Karen Baillie Elected Vice-President for BCCPA

The BCCPA is pleased to announce that Karen Baillie, Menno Place CEO, has been elected as our new Vice-President. Baillie is now slated to become the next President of the BCCPA. The next AGM will be held in conjunction with our Annual Conference being held in Whistler on May 29-31.

“It’s great to have someone with Karen’s experience and background take over as our new vice-president,” says Elaine Price, President of the BCCPA. “Under her leadership our organization is poised to build even further on the incredible momentum we have generated over the last few years.”

Baillie is the Chief Executive Officer of Menno Place, a campus of care operated by the Mennonite Benevolent Society in Abbotsford, British Columbia since 1953. Menno Place serves more than 700 seniors with a staff of 600. Karen has more than 35 years experience in geriatric care including executive and senior management positions in administration, staffing, resident services and nursing.

Prior to joining Menno Place, Karen served as the Executive Director of Laurel Place in Surrey and at Vancouver’s first campus of care, Haro Park Centre. She also participated in opening St. Vincent’s Langara in 1991 for Providence Health Care. Karen began her leadership in the residential care sector in a 30 year-old family-owned business which operated three small care homes.

“This is an incredible honour for me to be in a position to lead an organization I feel so passionately about,” says Baillie. “The BCCPA has a proven track record of being an extremely positive influence and catalyst in helping to shape the future direction of BC’s continuing care sector.”

Baillie has worked extensively with non-profit Boards and with private ownership facilities. Her association with the BC Care Providers began in 1980 when it was organized as Pri-Care. She is currently the vice-president for the Board of SafeCare BC. She is also the recipient of the 2015 Chapter Award for Distinguished Service for the Canadian College of Health Leaders, BC Lower Mainland Chapter. In 2011, Karen was awarded the prestigious Surrey Women in Business Award in the Professional Category.

As Vice-President, Baillie automatically assumes the role as Chair of the Governance Committee. The Committee is tasked with the responsibility of recruiting new board directors for the BCCPA.

“We are always on the lookout for members who are interested and willing to contribute back to the sector by volunteering on our board,” says Baillie. “Anyone interested in joining the BCCPA Board next year should reach out to us as soon as possible.”

Menno Place Welcomes SimpeQ Nurses

The difficult decision to contract out RN and LPN positions at Menno Hospital was made in the face of a $1.62 million deficit. The Mennonite Benevolent Society Board made the decision, giving notice of layoff to the 11 full-time and 18 part-time nurses at Menno Hospital.

The positions were contracted out to SimpeQ Care, Senior Services (www.simpeq.ca) and the transition to the new nursing team has gone smoothly. SimpeQ is an award-winning provider of value-added staffing within the senior health care industry and shares many of Menno Place’s values with their own acronym: SIMPEQ: Service – Individual – Meaningful – Positive & Proactive – Energetic – Quality.

We were delighted that many of our nursing staff have applied to work with SimpeQ moving forward. This has created a smooth transition with familiar faces for our residents. The nursing staff have regular shifts (lines of work) ensuring consistency in care for the residents.

Health Care Aides, who provide the care at the bedside and assistance with daily living have not had any change in their work schedule. Their consistency at the bedside has been an additional source of familiarity and comfort for the residents and their families.

Thank you to our residents and families for the support we’ve received throughout this transition.

 

Standing on Your Promises

What is a promise? The dictionary says that it is an assurance or declaration that one will do a particular thing…

Let’s Talk about Death and Dying

I have the very special opportunity to join a group of hosts on a new weekly public radio show that is solely centred around death, dying and loss.

Menno Place ensures sustainability for seniors cared for at Menno Hospital

On August 6th, BCNU (British Columbia Nurses Union) was given notice of Menno Place’s intent to contract out nursing services at Menno Hospital.

Menno Hospital is one of two residential care facilities operated by the Mennonite Benevolent Society. There are 151 residents who live at Menno Hospital.

On September 29, 2015, 11 full-time and 18 part-time nursing positions were given notice of layoff along with the casual nurses. This working notice will provide up to six months transition time.

This difficult decision to layoff nursing positions was made by the Board of the Mennonite Benevolent Society to address a mounting $1.62 million deficit at Menno Hospital. This measure will rectify the annual budget deficit at Menno Hospital within three years. The alternative to this layoff was to close the beds, relocate 151 residents and layoff all the Menno Hospital staff.

Quality resident care is our primary focus at Menno Place. This continues to be our primary focus during this time of transition. The Health Care Aides working at Menno Hospital will continue to provide continuity of care and compassionate relationships as daily caregivers at the bedside.

As a Christian organization, one of our values is Stewardship of our resources for the benefit of our residents and the long-term sustainability of our operations. Click to read the Menno Place values.

“Our board tried and tried to do everything it could so it didn’t affect nursing. It was a very difficult decision for my board, (who) really care about our staff. It’s really tough to make these decisions that impact people’s lives.” – Karen Baillie, CEO

Please note:

  • This layoff notice does not impact Menno Home or The Apartments.
  • This layoff notice does not include any of the Health Care Aides working at Menno Hospital, Menno Home or The Apartments.
  • Menno Hospital has not been closed as was reported on the news. Quality resident care will continue during this time of transition.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your support and engagement

Many of the residents, family members and friends of our residents have taken the initiative to offer support and engagement during this time of transition. Many people have come to speak directly with Karen Baillie, CEO to clarify their understanding of the reason Menno Place made the difficult decision to lay off 29 nursing positions at Menno Hospital.

Thank you for your support as well as your initiative to clarify what is happening at Menno Hospital during this transition time with the Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses.

Please be assured that quality compassionate care is our primary focus during this time of transition. The compassionate care that is given to residents in their daily activities of living, such as: getting up in the morning, getting dressed, bathing, having meals, participating in recreation, going to chapel, music therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, will continue to be provided by staff that will not be transitioning from their positions.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact Karen Baillie, CEO at 604.859.7631 x.222

 

Senior’s Advocate, Isobel Mackenzie visits Menno Place

Today, we hosted Isobel Mackenzie for a tour and lunch at the Fireside Cafe. Isobel Mackenzie is Canada’s first seniors advocate, entirely independent from the provincial government.

As the voice of seniors in BC, Ms. Mackenzie has a broad mandate to monitor and review system-wide issues affecting the well-being of seniors and raise awareness about resources available to them. She will also make recommendations to government about how to best deliver seniors’ services.

To date, she has published four reports on issues that are critical to seniors – from caregivers in distress to affordable seniors housing to placement, drugs and therapy.
Access these reports and senior’s resouces here: http://www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/

Karen Baillie receives Canadian College of Health Leaders Chapter Award for Distinguished Service

KarenBaillieKaren Baillie, Menno Place CEO was the recipient of the BC Lower Mainland Chapter Award for Distinguished Service awarded by The Canadian College of Health Leader. This award provides an opportunity for the BC Lower Mainland chapter to recognize an individual who has made a significant contribution to the chapter.

Karen Baillie provided significant leadership of the BC Lower Mainland Chapter as a past chair of the chapter.

Karen holds her Canadian Health Executive designation (CHE). In October 2014, the Mennonite Benevolent Society (Menno Place) and the Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) signed the first agreement in British Columbia health care that commits to setting the Certified Health Executive (CHE) as a standard for leaders to develop skills and competencies of health leaders in Canada. This will help raise the level of leadership and management in the care of seniors in the province of British Columbia.

Congratulations, Karen, for providing significant healthcare leadership in our region, province and country!

 

Life’s Certainties

Benjamin Franklin is the one who said, “In this world, nothing can be certain except death and taxes.” This has not changed since he penned those words more than 200 years ago.

We’re Green and Getting Greener!

Menno Place Teams have taken on a significant initiative – The Paperless Project. This initiative seeks to reduce paper usage across the campus. Team members have been diligently choosing whether or not there is benefit in pressing the “print” button. What a success this project has been!

Since 2013, we have reduced our paper usage across the campus by 59%! Congratulations to the Team Members on this successful initiative!