HS: Well, we’re always heading towards a greater synergy and partnership between the NSRAA and provincial orga- nizations, chambers of commerce, and local business com- munities. For me, everything really begins with residential services. It’s these services which really provide the founda- tion to security and the safety of a home that is an impera- tive part for anyone’s life progression. The confidence, the sense of achievement that comes from a permanent sense of place isn’t like anything else. Daily activities, like employ- ment, depend on this level of support, this level of security. And considering that we employ a holistic approach, a com- munity living model, really, that also emphasises recreation and leisure, we do reach out to individuals, businesses, and programs all the time. But we’re seeing, more and more, that they’re reaching out to us, which is great. Is there an urban and rural divide in terms of the quality of the delivery of your overall services across Nova Scotia? KW: I think access to services is the biggest issue. There is certainly more access to medical and specialist services of any sort in a city like Halifax. Even getting a doctor can be difficult in a place like Yarmouth where you may be on the waiting list to get a general practitioner for longer than you’d like to think. That’s not to say that people in Halifax don’t have a difficult time finding a GP, but even if you can’t get to your own doctor there are plenty of clinics there. You can’t do this; we can’t serve our clients in a vacuum. We have clients who wait in outpatients at hospitals around the province for upwards to 48 hours. It takes much more to support people
to be successful in the community. This is time away from home, away from family, away from work. As a province, we can do better and learn from our mistakes and missteps. HS: This is absolutely something that comes up time and again in meetings with DIRECTIONS, our sister council that provides vocational services. The social return that govern- ment departments see when they invest in our services and the people we aspire to serve is nothing short of transfor- mative. To speak to Kevin’s point more directly, an influx of medical support workers and doctors into communities with complex needs is desperately needed. It’s something that whole communities would benefit from. Are the NSRAA’s retirement plan initiatives something that is more personalized as Karen spoke to earlier? KL: If I could just again comment on that: I think it’s very much an individualized process at its core, which it should be. It’s all about addressing how the individual wants to meet the change in their life and if they want to make that change now, next year, or even further down the road. So it is very personalized. KW: There’s no question that with an aging population that the need for multiple levels of support increases. We’re dealing with what many care givers across Nova Scotia are dealing with: Things that were not issues ten years ago have become bigger issues now in terms of support.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MAY 2017
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