Person-Centred Care Advisor

The Role

Has primary responsibility for implementing strategies to improve the experience of persons served across the continuum of care within Seniors’ Services by engaging staff and the community served in effecting person-centred and emotion-focused care transformation driven by the Division’s mission, vision, and values.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Develops and leads the organizational strategy to transform the culture of care to embrace personhood, choice, joy, and social/emotional engagement.
• Sustains culture change achieved and maintained through Butterfly Certification with Meaningful Care Matters, and builds on the culture change model throughout the home and divisional programs.
• As the divisional expert on person-centred and emotion-focused care, provides advice, guidance, and recommendations to management and staff on leading practices.  
• Coaches and mentors staff teams to deliver person-centred services that are individualized, engaging, and embrace choice, belonging, personhood, and friendship.
• Collaborates with leadership to model, encourage, and integrate the principles of person-directed care in service delivery.
• Develops opportunities to engage staff, stakeholders, and persons served in process improvement activities, to generate innovative solutions to improve experience and pilot new initiatives.
• Collaborates and supports staff, volunteers, and students in training that supports person-centred and emotion-focused care. Ensures staff, volunteer, and student onboarding and orientation align and support organizational values and the principles of person-centred care.
• Develops and establishes a policy and decision-making framework to maximize the capacity and ability to understand and support resident choice.
• Develops, recommends, and implements standards, policies, and procedures, and provides leadership in program/service evaluation. 
• Monitors Home and Program areas to ensure the environment reflects the vision and supports resident engagement. Consults on physical layout and design to support person-centred and emotion-focused care and services. Collaborates with care teams, Facilities, management team, health and safety, fire department, and funding bodies to make environmental improvements when needed.
• Collects, identifies, stores, disseminates, and maintains data on resident/family/staff satisfaction survey results and quality indicator data. Plays a key role in determining what information is collected and identifying gaps. Ensures others follow confidentiality and safeguarding requirements as it relates to residents’ personal health information.
• Produces customized reports for senior management and funders; conducts customized information/data searches for others. 
• Operates within budget and track costs. Creates and submits fundraising proposals to the Foundation and other funding bodies. Has signing authority to delegated limit and holds a p-card.
• Develops opportunities to recognize and reward program areas and individual staff members who bring about positive change.
• Leads and oversees the Ethics Review Program. 
• Participates on internal committees and community committees/task forces to facilitate best practices, support community integration and planning, and optimize person-centred and emotion-focused care delivery.
• Performs related duties as required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of the needs of persons living in long-term care, dementia care, supportive housing and seniors’ community programs normally acquired through a Bachelor’s degree in geriatrics, health administration, recreation, nursing, social services, social work, or equivalent field, plus related experience.
• Knowledge of person-centred and emotion-focused culture change initiatives such as Butterfly and other care models which promote principles that can be applied across Sunnyside Home and Community Programs.
• Knowledge of the principles of adult learning. 
• Experience in project management.
• Knowledge and commitment to equal access, equity, and diversity.
• Knowledge of and ability to comply with policies, procedures, and related legislation (e.g., long term care homes, health and safety).
• Ability to work independently and plan work to meet deadlines and changing priorities.
• Communications and presentation skills to exchange information with others, including staff, residents, families, and other stakeholders; and conduct presentations to promote events/activities (including with the media). 
• Leadership, human relations, and facilitation skills to manage, develop, train, motivate, and support staff; establish and maintain effective working relationships with all levels of staff, volunteers, students, stakeholders, and the public; promote the program and division; provide program advocacy; respond to questions and complaints; and participate as an effective team member.
• Computer skills with ability to use software such as Microsoft Office (including Excel), survey software, and website content management. Strong written and multi-media (e.g., video, web based) communication skills.
• Ability to travel within Waterloo Region.
• Ability to support and demonstrate the values of Seniors’ Services and the Region. 
• Must have a tuberculosis test and all required immunizations.
• Must provide an acceptable vulnerable sector police records check. 
• Ability to participate in an official standby/on-call rotation to respond to legislated or time sensitive demands beyond regularly scheduled work hours.
• Ability to work flexible hours to accommodate training for different shifts. Ability to work variable shifts, including evenings, holidays and weekends, as required.