Welcome to Friends of Feather Ridge
We are a Non-profit group and advocate within our communities and with government to address the needs of our Severely Handicapped and Brain Injured Youth.
Currently medically complex youth, some as young as 9years old, are warehoused in with seniors. This is where they live out their lives, day in and day out, for decades. With no peers, no activities and no joy.
The only alternative is for the families to care for them at home. They make this immense sacrifice out out of love, but it comes with a devastating toll. Exhausted, isolated and alone they are continually forced to fight for basic support and services within our complicated and siloed government systems. The government uses these families. They use their love, their tears and decades of their lives, so the "system" doesn't have to pay for their care or address their needs.
IT'S TIME TO ADDRESS THEIR NEEDS.
IT'S TIME TO GIVE THESE YOUTH THEIR OWN HOME
WITH MEDICAL SUPPORT
AND A REAL QUALITY OF LIFE
FOR THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES
Basic life sustaining care should not be purchased off the the backs of Saskatchewan Families.
Join us as we challenge the status quo.
Join us as we make a difference in these Young People's lives in providing appropriate and compassionate services for the severely handicapped and brain injured youth in our province.
Currently medically complex youth, some as young as 9years old, are warehoused in with seniors. This is where they live out their lives, day in and day out, for decades. With no peers, no activities and no joy.
The only alternative is for the families to care for them at home. They make this immense sacrifice out out of love, but it comes with a devastating toll. Exhausted, isolated and alone they are continually forced to fight for basic support and services within our complicated and siloed government systems. The government uses these families. They use their love, their tears and decades of their lives, so the "system" doesn't have to pay for their care or address their needs.
IT'S TIME TO ADDRESS THEIR NEEDS.
IT'S TIME TO GIVE THESE YOUTH THEIR OWN HOME
WITH MEDICAL SUPPORT
AND A REAL QUALITY OF LIFE
FOR THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES
Basic life sustaining care should not be purchased off the the backs of Saskatchewan Families.
Join us as we challenge the status quo.
Join us as we make a difference in these Young People's lives in providing appropriate and compassionate services for the severely handicapped and brain injured youth in our province.
Saskatchewan youth who have suffered brain injuries will soon have a place to stay.
Efforts are under way to open Feather Ridge Care Home in Christopher Lake on Hwy 263 near Prince Albert National Park .Once it opens, the 10-bed facility would be the province’s first long-term care home specifically catering to youth and young adults. But it still needs more funds before it can start operating. Registered nurse Kerrie Elliott is the founder of Feather Ridge Care Home, and talked to Evan Bray about the status of the project. |
“We are just waiting for government funding so that we can open our doors. We are ready to go, we have empty beds, we have the staff and we have the clientele and the families.”
Elliott said the facility would emphasize compassionate care.
“It is 24-hour nursing and a youthful, fun and compassionate environment that’s more homelike — it’s not an institution, it’s a home. We are working with families and community groups to make that happen,” Elliott said.
The project has been in the works for about three year, and Elliott said the facility was developed to fill a gap in care for brain injuries.
Elliott said there was good support for children in the province, but nothing once they “age-out” of that care.
Youth and young adults with brain injuries in Saskatchewan have ended up staying in senior care homes because there was no dedicated facility for youth or young adults. she said.
Some families opt to look after brain injured youth at home rather than see them go into seniors care, and Elliott said that creates its own stresses.
Families of brain injured youth spoke out on the show in favor of the project. One of those was Connie Bridle, whose son Zander needs care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at home.
“It’s a lot of time commitment, and we just do what we can to help him the best we can,” said Bridle, who said she had to give up her employment. “He’s been my full time job.”
Bridle said Feather Ridge would be the ideal solution for her family. “If we can only get this facility to open up it would be great,” she said.
Advocacy group Saskatchewan Royal Purple is supporting the effort. Royal Purple past president Sandi Lougheed voiced her support for the project, saying brain injured people are vastly underserved in the province.
“It isn’t fair for young people who are brain injured to spend their life in senior homes,” said Lougheed. “They deserve a home within the province of Saskatchewan.”
Elliott said the facility would emphasize compassionate care.
“It is 24-hour nursing and a youthful, fun and compassionate environment that’s more homelike — it’s not an institution, it’s a home. We are working with families and community groups to make that happen,” Elliott said.
The project has been in the works for about three year, and Elliott said the facility was developed to fill a gap in care for brain injuries.
Elliott said there was good support for children in the province, but nothing once they “age-out” of that care.
Youth and young adults with brain injuries in Saskatchewan have ended up staying in senior care homes because there was no dedicated facility for youth or young adults. she said.
Some families opt to look after brain injured youth at home rather than see them go into seniors care, and Elliott said that creates its own stresses.
Families of brain injured youth spoke out on the show in favor of the project. One of those was Connie Bridle, whose son Zander needs care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at home.
“It’s a lot of time commitment, and we just do what we can to help him the best we can,” said Bridle, who said she had to give up her employment. “He’s been my full time job.”
Bridle said Feather Ridge would be the ideal solution for her family. “If we can only get this facility to open up it would be great,” she said.
Advocacy group Saskatchewan Royal Purple is supporting the effort. Royal Purple past president Sandi Lougheed voiced her support for the project, saying brain injured people are vastly underserved in the province.
“It isn’t fair for young people who are brain injured to spend their life in senior homes,” said Lougheed. “They deserve a home within the province of Saskatchewan.”
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Not so long ago the word ‘pivot’ was a buzzword, an approach that allowed businesses and organizations to survive in challenging times. The key to success was the speed at which one could pivot from the usual to re-imagine new, more efficient ways to provide services.
During my summer tour of Saskatchewan Rivers, I have been made aware of how, often, government bureaucracy prevents common-sense solutions. |
Case in point. In beautiful Christopher Lake sits a modern facility equipped to provide Level 4 care for 10 beds. Walking in, it feels like ‘home’, not an institution. Owner Karrie Elliot tells me everything she needs to open is in place including staff and a wait list of clients. Unfortunately for those families, Elliott’s business model does not ‘fit’ the government’s existing programs.
Elliott, who is a registered psychiatric nurse, has seen many youth and young adults with complex needs languishing in long term care homes designed to care for seniors. Her passion, is to provide a home-like environment, focused on quality of life, youthful activities and a youthful environment for those patients, while also delivering specialized nursing care.
But Level 4 care does not come at the same cost as a regular group home. Registered nurses for round-the-clock care must be employed and with that come extra costs like medical liability insurance at $40,000 per year. Elliott has, with the support of notable advocates, been asking the government to fund the facility including the extra costs since 2021. She has made several presentations to government committees at the Saskatchewan Legislature.
The government’s response has been to tell Elliott to create a model that fits their checklist. Government is willing to fund nurses wages, but everything else must be paid for by the patients or their families.
Given that most adult patients would be on some type of Social Services benefit, (Long Term Care Home Supplement or Sask Assured Income for Disabilities), patients have no means to pay their own way for that level of care. So, the governments’ own funding models don’t provide enough income for these people to pay for their care within the government system.
And so, families continue to struggle to provide complex-needs care for their young-adult loved ones in their own homes or put them in senior’s facilities. They are forced to compete with other families for scarce resources. Many parents spend their senior years caring for adult children even while they themselves may develop health challenges.
Where is the fresh, innovative thinking that we enjoyed when the Sask Party first won the right to govern? Why has it devolved into bloated bureaucracy with layers of over-regulation? Why does it insist on one-size-fits-all policies which paralyze entrepreneurs, municipal councils and even local boards charged with administering government programs?
An example of this regulation paralysis is easily seen with the state of Housing Authorities in the province.
It is becoming common knowledge that many low-income units sit vacant across the province, while potential renters who don’t quite meet regulation, are not allowed to rent them. Other units sit in disrepair, with no budget to fix them.
In some cases, good renters have even been evicted because their income has risen slightly above the income cap. If there is no-where else in the community to rent, that family leaves the community, creating a ripple-effect loss for everyone including the government. This is not wise use of our tax dollars.
Why can’t local boards, particularly in rural areas, be empowered with flexibility to make common-sense adjustments based on evolving community needs?
There are dozens of other examples that could be cited, but the bottom line is ‘big-picture’ policy often defeats local level common-sense. We need to provide the gatekeepers with enough flexibility to carry out the ‘spirit’ of the regulation rather than be bound to the ‘letter’ of it, based on actual community needs and/or entrepreneurial initiatives.
If we do this, we can bring back the concept that government owes citizens easily accessed service and value for the taxes they entrust government to manage.
Elliott, who is a registered psychiatric nurse, has seen many youth and young adults with complex needs languishing in long term care homes designed to care for seniors. Her passion, is to provide a home-like environment, focused on quality of life, youthful activities and a youthful environment for those patients, while also delivering specialized nursing care.
But Level 4 care does not come at the same cost as a regular group home. Registered nurses for round-the-clock care must be employed and with that come extra costs like medical liability insurance at $40,000 per year. Elliott has, with the support of notable advocates, been asking the government to fund the facility including the extra costs since 2021. She has made several presentations to government committees at the Saskatchewan Legislature.
The government’s response has been to tell Elliott to create a model that fits their checklist. Government is willing to fund nurses wages, but everything else must be paid for by the patients or their families.
Given that most adult patients would be on some type of Social Services benefit, (Long Term Care Home Supplement or Sask Assured Income for Disabilities), patients have no means to pay their own way for that level of care. So, the governments’ own funding models don’t provide enough income for these people to pay for their care within the government system.
And so, families continue to struggle to provide complex-needs care for their young-adult loved ones in their own homes or put them in senior’s facilities. They are forced to compete with other families for scarce resources. Many parents spend their senior years caring for adult children even while they themselves may develop health challenges.
Where is the fresh, innovative thinking that we enjoyed when the Sask Party first won the right to govern? Why has it devolved into bloated bureaucracy with layers of over-regulation? Why does it insist on one-size-fits-all policies which paralyze entrepreneurs, municipal councils and even local boards charged with administering government programs?
An example of this regulation paralysis is easily seen with the state of Housing Authorities in the province.
It is becoming common knowledge that many low-income units sit vacant across the province, while potential renters who don’t quite meet regulation, are not allowed to rent them. Other units sit in disrepair, with no budget to fix them.
In some cases, good renters have even been evicted because their income has risen slightly above the income cap. If there is no-where else in the community to rent, that family leaves the community, creating a ripple-effect loss for everyone including the government. This is not wise use of our tax dollars.
Why can’t local boards, particularly in rural areas, be empowered with flexibility to make common-sense adjustments based on evolving community needs?
There are dozens of other examples that could be cited, but the bottom line is ‘big-picture’ policy often defeats local level common-sense. We need to provide the gatekeepers with enough flexibility to carry out the ‘spirit’ of the regulation rather than be bound to the ‘letter’ of it, based on actual community needs and/or entrepreneurial initiatives.
If we do this, we can bring back the concept that government owes citizens easily accessed service and value for the taxes they entrust government to manage.