Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
All 424 special care homes in New Brunswick will get access to extramural nursing care under an expansion of the provincial program’s territory.
Extramural’s service to special-care homes began as a pilot program five years ago and it has expanded in recent years. Now, residents of all special-care homes will have access, the government has announced.
“It really is a milestone,” Jan Seely, CEO of the New Brunswick Special Care Home Association, said.
Speaking at a recent news conference at a special-care home in Salisbury, Seely said the change represents “situations being managed safely in the home that once would have meant a trip to the emergency room.”
“Health care is no longer something that only shows up when something goes wrong.”
Premier Susan Holt said the move would take pressure off hospitals and the province’s ambulance service.
“If this is really a great shift from thinking of primary care as something that happens in a doctor’s office or an acute care facility to thinking about it as something that is integrated,” Holt said.
Jan Seely, CEO of the New Brunswick Special Care Home Association, left, and Ginette Pellerin, vice-president of the extramural service, right, said extramural has already made a difference for residents. (Victoria Walton/CBC)
Holt said the full coverage of all special-care homes meant 7,000 seniors and people with disabilities in special-care homes would be covered by the care.
When asked how many care homes were covered before the announcement last week, she could not give an exact number but said a pilot program of this service began about five years ago.
Holt also could not say how much the expanded program would cost.
A spokesperson for the Social Development Department later followed up by email and said the funding would be $3.8 million. This is included in the budget for the overall extramural program, which falls under the Department of Health.
Spokesperson Ariel Mackenzie wrote that the program was “rolled out gradually over the last three years.” Before the program began, the services were available “on a referral basis, based on individual need, similar to how [the extramural program] delivers services in the community.”
Health Minister John Dornan said the program expansion would not take away health-care staff from other areas, and said the program “functions on its own merits.”
“So they’re not robbing from anybody, just growing what’s already been existing and growing,” Dornan said.
Ginette Pellerin, vice-president of New Brunswick Extra-Mural Program, said some care units are strategically placed, while other teams are specifically assigned to certain special care homes.
She added that having the program ramp up in recent years has helped gauge how many nursing staff are needed.
Registered nurses and licensed practical nurses in the program can support up to 300 patients each in special care homes.
“But now that we’ve assessed every patient, we’re really able to understand how many actually need the more intensive care and those that can just be seen or assessed once in a while.”
A news release from the province said the program can provide services such as clinical oversight, medication support, chronic disease management and wound care, among others.