Together We Can Do Great Things!
by Family Councils Ontario
On Monday evening, FCO staff were joined by Family Council members and other LTC stakeholders for an evening of celebration and joy. We drank delicious mulled apple cider, ate a variety of finger foods, and enjoyed our time spent together in celebration of the season. The highlight of our Winter Celebration was the screening of our new Family Council Introductory Video, Together We Can Do Great Things. The video was many months in the making and we were so pleased to share it for the first time with all those who attended our event.
Together We Can Do Great Things is designed to inspire and educate viewers on the role, goals, benefits, and impacts of Family Councils. The video features the Houses of Providence Family Council and Administrator, who discuss their activities, projects, and success stories. The video is a great tool to use in inspiring families to start a Council or educate current Councils on what they can do to improve the quality of life of residents living in their Home. The video also features information on the Long-Term Care Homes Act and leading practices for working in collaboration with Home staff to effect real change. The video is both educational and emotionally compelling. It’s one thing to read about the work of a Family Council; it’s another to hear and see about it straight from the Council members.
The Winter Celebration was also an opportunity to hear from those who were involved in the project. Before the screening, we heard from Teresa Comiskey, Houses of Providence Family Council Chair, who was featured in the video, about her experience participating in the project. Teresa spoke about the benefits of being involved in the project and how the process allowed the Council members to reflect on their successes. The filmmaker, Peter Reynolds of For the Record Productions, also spoke about his experience of working on the project and how, having little prior knowledge of what a Family Council does and its impacts, he enjoyed working with the Council members and learning more about Long-Term Care. He reflected on how the project came at an opportune moment; with aging parents, being more involved in a Long-Term Care Home is a future possibility and the more we know about how the system works, the better. It was a pleasure working with Teresa and her Council and Peter on this project. We couldn’t have done it without them!
Together We Can Do Great Things will be available on our YouTube channel in January 2017. The film is also available with French subtitles. DVD copies will be available to purchase via our website. We hope you enjoy the film as much as we did at our Winter Celebration. Stay tuned for details on the release of Together We Can Do Great Things!