After more than 25 years of nursing in many areas of public and private health care, I focused my career on home and community health care. I realized there is a need for innovative health care services that are accessible, convenient and sustainable. As Community Health Advisor for Bayshore Home Health (www.bayshore.ca), my goal is to educate and support family caregivers in caring for their loved ones, and serve as a trusted health advisor.
I joined Bayshore Home Health with the professional and personal goal of making a difference in the future health of aging Canadians. This ties in to Bayshore’s vision of enhancing the quality of life, independence and dignity of Canadians in their homes.
I was fortunate to support the launch of a groundbreaking initiative – the myNurse health management program from Bayshore. It offers regular home visits from a registered nurse to seniors who require special attention for their health or have difficulty visiting their doctor. The visits include health monitoring, planning and education. They empower seniors to take a proactive approach to their health and maintain independent living through early identification of health problems and effective management of health concerns. It’s an innovative program that helps people connect the health care dots.
I truly believe it’s these types of initiatives that will help carve a new Canadian health care system that will meet the needs of the future. After working in all three sectors of our health care system – acute care, primary care and community care – I feel I can bring value to family caregivers and people looking for answers about health and care needs.
I invite you to follow my Caring@Home blog and share your experiences, ideas and concerns. It’s the effort and input from people like you that will bring positive change to our health care system. Also, please feel free to join me on my social sites: www.twitter.com/JackieHickeyRN and www.facebook.com/nursejackiehickey. I look forward to supporting you!
