Abstract
Introduction: The Community Wellness Hub is the first step of a long-term vision to support older adults in the communities where they live. It is a collaboration of health care, social care, and housing providers that seeks to (1) proactively identify and respond to physical, mental, and social needs using community resources, and (2) offer transitional and residential options along the continuing care continuum. The Community Wellness Hub is located in an apartment building with mixed market and rent-geared-to-income units. Residents joining the Community Wellness Hub receive individualised support from the Wellness Coordinator as well as monthly workshops/clinics from partner organisations. Residents can consent to sharing health information within the circle of care, so that service providers plan and monitor care as an integrated team. Objectives: The exploratory case study will reflect the perspectives of providers, residents, and caregivers. The providers’ perspective will be explored via a series of focus groups focusing on the facilitators and barriers they encountered while building this innovative collaborative model. The residents and caregivers’ perspective will be described through a number of interviews that will assess their experiences with the Community Wellness Hub. Additionally, documents related to the implementation and operation of the Hub will be analysed to provide a detailed description of the intervention. The final component of the case study is an on-site observation that will be conducted by an embedded evaluator. This component is meant to describe the daily interactions between the residents and the providers within the Community Wellness Hub. Results: In this case study, we will highlight multiple perspectives: health care, social care, and housing providers; those involved in leadership, operational, and service delivery roles; as well as the perspectives of residents and their caregivers. Providers are anticipated to speak about changes in awareness and understanding of the roles and contributions of other sectors and how this might facilitate coordinating residents’ care. Experiences of residents and caregivers will reflect on what worked well and areas where there is room for improvement. Conclusions: The Community Wellness Hub is founded on strong leadership and relationship building across sectors as well as a shared commitment to learn and grow together. This is reflected in improved service coordination and enhanced resident, caregiver, and provider experiences. Implications: The Community Wellness Hub is a key initiative of the Burlington Ontario Health Team to bring together holistic needs assessment, care planning, and system navigation for older adults in the community. We hope to share specific motivators, enablers, challenges, and opportunities that will be helpful as the Community Wellness Hub seeks to spread the model throughout the region as well as to others learning from our unique partnership experience.