Throughout the pandemic, clinicians in the Toronto Central Behavioural Supports for Seniors Program (TC-BSSP), a regional program led by Baycrest, have been successfully supporting seniors with challenging behaviours in the community, in acute care hospitals and in long-term care homes through a new hybrid approach that combines virtual and in-person care.

Many seniors living with dementia experience challenging, responsive behaviours such as physical and verbal aggression, agitation and paranoia and can end up in crisis without the proper care and support. TC-BSSP teams provide strategies, care plans, education and coaching to family caregivers and healthcare staff to help them effectively manage responsive behaviours and improve quality of life.

When COVID-19 restrictions prevented or limited in-person visits, the TC-BSSP program leveraged Baycrest’s digital health experience and capabilities to offer virtual assessments, training and support via computers or tablets.

The 36 nursing homes served by the program’s Long-Term Care Outreach Team (LTC-BSOT) all received iPads to enable access to assessments, behaviour support services and education. In addition, Behaviour Support team members were still able to go on-site to trial intervention strategies and provide coaching to long-term care staff because the LTC-BSOT was deemed an essential service to support care for this vulnerable population during the pandemic.

Families caring for seniors with dementia at home in the community were loaned iPads and received training from Baycrest volunteers in order to access the program’s Community Outreach Team (CBSOT) remotely. Despite a 30 per cent spike in demand for the service, wait times were reduced by 37 per cent and visit volumes increased by 70 per cent as a result of increased team efficiency with the move to virtual services.

Data from Long-Term Care (LTC) Partners found that:

• Client outcome measures such as emergency room visits, police calls or critical incidents did not change from the baseline for the clients served virtually or with a hybrid approach versus solely in person.

Data from Community Caregivers found that:

• 83 per cent of community caregivers reported virtual services were as good or better than in-person visits.