St. George Care Community in downtown Toronto provides unique and specialized care to a varied population of residents. “The moment residents move in, we welcome them whole heartedly… we treat them as family. As a family, we communicate, collaborate, and support one another to help each resident and team member live fully, every day,” says Georgina Njoku, Director of Care. The community was recently recognized by the OLTCA with the Quality Improvement Team of the Year Award. Executive Director John Seebach shared, “We are honored to be recognized for what we’ve accomplished on our journey to enhance quality care. The work we did to win this award has helped St. George to achieve better outcomes for residents.”

In 2016, St. George’s fall rates were above the provincial average. In 2017, with the goal of reducing falls the team implemented a falls prevention plan, with four main strategies.

St. George’s current quality indicators are better than the provincial average. The care team is empowered and encouraged to take accountability for falls prevention, knowing that everyone plays an important role in resident safety. “We have had other team members visit St. George to spend a day learning about our falls prevention program,” says Georgina. Georgina has also been sharing St. George’s strategies with other care communities at Sienna in falls prevention workshops and through monthly collaborative calls.

“We learned that for falls prevention strategies to be effective, we must involve all team members, from leadership to the entire care team. The goal is to have everyone involved in the planning, implementation and evaluation of our program. Regular communication helps our program remain successful, and residents safe,” says Georgina.