Examining Policy Objectives and Implementation in the Home Care Program in Winnipeg, Manitoba: An Autoethnographic Account from a Home Support Worker.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the home care program in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the methods employed by agencies in the implementation of the policy, and its impact on beneficiaries of the program. The mandate of the home care program is twofold: 1) to provide services to persons assessed as having inadequate informal resources to return home from hospital or to remain in the community, and 2) to assess and place individuals in long-term care facilities if and when home care services cannot maintain them safely and/or economically at home and to provide them with home care services until they are placed (Roos et al., 2001). Home care can mean different things to different people. Home care is a general term used to reflect a wide range of social, medical, and non-medical support services that are conducted for purposes of enabling compromised individuals to live safely and independently in their communities (Auditor General of Manitoba, 2015). I choose this topic because, having worked for more than four years as a home support worker with multiple agencies in Winnipeg, my goal in this project is to connect my experience and give an accurate and interesting account of the Home Care Policy and how it is implemented on the ground. I focus on the practices, procedures, and methods employed by the various home care agencies in Winnipeg in implementing the policy (the home care). I also examine other home care modules and point out some practices and procedures elsewhere that can be incorporated into the home care program in Manitoba to make it even better. As a support worker, I look at provisions in the policy that are properly followed and those that are not and how this impacts the beneficiaries of the program. By using an autoethnographic approach and reflecting on my own experience and observations, this study provides first-hand information on the home care culture in Manitoba, its impact on the beneficiaries of the program, and suggestions of possible ways of improving upon the program.