Behavioural Supports Ontario Worker

**Organizational Overview**:
The Alzheimer Society Southwest Partners actively supports care partners and individuals affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. We advocate for and provide support services, education, and funding for research for those affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

**Our Vision**:
A world without Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

**Our Mission**:
To alleviate the personal and social consequences of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia’s and to promote research.

**Our Values**:
Collaboration, Accountability, Respect and Excellence.

**Position title**: **BSO Worker / Dementia Resource Consultant (Oxford)**

(Behavioural Supports Ontario Program)

**Location**:

- Alzheimer Society Southwest Partners**:Oxford Site** - 575 Peel St. Woodstock
- (With some travel required within Middlesex, Oxford and Elgin counties).
- **Woodstock Hospital (WH): 310 Juliana Drive, Woodstock**

**Status**:
Full-Time, permanent, 35 hours per week, occasional evening and weekend work required.

**About you**:
You are an enthusiastic, highly organized professional with a passion for supporting diverse groups of people, older adults, and those living with dementia or cognitive impairment. You have experience developing care plans and appropriate interventions for clients. You enjoy working with a multi-disciplinary team and utilize your excellent interpersonal skills. You are a natural with computers and your written and verbal communication skills are first-rate. You are compassionate, efficient, and have a demonstrated ability to deliver accuracy and attention to detail in your work. You manage your time well and you are able to problem-solve through challenging situations and unexpected circumstances.

**Position Summary**:
This position is a full-time position working half as Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) - Oxford and half as Dementia Resource Consultant (DRC) - Oxford and both positions will be job shared with a colleague.

**Behavioral Support Ontario Worker**: Under the direction of the Manager of Community Clinical Services, the incumbent will work with persons living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia (ADOD), including Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), or other memory complaints who are presenting with responsive behaviors in the community at the STEGH emergency department. The incumbent will work with the individual, their care partners, and other health care providers to ensure access to information, support, and education that assists them on their journey with the disease. The goal is to provide needed support, build effective and efficient utilization of community resources, promote links with primary care and community resource agencies; reduce care partner crisis situations and thereby reduce care partner burden. The BSO Worker will work closely with the local Behavioural Supports specialized team(s) and emergency department staff to provide interventions such as assessment, system navigation, short term one to one supportive counselling, crisis intervention, case management, discharge planning, and referrals to community agencies as appropriate.

**Dementia Resource Consultant**: serving as the initial point of contact for Woodstock Hospital (WH) Emergency Department (ED) and Home and Community Care Support Services staff and people living with dementia and their care partners who enter WH ED. These individuals may become clients of Alzheimer Society Southwest Partners (AlzSWP), including persons living with dementia and/or care partners.

Dementia Resource Consultants (DRCs) at AlzSWP work in the Emergency Departments of London Heath Sciences Centre, University Hosptial, STEGH and Woodstock Hospital as part of the Integrated Dementia Resource Team (DREAM Team). The DREAM team is a collaboration with 7 other regional Alzheimer Societies and respective emergency departments. The DRC will provide support connecting persons living with dementia and/or care partners to programs and services within the Alzheimer Society (such as, behavioural support outreach, counselling, respite) and other community resources. The DRC follows their journey through service coordination and collaboration with other staff of AlzSWP and community partner organizations. The DRC also educates/models for the ED team members behavioural strategies to mitigate the risk or necessity for restraints in the ED through the use of Montessori activities and GPA strategies.

**Specific Job Responsibilities as BSO Worker**:

- Receive and respond to BSO client referrals in a timely manner,
- Provide psychosocial assessments and develop care plans for clients living with dementia with responsive behaviors and their care partner network working together with health system partners,
- Initiate intervention immediately in urgent situations,
- Provide dementia related supportive counselling to clients as needed,
- Consult with Alzheimer Society peers/colleagues on specific ca