Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Home care is one of many types of health care services provided to older individuals who are frail and require medical care in their homes. Across the province, frail Ontarians receive different levels of home support from their local health care providers and the Community Care Access Centres. One of the main challenges for policymakers and health care providers working in the community is the lack of reliable tools that can be used to measure a person's level of frailty, and to identify people across a range of care needs. RESPECT - or the Risk Evaluation for Support: Predictions for Elder life in the Community Tool - is a frailty assessment tool, developed using data collected from Ontario's home care program between 2007 and 2014. This assessment tool will not only help home care providers identify people who are at a high risk of death and other adverse health outcomes, but it will also help us recognise individuals who are moderately frail and may be at risk of further functional declines. This tool will be made available on-line and publicly accessible to home care recipients, their family members and their health care team. RESPECT has the potential to improve the quality of health care delivered to frail Ontarians living in the community, empower older adults by getting them involved in their health assessments, and generate useful information for care planning (especially for individuals who are in high-risk categories).