Fairmount Home Strategic Plan

Jeff Green | Feb 28, 2018

Lisa Hirvi, the Administrator of Fairmount Home, presented the broad outline of the strategic planning exercise that Fairmount staff has undertaken to a meeting of Frontenac County Council last week.

Fairmount Home, a 128 bed long term care facility, is located on the same property as the Frontenac County Offices in Glenburnie, in rural Kingston. The Home is owned and operated by Frontenac County. It is not only the largest and most valuable physical asset of Frontenac County, it is also one of the two largest services that the county offers. Upper tier municipalities in Ontario, such as Frontenac County, are required to operate or participate in funding a long term care facility and Fairmount satisfies that requirement for Frontenac County. Although access to long term care facilities is not effected by municipal borders, residents of the southeastern portion of Frontenac County have made Fairmount their home of choice, as it is for many residents of Kingston and other municipalities in the region.

Over ten years ago, Fairmount made a commitment to the Gentlecare philosophy, which the Home defines in the following way on their web page: “resident-focused care which empowers residents to make as many choices as possible. Staff knows each resident and responds to their social as well as psychological and physical needs. They put the resident first before the task at hand and acknowledge that risk is a normal part of life. Most importantly, they treat the residents as they would wish to be treated.”

The new Strategic Plan reasserts the commitment to Gentlecare, listing it as the key means of accomplishing the #1 goal identified in the Strat Plan: “to provide quality care and meet the diverse and unique needs of our residents”.

The other goals that were identified in the plan include: being the preferred place to work and volunteer in the local health care sector; expanding engagement with broader community and system partners, and; ensuring Fairmount operates efficiently while striving for continuous improvement.

Among the key goals identified in the plan is to identify the generational needs of staff and incorporate flexibility.

“This is something we have had to do recently,” Hirvi pointed out, “as the Administrator and Director of Care positions have turned over. We will deal with other challenges as we move forward, and making sure we are a good place to work is important in enabling us to recruit people.”

In receiving the report, one of the members of Frontenac County Council asked about the necessity to promote and market Fairmount, given that the home already has a long waiting list and has had one for years.

“We need to maintain and enhance our contacts with the community and with our funders, in the interest of patients. Fairmount is a community asset, we need to have a public profile,” Hirvi said.

After Hirvi’s presentation was received and the plan was adopted, Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender informed Council that the Province of Ontario had just put out a “Request for Expression of Interest” in creating new long term care beds.

Although Councilors expressed concern over potential increases in costs, Pender pointed out that if Fairmount were 50% larger, certain administration costs would not go up, leading to efficiencies and relative cost savings. “With 172 beds there is still only one Administrator, one Director of Care, one food service,” Pender said.

By responding to the call, the county would not be making any commitment.

“It will be up to council to decide whether to go ahead with anything, Pender said, also pointing out that the debenture for the most recent expansion of Fairmount will be paid off in 2022.

“We could build without having to make any change in our budget if it only meant continuing with a new debenture after 2022,” Pender said.

Council instructed Pender to prepare a submission to the Request for Expressions of Interest.