Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

By Jill Sperling

HEALTH CARE FOR SENIORS

TRU researcher examines outcomes of Interior Health’s repositioning of healthcare services for seniors

Jul 14, 2020 | 4:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — Three research teams from universities in the B.C. Interior have each received a $40,000 research grant from the Interior University Research Coalition.

The projects look at the challenges faced by people living in rural B.C. and how life could be improved.

One of these projects is being led by Dr. Wendy Hulko, an associate professor at TRU. The project examines Interior Health’s restructuring of healthcare services for seniors.

“The idea was to provide supports in the community so that older adults would not have to move to a care facility as soon and it would reduce visits to the hospital,” Hulko explained.

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The first phase of the research project began in 2014 and looked into how much seniors knew about the repositioning of services and what they hoped to see come from it.

“Now, we’re at the phase with this new project that’s just been funded where we are going to be looking at the outcomes of it and the outcomes of that repositioning work were the creation of two seniors health and wellness centres, one in Kamloops and one in Kelowna,” Hulko said.

Hulko hopes to find out if the priorities of the seniors who were surveyed were met.

“We know what the older adults in the first phase told us that they wanted to see; better home care, more doctors, more knowledgeable doctors and proper doctors, the latter two there were coming from the Indigenous elders and the South Asian elders pointing to the need that doctors be knowledgeable about cultures and traditions, including plants and medicines, for example.”

The researchers will be looking to speak to around 60 older adults between Kamloops and Kelowna who have accessed one of the seniors health and wellness centres in the past six months.

Hulko says the ultimate goal is to ensure the views of seniors inform the restructuring process.