From The Desk of The Executive Director

by Donna MacDonald

Executive Director's Annual Report

Community Care Haliburton County is now in its' 28th year of being a health service provider.

I have been your Executive Director 24 years as of Feb. 2008. In this position I am responsible for the day to day management of the agency in accordance with the Board policy and stated mission of the organization, ensuring the provision of services to clients is in accordance with the agency's stated purpose and in such a manner that optimum results are achieved in relation to the human, physical and financial resources of the agency; provides strategic leadership for the agency; managing all staff within a unionized environment.

April 1, 2007 was a milestone for our sector as effective on that date the Central East Local Health Integration Network (CE LHIN) assumed responsibility for planning, funding, and integrating health services for: public and private hospitals, long-term care homes, community care access centres, community health centres, mental health and addictions and community support services.

I am a member of the Collaborative for Central East Local Health Integrated Network (CE LHIN) Zone #1 (Haliburton Highlands). Each Collaborative (there are 9 in total in the CE LHIN) will "advise the Central East LHIN on the health care needs of their communities, local priority setting, planning and evaluation - including the identification of opportunities for the integration/coordination of health care services". Our Collaborative continues to work on our Integrated Health Service Plan. Meetings are held approximately every two months.

This year in Central East seventeen project charters were approved. The funding for these is through the Aging at Home Strategy and the LHIN priority funds. CCHC is a partner and we have representatives on two projects: Home at Last (I represent CCHC) and Rural Transportation (Judy Cumming and I represent CCHC). The Rural transportation project was the top priority for our Zone.

This year I represented Community Care on in and out of county committees including: Haliburton County Service Providers, Vice President and Personnel Committee Co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Alzheimer's Society of Peterborough and area including Haliburton, Palliative and Bereavement Coalition, Placement Services Advisory Committee and the Barrier Aware Accessibility Project committee.

During this fiscal year our staff coordinated and our 130 registered volunteers provided 29,243 units of service which was 8,398 units beyond our budgeted projections - a 40% increase! Our functional centres (services) were provided to 1,178 service recipients (clients) a 7% increase from last fiscal year in a total of 22,020 hours an increase of 16% from last fiscal year. This growth was mainly in the following functional centres (services): meals on wheels, transportation and emergency response system.

The increases impacted on all aspects of our agency including management, planning, coordination, front line provision, finances, policies - and the list goes on. Due to the increase we applied for additional funding through the CE LHIN Health System Improvement Pre-proposal funding. We are pleased that we have been (verbally) informed that we will be receiving additional funding in the 2008/09 fiscal year including one time and an annual base funding increase for these functional centres.

We applied to and were successful in receiving funding from New Horizon's for Seniors two intergenerational projects: "Telling our Stories" and "When we Were Young". Two beautiful books were produced as a result of these projects.

We are now in the final year of our Board approved 3-year Strategic Plan. Quarterly reports are provided to the Board. We are seeking funding to do our next strategic plan.

We regularly upgrade our policies and procedures to comply with legal requirements and to the needs of the agency and to the services we provide and how we provide them.

Our Board members are actively involve in various aspects of the agency. In addition to being on agency committees, some are service providers and others represent CCHC on other committees. Bob Penfold is our representative on the Haliburton Kawartha Lakes Elder Prevention Abuse committee and the Chair of the two New Horizon's for Seniors Advisory Committees. Bev Upton is a representative on the CE LHIN Seamless Care for Seniors network.

Our staff attended job related educational training sessions and meetings in county and out of county. Several staff represent CCHC on CE LHIN and related committees. I hope that you take time to read their reports. They provide details about the position in the agency and their involvement with our partners.

This year we discussed the having a pension plan for staff via CUPE. This was finalized and became effective April 1, 2008.

Through funding from the Human Resources Development Skills Development Canada program we hired Sarah McMaster for fourteen weeks. Jordana Graham, a co-op student from the Haliburton High Secondary school was with us for two days a week from February, 2007 until June 2007.

This year has been a very busy and, at times, a challenging one.

First of all, my sincere "Thank you" to my wonderful staff. We experienced a growth year for our services this year and you have worked very hard to ensure that our clients were taken care of. This included coordinating and providing our nine functional centres, ensuring that we have money to pay our bills, ensuring that our bills were paid, ensuring our volunteers were trained, welcoming everyone whether over the phone or in person. Our full time staff in seniority order are: Sherry Mulholland, Financial Administrator, Ida Schultz, Meals on Wheels Coordinator, Roxanne Casey, Resource Development Coordinator, Judy Cumming, Support Services Coordinator, Brigitte Gebauer, Volunteer Coordinator and Brenda Bain, Administrative Assistant, Shelley King, New Horizon's Coordinator (on contract).

To our dedicated office volunteers, Annette Richardson, Jeanne Anthon, Bob Penfold, Ray Brassard, Shirley Tarleton, Lynda Hahn, Barb Bohlin, Nancy Davies, and Joanne Penfold who so willingly stepped in and took care of the front office from Jan. to mid- April, 2008, my deepest thanks.

As we must raise a substantial amount to balance our base budget, let alone any other needs that come our way, we thank the Municipalities, the residents and families of our permanent and seasonal residents this year for your financial support. We encourage you to continue to provide your much-needed support in order that we may continue to provide our many services to you, your family and friends and neighbours now and in the future.

We are thankful for the guidance and support of Foster Loucks, Chair of the Central East Local Health Integration Network, his Board of Directors, and his staff especially Kate Reed - who is leading the Seamless Care for Seniors and Aging at Home Strategy - as we continue our journey in this new health system.

My sincere "Thank you" to Annette Richardson, our President, and our Board of Directors, our Committee Members, our Volunteers for your devotion and dedication to our clients as you give so generously and willingly give of your time, energy, expertise in your role of being a caring volunteer.