Canadian Red Cross offloading home support programs across northeastern Ontario

The Canadian Red Cross says it will transition its home support programs in northeastern Ontario to new service providers by March 2022. 

The transition to new service providers could potentially impact approximately 140 Canadian Red Cross home support program employees in Algoma, Sudbury and Cochrane districts. 

Diane Lajambe, deputy director of operations for northeastern Ontario, tells SooToday that local assisted living, home help, personal support programs - in addition to a personal adult day program in Wawa - will eventually transition to new service providers in the Algoma District. 

“Anything that’s a home support program where we provide care in the home, those are the programs that are transitioning,” Lajambe told SooToday Tuesday. 

The northeastern Ontario region of the Canadian Red Cross is now working with the North East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) in order to identify potential service providers for the home support programs.  

Lajambe says the Canadian Red Cross will continue the transition by working with Ontario Health should the North East LHIN be replaced with the super health agency. 

“Obviously our new provider will require funding from the LHIN, so they will work on identifying the provider with us, and we’ll work on the transition plan together,” she said. 

While the northeastern Ontario region of the Canadian Red Cross continues to analyze potential staffing impacts, Lajambe says the transition will “probably” result in cuts to staff around the north by the time it's complete. 

“Our hope is that they will be able to transition with the program, but clearly that will depend on the new provider and the needs of the new provider,” she said. 

Other programs, such as transportation, friendly visiting and telephone assurance, and Priority Assistance to Transition Home (PATH), will continue to be delivered by the Canadian Red Cross in northeastern Ontario. 

Emergency management programs will not be affected by the transition. 

“We’re thinking positively that the transition is going to go smoothly for the clients, and they won’t see any disruption in their services,” said Lajambe. “There are other excellent service providers that we know that can take this on.” 

“The Red Cross is looking forward to developing in some areas where we can use our volunteers - continuing with our transportation program, our transitions from hospital, and addressing some of the issues around social isolation for seniors.”

Lajambe says that it's "business as usual" for the delivery home support programs in northeastern Ontario until the transition to new providers is complete. 

The Canadian Red Cross in northeastern Ontario is the last region in the province to offload its home support programs to new service providers.