Feeling at home
Tracy Milligan recognized for excellence in person-centred care
Tracy Milligan floats.
No, not literally. It’s the position the resident care worker mostly fills during her shifts at Health P.E.I.’s Margaret Stewart Ellis long-term care home in O’Leary.
“You just go where you’re needed, and you have to pick up on where you’re needed,” said Milligan, who has been working full-time at the Margaret Stewart Ellis Home for five years. Prior to that she worked at Maplewood Manor for 16 years. She has also worked at Wedgewood Manor and provided private care in the 30 years since completing Holland College’s RCW program in Elmsdale.
Milligan proudly embraces Health P.E.I.’s person-centered care philosophy and feels that has always been the basis of her work.
“The way I look at it is, for a lot of the residents, this is their last home,” she said. “We have to make it as good for them as we can. That’s what we’re here for.” As a simplified explanation of what person-centered care means, Milligan said staff don’t just go to the closet and pick out the day’s outfit for a resident; they get the residents’ input.
During a recent Health P.E.I. conference, Milligan was named the 2018 recipient of the Shelley L. Woods Excellence in PersonCentered Care Award. The annual award – which honours retired nurse and former Chief Nursing Officer for Long-Term Care with Health P.E.I., Shelley Woods – recognizes a Health P.E.I. employee working in longterm care who demonstrates an exceptional commitment to the person-centered care philosophy.
Health P.E.I.’s definition of person-centered care is: treating residents as individuals; working with residents to help them make decisions and manage their health; forming trusting and supportive relationships with residents; considering residents’ needs, wishes, values, family dynamic, social circumstance and lifestyles; being compassionate and respectful; engaging in activities with residents and providing residents with information. Sitting nearby as Milligan describes her love for her job, Harvest View neighbourhood resident at the home, Nina Betts chimes in, “She’s good at that. She loves people and takes care of them.”
Milligan said she lost both of her parents over the past five years, both before they required long-term care placement. That loss adjusted her perspective: “A lot of empathy – how would you like to have your parents treated,” she related.
“She goes over and beyond,” nurse supervisor Shelly Rowe describes the role Milligan plays at the home. “She gets to know the residents and what they like, and she will do the little extras.” Nurse supervisor Shelly Rowe
Working in a long-term care facility requires a lot of teamwork, she said, assisting with all of the residents’ needs including emotional, spiritual and physical. Working with the families of the residents is also important, she said, as, often, they grieve that their loved one can no longer stay at home. “We can’t make up for that, but we try hard, really hard,” she said.
As a float, Milligan gets to spend time with residents in all three neighbourhoods, Harvest View, Green Acres and Lighthouse Cove and enjoys getting to know them and their families. “She goes over and beyond,” nurse supervisor Shelly Rowe describes the role Milligan plays at the home. “She gets to know the residents and what they like, and she will do the little extras.”
“She helps with everything she can help you with,” adds Betts.
Milligan said she likes to fire up the iPods and get music playing in residents’ rooms. She and Betts, she noted, enjoy singing along with some of the oldies, like Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard songs.
“She’s always dependable,” says Rowe of Milligan who was staff-nominated for the special recognition.