The Act and Beyond: Aligning legislation and values to succeed
Par Family Councils Ontario
The Long-Term Care Homes Act is an excellent tool for supporting family engagement in Long-Term Care. It was the first piece of legislation that recognized the benefits of Family Councils in LTC, gave legal powers to Family Councils, and provided explicit detail on in which aspects of the Home the licensee must involve the Family Council. These are all essential pieces of information a Council should know in order to realize its fullest potential in a Home. However, it’s impossible to legislate exactly how a Council should function. The law can’t tell you to treat everyone with kindness and compassion (though it’s important to note that other pieces of legislation regarding harassment or abuse still apply) or that open communication with Home staff, residents and families will help create authentic partnerships that support an effective Council. So, if you can’t legislate kindness, partnership or open communication, what do you do?
Effective Family Councils look at the Long-Term Care Homes Act as an important tool in determining their role in the Home and what they have the power to do. In terms of carrying out these powers and operations, effective Councils will look to their mission/purpose statement, values statements, and Code of Conduct to determine how they want to operate in the Home. These operational documents will tell you how to carry out your work, in ways that the legislation cannot. Your mission/purpose statement may tell you that your mission is to “improve the quality of life and quality of care for all residents by promoting an atmosphere of sensitivity, caring and support among staff, friends and family members of the residents.” This means that you operationalize the powers given to your Council by the Act in a way that cares for and supports everyone in the Home. So, if your Council carries out its power to “sponsor and plan activities for residents,” keeping true to your mission would mean that you talk to the residents and Home staff about what types of activities would be well received, plan the event in a way that is respectful of the Home staff (e.g. holding the event at a time that works for the Home and there is not too much else going on, requesting and not demanding the use of the common space, discussing openly together how best to provide refreshments), and work in partnership to carry out the activity. The legislation tells you what you can do; your mission statement provides you with guidance on how to carry out your work.
Your values statements and Code of Conduct will be immensely useful in determining how your Council members operate in the Home. These documents include agreed-upon statements about behaviours and ways of operating that tell members how to act in the Home. If your documents include language around respect, confidentiality, and following the chain of command when addressing issues, then carrying out your power to “advise the licensee of any concerns or recommendations the Council has about the operation of the home” should be done in line with these principles. This would mean that when a concern is brought to your Council’s attention, it is treated with confidentiality until Council decided to take it on as an official Council concern, you speak with respect to Home staff when discussing the issue, and that you follow the Home’s complaint process. Operationalizing your powers in the context of your values will help you to realize your Council’s potential and effect real change in your Home.
Our values matter. They help us to navigate how we want to operate in the world and decide on what we want to focus our time and attention. For a Family Council with legislated powers and involvement in a Home, values guide how you want to carry out your work. They provide you with guidance on how to treat others on your Council and within your Home. Legislation can’t tell you to be kind, to show compassion, or to refrain from gossiping. Your values can and should. Walking your talk when it comes to your values will go a long way towards successfully carrying out your powers. An effective Council will align law and values to succeed.