The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) began airing radio ads in 11 Ontario cities this week to ensure Ontarians take full advantage of the healthcare professionals in their area and build awareness of what its various members do.
There are two rotating radio ads made by partner agency Now Communications. They will air for two weeks on stations in Belleville, Trenton, Brockville, Windsor, Owen Sound, and other mid- to large-sized cities. One ad features the story of a child living with a chronic illness who needs home care so she can be with her family. The second looks at an elderly woman’s relief at being able to have physiotherapy and personal care at home after hip surgery.
The campaign’s goal is to raise awareness about the role of registered nurses and other health professionals working as Community Care Access Centre care coordinators.
Care coordinators help patients receive care at home – like physiotherapy or follow-ups for wounds or illness – as part of a system designed to reduce the cost burden on hospitals.
“If people are going home, we need to be sure they have the right resources and that they have high-quality care, or else they end up right back in the hospital,” said Vicki McKenna, vice-president of the ONA.
Over the past few years, the ONA has heard from members of the public who say they don’t know what a care coordinator does.
The association is also waging a political battle against politicians who see CCACs as providing insufficient benefits to the health care system. A 2012 Ontario PC Caucus white paper reported that CCACs “are administrative bodies that don’t produce value for money in a health care system that struggles to afford real patient’s needs. They’ve got to go.”
“They don’t understand the role of CCACs,” said McKenna. The ONA argues that front-line care coordinators are already handling a multitude of patients per year. All care coordinators are professional health-care workers (mainly registered nurses) and work at walk-in offices and at hospitals where they can arrange post-discharge care.
“It’s all about awareness of the role of CCACs because there are people who believe they are unnecessary,” said McKenna.
The ONA and Now will soon add outreach activities (such as op-eds and letters to the editor) to the campaign. They also plan to launch radio ads in northern Ontario communities.
