Preparation Activities

About This Handbook

Purpose

Handbook 4 provides details about the activities that communities will need to undertake to prepare for full program service delivery for the Home and Community Care Program.

The Handbook is intended for community/tribal council/regional Inuit association planners and regional First Nations and Inuit organizations.

Using this Handbook

This Handbook is a guide. The steps outlined in the Handbook do not need to be followed in every way. Its goal is to support - not replace - the essential process of determining what will work best in your community. Importantly, the Handbook promotes the integration of community beliefs and values into the design of the program. In this regard, select the examples and suggestions in the Handbook that reflect the values in your community and are most appropriate for meeting your community's particular needs.

The aim of the planning and development process is:

• to build an effective Home and Community Care Program;
  
• to provide services that meet the needs of community members;
  
• to ensure that the services can be provided as long as they are needed;
  and
• to establish a foundation for making the program better as the years go by.

This process is an ever evolving process that will ensure that home and community care services will continually seek new and innovative ways and means of responding to the identified needs in each First Nations and Inuit community.

The planning and development process for your Home and Community Care Program is designed to be community based and community paced.

Introduction

The preparation activities for program delivery is the last step in the planning process and the first step in program service delivery. In other words it is the "bridging phase" between planning and full implementation. This phase can take anywhere from 3 to 12 months depending on the priorities established by the community, the infrastructure in place, and the amount of funding available. At the end of this phase, most training will have been completed, policies and procedures developed, staff oriented, service delivery tools developed and tested, data collection tools in place and so on. The importance of this "bridging phase" should not be minimized.

It will be important during this phase to manage service delivery expectations. As in your planning process, you will need to keep community members informed of your activities and progress so they understand what needs to occur before service delivery happens.