Linda Burr This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Community engagement important in light of predicted pandemic -- OMNIway February 7, 2007

   www.omni-way.com/News/2007/Feb - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/7/2007   Last Visited: 10/19/2007

   Linda Burr, administrator at Frost Manor, says that engaging in the community benefits both the residents and the people of the community.
   
   She says that in light of the predicted pandemic, staying well-connected to the community is especially important. Reaching out for support during a crisis situation will be easier if that relationship is already there.
   
   Caressant Care Lindsay is located directly across the street from Frost. Burr says the two long-term care homes share staff and even resources on occasion. "They have a generator and we don't, so if the power is off, we store our medical supplies there," she says.
   
   The life enrichment coordinators from both homes work quite closely together. Residents attend events in the community together.
   
   The homes also have a system of sharing personal support worker students. "We each take half of the students and then switch halfway through [their placements]," says Burr.
   ...
   Burr says that the benefit to this connection in particular is an opportunity for new relationships for the residents, as well as exposure for the kids to the gifts and richness that the elderly have to offer.
   
   Engaging in the community also helps dispel the myths the many people have of long-term care, says Burr.

2. 2. OMNI provides meaningful work, say employees -- June 10, 2003 -- Axiom News Services

   www.axiomnews.ca/NewsArchives/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/10/2003   Last Visited: 6/27/2005

   Linda Burr, a nursing administrative service manager and supportive measures specialist at Frost Manor in Lindsay, shares Yeo's enthusiasm.
   
   "Every day, there's a new opportunity to learn and grow. With OMNI, the sky's the limit. The only limit is the limit you place on yourself," says Burr. "I wouldn't want to be working anywhere else."
   
   Burr started with OMNI as a health care aide in 1992, progressed to nurse's aide, and then to her current managerial position.
   
   "I've participated in every bit of education I can through OMNI," says Burr.
   ...
   Working with seniors allows staff to make a positive contribution to society; it gives meaning to their work, say Yeo and Burr.
   
   "Staff is empowered to take initiative to enhance the quality of life of residents," says Burr.
   ...
   It takes a special person to commit to that, and that's what we've got at OMNI," says Burr.

3. 3. www.omni-way.com

   www.omni-way.com/News/2007/Aug - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/27/2007   Last Visited: 1/17/2008

   Residents deserve better than four-bed wards: Burr
   ...
   Frost Manor administrator Linda Burr is anxious to see government funding eliminate all four-bed wards at the Lindsay long-term care home.
   
   Burr is responding to an announcement made July 31 by Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman pledging the re-development of 35,000 long-term care beds in Ontario over the next decade.
   ...
   "My feeling is that every single resident in my home deserves exactly the same as the residents in ,A' homes," Burr says. "They worked just as hard their whole lives (and) they've already been reduced to a small space.
   
   "Because I'm a ,C' home, I don't think the residents should have any less of the so-called luxuries of life," she says, adding the home is seeing a lot of residents with complex health issues that require more equipment which is not conducive to a four-bed ward.
   
   Burr says even living in a semi-private room, which is shared between two people, would be a big improvement from the current four-bed wards.
   
   "The construction of the room is such that it is actually a private . . . a lot more living space, more resident friendly bathrooms, more resident friendly hallways . . . just an overall better set-up."
   
   Frost Manor currently has nine four-bed wards, eight semi-private rooms and 10 private rooms.
   
   "I can tell you when have to come and live in a home, I do not want to be in a four-bed ward," Burr says. "I want to come here and we'll have private rooms."
   
   Burr says OMNI CEO Fraser Wilson has already done everything he can to provide for the residents at Frost Manor through renovations and now is time for the province to do their part.
   
   Renovations, which were completed in January 2006, included removing the institutional-style nursing area and replacing it with a more compact nursing centre. The renovations also created more living space, a fireplace lounge, an extra dining room and a fenced-in therapy garden.
   
   Burr says it isn't uncommon for residents living in four-bed wards to pine for a private room.
   
   "The problem with a four-bed ward and the lack of semis and private rooms is that I can't always guarantee that the residents are going to be matched-up with appropriate roommates," Burr says.
   
   "It's a little easier to deal with the habits of one person than it is to deal with the habits of three other people . . . they all have different sleeping habits, they all have different behaviours (and) they all have different needs."
   
   Unlike some homes, Burr says residents and their families are lucky to have a palliative care room at Frost Manor in order to spend their final days together in privacy rather than in a four-bed ward with three others.
   
   "It's difficult to afford the families the privacy that they need and it's difficult for the other residents in the room," she says. "It's not a good situation."