Ponoka’s FCSS is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and, as they look into the past, many staff members are beginning to realize just what has and hasn’t changed for the organization over the last four decades.
“I think, for me, the faces of FCSS have changed over the 40 years, but what’s remained consistent is the level of care, and empathy, and heart that goes into the organization,” said Shannon Boyce-Campbell, executive director.
For decades, FCSS has run programs to assist residents from the time they’re born to their lasts breath and Boyce-Campbell says she’s looking forward to proceeding with the same positivity. “I think that’s one thing Ponoka does well, they take care of their own.”
Boyce-Campbell feels it’s the people of FCSS who are carrying the organization’s history. Many relatives of former staff or clients are now involved. The granddaughter of former home care worker Shirley Onesto works with FCSS. “That’s just an example how the pace is set with families.”
Program co-ordinator Kerry Robideau agrees FCSS has undergone many changes over the years — some more positive than others. “One of the things I’ve noticed is the more legislation gets involved, the harder it is to do the care part. It’s important for us to stay centered on the care part.”
Gloria Winslow has been a health care aide with FCSS for the last 24 years and she’s witnessed first-hand the evolution of that industry with the organization.
When she first started with FCSS, Winslow worked mainly in Rimoka’s Golden Leisure Lodge, but also ventured out to care for those in the community. She recalls having only one client in the lodge during her early years.
“What I’ve really noticed is (that) the clients that come in now, so many more need help,” said Winslow. Two decades ago most seniors moving into the lodge would still be able to walk in under their own two-legged power.
Now, Winslow says most need an aid of some kind, such as a walker or wheelchair. “Our dining room looks like a parking lot.”
She believes people used to move into the lodge at a younger age and now, because of the work of FCSS, seniors are able to stay in their own homes longer. “I know that in many people’s hearts they want to stay in their own homes as long as they can, and I know that’s happened.”
“They’re really grateful to stay there as long as they can,” she added.
When Winslow first joined the FCSS team, there were 26 women that worked to provide home care to the community. Now the team is up to 29, yet each aide has less time to spend on the clients as the need for their services grow.
“One of the major changes that has come out, when I first started working, we were allowed 45 minutes for a bath.” Winslow says she would also take extra time to look after her clients’ finger and toenails and visit. In many cases aides and clients became good friends.
However, now baths have been cut down to a half hour and someone with a nursing degree has to review finger and toenails.
Another change Winslow witnessed was who gave out the clients’ medications. “When I first started, the house keepers gave out the meds.”
She remembers making a comment on how she was surprised that job didn’t fall to the nurses. “The next thing I knew, we’re taking a course on giving out the meds,” Winslow said with a chuckle.
Before joining FCSS, Winslow worked at Northcott for five years but a horse injury rendered her unable to do the lifting required for that job. It was a friend, somebody already with FCSS, who encouraged her to apply and she was immediately given the job.
Marian Winacko is a home support worker, who will have been with FCSS 25 years with fall, and, like Winslow, she sees many more older senior needing assistance as the years go by.
For her, the biggest changes have been her clients; they come and go as older ones move to lodges or die and new ones come in, as they grow older. Because she’s only involved in housekeeping and not personal care, Winacko says her practices don’t change much. “I’m probably still using some vacuums from 25 years ago,” she joked.
Winacko says one of the most interesting parts of her job is interacting with the seniors and listening to their own history and the changes they’ve seen. “That’s what FCSS is all about, hearing their stories. Seniors built this town; they had businesses, they’re the backbone.”
“Sometimes they just want to sit and visit . . . There’d be Fridays I’d get home and say ‘Harry, I hope you’re not hungry because I’ve been eating all day’. This one wants to have tea and cookies, this one wants to make you soup and sandwiches and this one wants a snack, too. Of course I did my own work, but they wanted to visit,” she added.
Looking at the organization’s 40th anniversary in the community, Winacko is both pleased and excited. “It’s something to be proud of. It’s really great to work for a place that offers so much.”
“And not only the services they offer but the extras they might also do, like rake leaves or shovel snow,” she added. Winacko feels more people need to be made aware of FCSS and what they can offer. “When I first started, I don’t even know how I heard of FCSS, it wasn’t known.”
Even as they celebrate their accomplishments FCSS staff remain concerned with the home care contract and how possibly losing it in 2015 could affect the organizations next 40 years. “It you lose a contract like FCSS and it’s privatized, it’s never the same. It’s sad a place like this has to fight so hard to keep a contract,” said Winacko.
“I remember my old boss, too, fighting, trying so hard to keep FCSS alive,” she added.
FCSS History Timeline
1974 (summer): STEP (Student Temporary Employment Program) grant for summer months. Students provide temporary home services.
1974 (October): Dorothea Kaiser is the first paid adult homemaker; sponsored by Alberta Hospital Ponoka.
1975: Nine homemakers on staff.
1975-1977: Canada Works Project Grant provided for two years.
1977 (May): The Community Program was developed with a volunteer Board of Directors and a paid part-time co-ordinator. Funding was provided by the Senior Citizens Bureau Grant and local fundraising efforts by volunteers.
1977 (July): The organization’s first two programs are Homemakers (home support: light housekeeping and meal preparations) and Homemakers Program (personal care).
1977 (fall): Town of Ponoka provided funding and has continued to fund since that time. The county also became involved by submitting grant applications.
1978: M.S. Fund developed.
1979: Ponoka Community Home Help Services becomes a registered society under Alberta Consumer and Corporate Affairs.
1981: Fifty “home help” clients, three to five clients receiving Meals on Wheels, staff of 11.
1982 (October): Provincial government FCSS funding started with mandated funding from the town and county. The name was changed to Family and Community Support Services. Volunteer programs were established, including transportation service, friendly visits and phoning, social activities, palliative care and income tax.
1987 (October): First Home Support Aide Recognition Day—provincial conference hosted by Ponoka FCSS in Ponoka. Alberta was the first province to have a homemaker’s recognition week.
1990: Requests for volunteer services jumped from 50 in 1982 to 300 in 1990; 155 clients, 36 medical alert units.
1992: Lifeline units and monitoring introduced and replaced Appello units and bracelets. Twenty-eight staff, Meals on Wheels $4.35.
1995: Sixty lifeline units in service.
1996: Seventy lifeline units in service.
1997: Tools for School program started.
2000: Cancer fund started.
2004: Meals on Wheels $4.50. In 2004, 1,835 meals were delivered to approximately 35 different clients.
2005: Coats for Cold program started, Parent Link joined the FCSS facility.
2011: First year for the Community Garden.
2014: It’s the 40th anniversary of FCSS, 100 lifeline units in service.