Making Vital Contributions to the Lives of Vulnerable Individuals
There are almost 250 of them at our CIUSSS. At work, they are our eyes and ears of our users. Each week they provide 12 000 to 13 000 hours of home care and services to residents of the communities served by our CIUSSS! These employees, in large part women, allow people with limited autonomy to extend their time living at home, in a private residence for seniors, or in low-income housing. They are Health and Social Services Assistants (HSSA) and they play a key role in the development of home care and services.
To learn more about what they do, the newsletter team spoke with a number of these employees, who work with the Support for Elderly Autonomy Program—Home Support .
To start with, becoming a certified HSSA requires 870 hours of training, the same as for beneficiary attendants. In addition, they need to take specific training to learn techniques such as the principles for transferring individuals safely or in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Many of them work in interdisciplinary teams at CLSCs, but they also work in hospital centres and CHSLDs.
The HSSAs diligently see to a whole range of tasks that include helping clients take their medication, help at mealtimes and with personal hygiene, providing support and respite to families, installing certain equipment, and much more. Furthermore, since the adopting of Bill 90, the Act to promote workforce skills development and recognition, a number of professional acts have been delegated to HSSAs. They can, for example, give oral medications or give a diabetic person an injection of insulin.
“The frequency and length of our visits vary from one person to another. We help them to carry out tasks of daily living such as getting out of bed and taking a bath, as well as with certain domestic tasks, such as meals. We also follow up weekly with the members of the interdisciplinary team. That team includes a nurse, a social worker, a physician, a physiotherapist, and an occupational therapist,” explains Sylvianne Dinelle, an HSSA team leader on the West Island.
What are the qualities needed to be a good HSSA? “They need to be resourceful and self-confident, able to work autonomously, have good judgment, along with good communication and listening skills and an extensive knowledge of the resources available within the community,” says Nathalie Coulombe, a designated HSSA—Occupational Therapy Support. “They also need to have empathy, understand how to deal with the particularities of a user or their informal caregiver, and be open to users from other cultures or faiths,” adds Marie-Ève Payant-Vézina, an HSSA who works in LaSalle.
“Our work is very rewarding. Often, we are the only visitor a user may have in a day. They greet us with a big smile because they are happy to see us arrive,” says Geneviève Bégin, an HSSA team leader for Lachine, proudly. “Every day, we have the feeling that we are doing something important for people who need us. Those users are also teaching us life lessons without realizing it,” adds Nadine Boivin, HSSA team leader for the West Island.
April 11 was Health and Social Services Assistants’ Day. If you see one, take the time to thank them for the vital work they do each day to help vulnerable individuals remain in their homes!
From left to right, Marie-Ève Payant-Vézina and Stéphanie Silverwood, who work as HSSAs in LaSalle.
From left to right, Sylvianne Dinelle and Karine Lanteigne, HSSA team leaders for the Lac-Saint-Louis sector.