Online booking program links clients, home care workers

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This article was published 03/11/2022 (1084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man with quadriplegia — trapped in bed all day or in his wheelchair overnight several times in recent months when home care was cancelled at the last minute — hopes a new booking system may be the key to help when he needs it.

Patrick Dram, 61, says he is pleased to hear the new respite and home care program could help fill sudden gaps in care service.

Hiring someone to help a person with disabilities or a senior receive home care services or the family of a child with disabilities get respite is now as simple as clicking a few keystrokes, via an online program launched by Manitoba Possible (the former Society for Manitobans with Disabilities).

It allows clients, who are assessed by their regional health authority, to receive care, and who opt into self- or family-managed care to find workers online to hire for one-time help or more regular services.

“I had not heard of this,” Dram said Wednesday, shortly after a home care aide arrived on time and moved him to his wheelchair from bed. “It sounds very interesting. I’m going to look into it.”

Lindsey Cooke, director of provincial services at the non-profit Manitoba Possible, said she and other members of her team have read past Free Press articles about Dram’s situation.

“(It) just really bolstered us,” she said. “We hear those types of stories all the time. That’s the importance of having a reboot of care programs.”

Cooke said its new online program has been successfully used in New Zealand for seven years, where it now helps some 14,000 people get care and respite.

“Our program is running now — we’ve been up for about two weeks,” she said. “We have 108 users so far. It’s a mix of clients and workers. So far, it pretty well is a one-to-one match.”

Cooke said there is a service charge to keep the program running: clients pay a fee based on 10 per cent of hourly wage they disburse; workers pay five per cent of wages received.

“Usually, when people self manage home care, they pay more to a for-profit organization,” she said. “We have lowered costs by $6 (per hour). We are really excited to make self-managed home care more accessible to people.”

The Care Possible program (carepossible.ca) allows users to see worker skills and availability, interactive maps, and uses a secure online payment system. Currently, the workers, who are screened with criminal record and child abuse checks, range from ordinary people who want to help others in any way they can to health-care aides.

“They can chose where and how much they want to work and you can set up your own wages,” Cooke said. “We do all the vetting… There is an assumption you need a certificate to supply home care, but there are lots of people who just need help.

“All you need is to be a caring person.”

Manitoba Possible had its own online respite care program, but it had limitations. That’s when the province’s social innovation office connected it with Mycare in New Zealand.

“We have spent seven years iterating a digital platform that specializes in home care, making the life of clients and home care workers simpler,” Mycare chief executive officer Matt Owen said.

“It also brings in a new pipeline of home care workers. We can now fill a need generally within an hour, and we have two workers to every disabled person.

“All of this allows people receiving care in the home to thrive.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca