Our NEW Toronto In-Home Care Digest

The Toronto Home Care Digest for August 2, 2013

Posted by Steve Jones

Fri, Aug 2, 2013

Get the latest home health care tips, news, and updates!

FROM OUR BLOG...

4 Ways For Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis to Avoid Infection

Sometimes, prevention is the best medicine.

• Reduce comorbidity
• Use anti-bacterial practices
• Provide good skin care
• Shift positions frequently

Home Care Services to Help You Live Longer, Happier, More Fulfilled Lives

Many people who would benefit from homecare services don't take action because they don't know about their options.

5 Dietary Tips to Help Manage COPD Symptoms

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) symptoms can be manageable via your diet. Here are five nutritional tips to manage your COPD symptoms and avoid exacerbating your condition.

FROM AROUND THE WEB...

Province Changes Physio Rules

Cutbacks in spending from the Ontario Ministry of Health means less government-provided physiotherapy treatments that many senior Ontarians need.

5 Moves for Seniors that Improve Balance and Coordination

These five exercises, provided by author Karen Peterson, can help seniors stay in shape and reduce the chance of injuries and falls.

This Weekend: Things to Do in Toronto

It's the August Civic Holiday this weekend! Don't miss out on concerts, music festivals, foodie fests, and more.

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5 things you need to know about home care

More and more Ontarian families are turning to high quality private home care companies like Qualicare to receive the quality of in-home care that our parents deserve. Our parents have lived, worked and prepared their entire life so that they can afford to enjoy a comfortable and dignified retirement. Unfortunately, an aging population also means challenges for the Ontario health care system which is not fully prepared to meet the growing demands.

This week CBC has been running stories that shed a light on the growing demands, challenges and short comings of a system that is not designed to deliver what families want and need. Here's is one story.

Re-post from CBC

The number of people over the age of 65 in Waterloo wellington is projected to grow by 36 per cent by 2021. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

Ontario kicked off its seniors strategy in 2012 to address a demographic crunch as its population ages and health costs balloon.A key plank of the strategy involves keeping patients and those who need care out of hospitals and long term care homes. The solution? Providing health and personal support care at home.

1. Home care service is provided by healthcare workers to people who have clinical needs in their homes. Services are administered and assessed by Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) in Ontario. The CCAC arranges services like physiotherapy, occupational therapy and the arrangement of medical supplies and equipment. Waterloo Region and Guelph are served by the Waterloo Wellington CCAC.
2. Home care service is viewed as a key element to ensuring the health care system remains sustainable with an aging population. Just under 15 per cent of Ontarians are over 65, and they account for just under half of all health and social care spending. There are 1.9 million people in Ontario over the age of 65; by 2030 that is projected to grow to four million.
3. The number of seniors in Waterloo Wellington is growing at a faster rate than the provincial average. The projected growth rate of those over 65 in Waterloo Wellington between now and 2021 is 36 per cent. In Ontario, that rate is 32.6 per cent.
4. A day in a hospital costs the healthcare system about $1,000 per day. A day in a long term care home costs about $133 per day. A day of home and community care costs about $55 per day.
5. Fifty six per cent of clients served by the Waterloo Wellington CCAC are over the age of 65. Just under 28 per cent are between the ages of 19 and 64, while 16 per cent are 18 years or younger.

CBC News

 View the original post CBC : Jun 23, 2013 11:12 PM ET
 Last Updated: Jun 24, 2013 1:18 AM ET

For Nurse Managed Private Home care Services in Toronto call me - Steve Jones (416)628-0360  or email  sjones@qualicare.com    www.QualicareToronto.com  For the rest of Canada www.Qualicare.com 

Facebook #Hashtag Tips for Marketers

Giving credit where credit is due, this breaking news on facebook hashtags is courtesy of #Hubspot, a great source for social media marketing tools and an impressive library full of social media white paper content.   Now on to the breaking news at facebook.

A real concern from facebook users and marketers has always been the limitations when  promoting, researching or engaging in a broader discussion beyond your network of personal friends or paid advertisers.

  "there has not been a simple way to see the larger view of what's happening or what people are talking about."

Taking a page from the hashtag founders at twitter and other social media hashtag followers such as   Pinterest, Instagram, and TumblrPosters; facebook users will soon be able to add a #hashtag to their content too. Clicking hashtags in facebook will display a filtered feed of what others are saying about the same topic. 

So, for those of us in the recruitment and staffing space, it will make sense to always insert #job within every facebook job posting and another hashtag that includes the job title or industry like #nurse, #PSW, #OT, #RN, or #hospital.   I encourage you to research and find "retweeters" in your neck of the woods.  For example @Toronto_Rt will automatically retweet anything that contains #Toronto to their 4800 local market follows.  Hopefully, retweeters will evolve and extend their services to include facebook #hashtags too. 

Here are a few tips courtesy of Hubspot.  

Facebook Hashtag Tips for Marketers

1. When creating a brand new hashtag, make sure the hashtag is original and not already in use by someone else.
2. Incorporate industry or branded keywords.
3. Be careful about sentiments. Remember the McDonald's hashtag fiasco?
4. Promote the hashtag by incorporating it into other marketing channels like email, landing pages, other social networks, etc.
5. Don't hijack popular hashtags that aren't relevant to your content. It's spammy, like in this example (see #8). 
6. Keep it short. While you don't really have to worry about character count on Facebook, you do if you're using the same hashtag on a site like Twitter where you do need to consider character limitations.
7. Make sure your hashtagged posts are public. I'm not sure why you wouldn't be making your marketing posts public anyway, but yeah, don't overlook this.
8. Incorporate hashtags into your Facebook ads!

Currently, hashtags are available only to a small percentage of people and pages on Facebook, but Facebook indicates it will roll them out more comprehensively in the coming weeks.

Here is a link to the rest of the #hubspot article.  http://blog.hubspot.com/facebook-launches-clickable-hashtags .

If you require assistance with your social recruitment strategy contact Steve Jones steve@stevejonesLeadership.com