When a Hub Becomes Home: Placing Seniors at the Heart of B.C.’s Communities

Through this scoping paper, entitled When a Hub Becomes Home: Placing Seniors at the Heart of B.C.’s Communities, BC Care Providers Association (BCCPA) outlines the concept of Continuing Care Hubs, where older adults are better connected, and therefore less isolated, more healthy and happier.

Too often, we see seniors in our cities and towns across British Columbia who are cut off from the heart of our communities, with limited access to family members or
companions, and deprived of life-enhancing activities and services. What if they were instead connected to both medical and non-medical services by a network of distinct  service providers that serves as a “Care Hub” within that community? These networks, or hubs, would be designed to alleviate social isolation, would help create stronger connections back to the community by helping to enhance mobility, while at the same time bolstering and making more efficient our health services.

Beginning with a discussion of the basic tenets of Care Hubs, the scoping paper then discusses the operational hurdles around issues such as funding, human resources, information technology, regulatory reforms and physical infrastructure. Overcoming these challenges will be critical to strengthening the continuing care sector.
Finally, the paper explores the operationalization of a Continuing Care Hub, using the example of the community non-medical services model. As with all of our policy work, our aim is to strike an important and necessary conversation about creating a sustainable system of care, that promotes quality of life for all of B.C.’s seniors.