Growing takes on many forms

Finally, the warm summer sun is out. snow is gone. Flowers are blooming and gardens are growing, including mine.

Really, this is no small feat.

In my family I’m notorious for having a brown thumb, so the other day when I saw tiny carrot tops starting to push through the soil and little basil and oregano sprouts coming up, I was incredibly proud of my accomplishments.

I also haven’t killed any of the other plants that now live with me. My clematis is climbing, the geraniums are blooming, my quince is quincing, and that iris I was sure I would do in, is just gorgeous.

Just like my nicely growing yard, it’s nice to see this magazine growing.

It has been a year since our name was changed from STRIDE Magazine to Senior Care Canada, and sometimes it’s hard to believe that four quarters have gone so quickly. The initial hustle and bustle of a redesign and relaunch has passed and we’re now into the cyclical rhythm that goes along with publishing.

We have featured care facilities from all regions of Canada, given you snapshots of elder care in this country, presented you with the newest research in geriatrics, and supplied you with a generous complement of talented columnists on various topics.

More and more of you are requesting copies of articles we’ve published to share with colleagues, co-workers and employees, and this is truly what the heart of Senior Care Canada is about, sharing information. Personal and corporate growth can only happen if we share what works and what doesn’t.

But enough about the past year, let’s focus on this quarter!

Quite unwittingly, the theme for this issue has become “Managing,” but not in the traditional sense. Managing behaviours, managing fi nances, managing the use of restraints (chemical and physical) and even managing ourselves can all be found within these pages.

On the cover this quarter we feature the 110 bed Cove Guest House, in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Their Special Care Team is an innovative model for managing the needs of seniors with challenging behaviours.

A special feature from the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) show cases their Safer Healthcare Now! initiative that aims to reduce the number of falls and fall injuries in long-term care settings by 40 per cent. This initiative, National Collaborative on Falls in Long-Term Care, involves teams of health professionals from across the country who are committed to improving safety and quality of life for long-term care residents.

This quarter’s peer review on restraint use in long-term care is the perfect compliment to the RNAO article and cover story. Authored by Peter Brink, a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, it examines determinants of physical restraint and chemical restraint and the roll of pacifi cation in long-term care homes.

Our columnists return this quarter with a broad range of topics.

Mike Stones writes on the incidence of transfer trauma among the elderly and the use of CHESS to evaluate the risk of mortality pending relocation. Dorothy Cotton successfully tackles a complicated topic, sexuality and seniors, a topic also covered at the recent OANHSS annual conference in Toronto.

Natalie Fyke discusses burn out in volunteers and staff, and Dan Levitt contributes part one of a two part series on funding, fi nances and fundraising, an issue we all face.

Like “managing,” growing takes on many forms. My garden and the magazine have both grown, but it doesn’t need to be that painful or intensive of a process. You can grow just by reading through the pages of this magazine!

Thanks for growing with us!