Published on: October 06, 2016

Richmond, B.C. – More than 160 health care assistants are meeting today in Esquimalt to enhance their skills on how to care for the caregiver. The Hearts and Hands Conference is the first of its kind in B.C. that concentrates on the health and well-being of health care assistants.

Health care assistants experience the highest number of accepted time-loss claims of any occupation in the province with more than 15,000 injuries in the past five years. The largest number of injuries occurs in residential care, followed by home care and hospitals.

"We've seen a 38 percent increase from 2,400 time-loss claims in 2011 to more than 3,300 claims in 2015," says Stephen Symon, manager, Industry and Labour Services, WorkSafeBC. "The injuries we are seeing are preventable. We believe self-care education along with improved safe work practices will reduce injuries."

The Hearts and Hands Conference will focus on workplace safety for health care assistants from a psychological/social perspective and will include strategies for caring for people with dementia, developing and maintaining compassionate boundaries, and coping with grief and burn out.

One of today's speakers, Elizabeth Causton, advocates that frontline caregivers are the unsung heroes of health care who can become more prone to injuries when the emotional side of their work takes its toll. WorkSafeBC statistics note health care assistants' injuries represent 37 per cent of injuries in the health care sector and that 91 percent of the injured workers are women and 25 percent are over the age of 55.

"I have great admiration for the essential and compassionate care these workers provide every day," says Ms. Causton, who's worked extensively in palliative and hospice care. "I want each registrant at the conference to take to heart – care for self, care for each other and care for patients/clients and families – in that order."

The top three types of injuries are: musculoskeletal, acts of violence and slips, trips and falls. The WorkSafeBC health care sector resource list includes videos, discussion guides, pamphlets and bulletins on handling patients safely, fall prevention, reducing the risk of workplace violence, and dementia care best practices.

The 2016 Heart and Hands Conference organizing committee is a unique partnership among Health Care Assistant employers and educators that includes: BayShore HealthCare, Beacon Community Services, Camosun College, Earth's Option Cremation & Burial, Home Instead Senior Care, Life & Death Matters, Revera, Sprott Shaw College, WeCare Home Health Services and WorkSafeBC.

The conference is being held at the Songhees Nations Wellness Centre, 1100 Admirals Road, Esquimalt, Thursday, Octobert 6, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 18th is designated Health Care Assistant Day.

Media are invited from 9:00 a.m. until noon and Stephen Symon, WorkSafeBC, and Elizabeth Causton, MSW, are available for interviews the week of October 3.

WorkSafeBC is an independent provincial statutory agency governed by a Board of Directors that serves 2.3 million workers and more than 225,000 employers. WorkSafeBC was born from the historic compromise between B.C.'s workers and employers in 1917 where workers gave up the right to sue their employers and fellow workers for injuries on the job in return for a no-fault insurance program fully paid for by employers. WorkSafeBC is committed to safe and healthy workplaces and to providing return-to-work rehabilitation and legislated compensation benefits.

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Backgrounder/Fact Sheet available.
Contact:
Trish Knight Chernecki
Senior Manager, Government and Media Relations
trish.chernecki@worksafebc.com
Tel: 604.232.5814 Cell: 778.871.5841