Volunteers are trained (4-Day Session) to deliver a consistent and prescribed method of support, known as WrapAround.

This initiative will match trained volunteers with people in our community who require informal support, broadening their social network and assisting them to navigate and access the health care services they need. 

The OHT-N has partnered with Northumberland Paramedics to expand the reach of the Community Paramedicine program, supporting more people who are frail/elderly, live in rural areas, are experiencing mental health and addictions challenges, or are experiencing homelessness. Leveraging the skills and training of Northumberland Paramedics, the Community Paramedicine program provides proactive services for patients who use 9-1-1 services due to system gaps/challenges/ access to community care, such as onsite assessments and remote patient monitoring. 

• The OHT-N Volunteer Peer Support initiative will match skilled volunteers with vulnerable older adults experiencing persistent complex needs and conditions.
• The volunteers will be trained (4-Day Session) to deliver a consistent and prescribed method of support, known as WrapAround.
• The older adult and the volunteers will work together, using the WrapAround method, to form a team of support around the older adult. These teams will support the participant to battle social isolation and build on their strengths to find ways to address their needs and goals.
• It is expected that older adults who participate in a WrapAround process will have developed greater capacity to navigate the service systems and be less reliant on the service systems, due to their larger, informal, social support circle.

• Improved experience of vulnerable individuals and families by providing volunteer-based supports to contribute to timely access and more effective transitions
• A new referral option for primary care providers/health care teams
• Community and inter-personal connections that mitigate social isolation and loneliness which can contribute to system delays through unnecessary, repeat and frequent use of primary care/ED/EMS services and can prolong hospital stays
• Increased rich volunteer opportunities across the County

FROM REFERRAL IN TO TRANSITION OUT OF PROGRAM:

• Referral made by organization, family member, friend or older adult
• Intake meeting completed by the Coordinator. Once intake is completed the Coordinator will match the participant with two volunteer facilitators to begin the WrapAround process.

Four Phases of WrapAround

1)Engagement: following referral process

• Listen to their story and reflect it back
• 2-4 meetings to complete the “Strengths/Needs/Culture Discovery”, a list of the participants strengths, culture, hopes and dreams, needs and the people they may want on their WrapAround team.
• Opportunity for the participant to connect with volunteers & form a strong relationship

2)Team-Based Planning

• Identify potential formal & informal team members with the help of the trained volunteers
• Hold team meetings: 1-2 per month

3)Implementation

• Follow up with the participant and each team member after the first team meeting at least once and more often as necessary
• Continuously reviewing the plan and making changes as needed

4)Transition

• When goals have been achieved, begin to assist the participant to transition out of WrapAround.
• Summarize success, do anticipatory planning for future challenges with participant and, in some case, their team members
• Follow up as necessary and as agreed upon

• An older adult/caregiver driven, team based and holistic planning process that develops one individualized and integrated plan
• Develops strategies that the entire team takes on to effectively address the needs identified by the older adult/caregiver on a daily basis
• Key to the success of WrapAround is that the older adult pick who will be on their team, what they want to work on, the strategies that they want in their Action Plan and how fast they want to work on that plan.

In using the WrapAround process, we are implementing a facilitated team-based practice model designed to integrate natural, community and professional supports, with the older adult in the driver’s seat.  Together they develop one plan that integrates everybody’s efforts.

• Another reason for its success is that the service system supports the local community and the neighborhood that the older adult lives in to get involved and take charge of this initiative

The reason that this is important is that the community will always be there to support its members, no matter their level of need, while formal services are usually both time and quantity limited and come and go in the lives of the people we serve in that community.

Participation in the WrapAround process has ranged from 3-4 months to 18-24 months, although the average is between 1 and 2 years.

REFERRALS:

Individuals can:

1)Self-refer

2)Be referred by a family, friend or caregiver

3)Be referred by a doctor, primary care provider or another community service provider

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

• Older adults residing in Northumberland County, and
• Are experiencing complex and persistent needs/conditions or are caring for someone with multiple complex and persistent needs/conditions, and
• Are agreeable to a WrapAround process, and
• Have not effectively had their needs addressed by the efforts of service providers

FEES

There is no fee for the services we provide in the Volunteer Peer Support Program

WrapAround Facilitator Position: The volunteer facilitator will be matched with a participant and co-facilitate.  They will help older adults navigate the system to find the care and support they need. They will take a 4-day comprehensive training in the WrapAround process. The training will prepare volunteers to support the participant and help them form a team of supports (informal & formal) that will help them achieve their goals and support their needs.

Skills and experience the program would consider as helpful for volunteers

• Experience supporting seniors (e.g. as friend/family caregiver)
• Excellent communication and listening skills
• Ability to form professional and comfortable working relationships with a wide range of people
• Empathetic and caring
• General knowledge of:

oCommunity support groups (may include faith communities, senior’s programs and centres, service clubs); and

oHealth care services and social services available throughout Northumberland County.