Vancouver Coastal Health: Stay Safe, A behaviour change campaign.

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Project | Vancouver Coastal Health approached Emily Carr University as a community partner to aid in designing a behaviour change campaign for Resident Care Aides at their extended care facilities.

Featured | Current, Spring 2013, Health Design Lab Website, Emerging Spaces in Design Forum, 2013, 2013 Medicina Conference

Overview | In 2010, ceiling lift equipment was installed over almost every bed, at every residential care facility owned by the Vancouver Coastal Health, to aid their resident care workers in moving and repositioning residents without hurting themselves. Unfortunately, statistics and reports have shown staff injuries have not decreased significantly enough after implementation. This project originally focused on boosting the user compliance in the ceiling lift equipment by the care aide staff at VCH.

Approach | However, through our own primary research and findings we discovered that the ceilings lifts were not the root of the problem. It became clear the problem was much larger in context and involved a systems design approach to solve. Although, safety is the underlying issue for VCH, in order to facilitate and improve on it, three complementary areas need attention. Our team proposed a behaviour change campaign be implemented at their facilities specifically focusing on improving community, communication, and wellness between staff and management.
Stay Safe, the title of our campaign, is a behaviour change campaign developed to help strengthen community, wellness, and conversation in order to improve overall safety at VCH residential care facilities. Stay Safe endevours to bring forth a new culture into the Vancouver Coastal Health setting, a culture devoted to creating a sense of community, respect, safety and wellness for all involved with residential extended care. The many individuals who make up each residential care facility are connected in so many ways, and Stay Safe wants to strengthen these connections to form a learning community within each facility. Not only a community of care and safety, but one of wellness and the celebration of each and every individual. Through building friendships, support, respect and wellness, a facility can become stronger. It is important to note that this campaign is maintained by everyone in the facility not just management, allowing for equal opportunity, discussion, and growth.

Opportunity | Vancouver Coastal Health approved the campaign in April, 2013 and it is currently being further developed and implemented in fourteen of their facilities across B.C.