, isolated, depression, digestive issues, fatigue as well as side effects from countless medications have all affected me in the last four years alongside chronic pain in my back, hips & legs. I have seen nearly every holistic & medical specialist available to me, changed my diet numerous times, meditated, exercised and tried a pile of medications & supplements purported to treat all of my symptoms. These things helped marginally in one way or another but they couldn’t address the big picture nor could I feasibly do some of these things every day for one reason or another.
Fast forward to about a year ago when I was introduced to aromatherapy. I was hooked in a serious way. After doing some initial research on my own, I went to a workshop and walked away with a small collection of oils which I could use for various things. Most importantly, I had something for everything and I felt empowered to go home and start diffusing right away!
Lavender was the first bottle I went through. I diffused it & topically applied it to help relax me. It helped to calm me before bed; relaxed my mind when I had anxiety along with my pain & eased my headaches. Gradually, coping with my pain was not so overwhelming if I was using Lavender essential oil along with my prescribed treatment.
I soon became so intrigued with the inherit benefits of using Lavender to relax me that I branched out to some more uplifting oils such as Lemon to brighten my mood, Digize blend for digestive discomfort; Peppermint for my joint & muscle pain; and diffused R.C. blend when I came down with a cold to help ease my symptoms.
I since have been educating others around me how to safely use oils, make all-natural cleaning & personal care products, and identify oils that fit in with their personal self-care journey.
So how can Essential Oils help you?
· Headaches
· Acne
· Cough or Cold
· Eczema & Dermatitis
· Rheumatoid Arthritis, Strains, or Sprains
· Digestive Discomfort
· Burns, Cuts, Bruises, & other minor skin irritations
· Stressed & uptight
Not all Essential Oils are created equally. To find out more about using oils, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be hosting a workshop at Mosaic Home Care Services Resource Centre located at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) on Friday, Feb. 23rd/18 @ 1:30pm. Located at 1929 Bayview Avenue, Suite 215H. For more information contact Mosaic at 416-322-7002 or visit our website at www.mosaichomecare.com
* The information provided is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please consult with the appropriate healthcare providers before making any health decision.
Rani Glick’s Bon Appetit!
10 Essential Tips to save you time and money for meal prep and meal planning!
Rani Glick is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, (CNP) and Registered Orthomolecular Health Practitioner (ROHP, RNCP).
Today, we live in a society of extreme planning. Everything is broken down into lists for self-help goals, career development, children and family events or managing our own health care. But one thing we don’t do is plan for the food we eat!
Meal planning can save you time, money and energy!
When I plan about what I’m going to make each week, I find it is more cost effective and I purchase less stuff. Besides, home cooking has much more nutritional value than restaurant or prepared meals. It’s also less stressful!
In a study by the Food Marketing Institute, the average household wastes 14% of the food they buy due to poor planning and wastage. If you spend $100 a week on groceries, 14% is the equivalent of three homemade gourmet meals.
The question is how do you figure out what meals to make each day?
Do you plan for each day or for the week?
You can begin planning your meals anytime throughout the year! Just because your kids are out of the house or that you live on your own, it doesn’t mean you can’t think about menu planning.
Here are 10 tips for setting up an easy menu plan for the week:
