The city of Cornwall and the united counties of Stormont,
Dundas and Glengarry officially launched the Cornwall Stormont Dundas Glengarry (CSDG) Situation Table in May 2017. The
purpose of the Situation Table is to bring front-line, acute-care, and
human-service agencies together to reduce situations of acutely elevated risk
in the community.
Health Quality Ontario had the chance to catch up
with members of the Situation Table to learn how this collaboration began and
the impacts it’s making in the community:
- Elyse Lauzon-Alguire, Cornwall, Stormont, Dundas
and Glengarry Situation Table Chair and Coordinator;
- Chris Clapp, Seaway Valley CHC Manager;
- Inspector Shawna Spowart of the Cornwall
Community Police Service;
- Christine Penney, Vice President, Community
Programs, Cornwall Hospital; and
- Sarah Kaplan, Senior Community Engagement
Specialist, Cornwall Hospital
Can you describe how
the Situation Table came to be?
In 2015, a group of community partners led by Cornwall
Community Hospital (CCH) got together to explore ways of improving
communication and collaboration to better serve clients that receive services
from multiple agencies. This group was called the Collaborative Care Working
Group.
This group soon recognized the link between Situation Table
models that they were hearing about from other regions and their desire to
enhance collaboration in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. The Cornwall Community
Police Service (CCPS) had a longstanding interest in the Situation Table model
and invited Norm Taylor, President, Global Network for Community Safety (who
had implemented similar models elsewhere) to Cornwall in November 2015.
The Collaborative Care Working Group attended this session
and was inspired to begin exploring the possibility of establishing a similar
table.
The CCPS applied for funding through a Proceeds of Crime
Front-Line Policing Grant (2016) to launch the project. The grant was approved
later that same year, which provided support for a CCH Project Manager who
coordinated and led the implementation effort. Multiple cross-sector partners
signed a Memorandum of Understanding and the Situation Table went live in May
2017.
Can you describe the population the Situation Table focuses on?
Our Situation Table focuses on members of the community who are at acutely elevated risk.
Acutely elevated risk (AER) is defined as a situation negatively affecting the health and safety of an individual, family, group or place where there is a high probability of imminent and significant harm to self or others.
This means that there are situations in our community where there is a strong probability that if someone does not intervene within 48 hours, the situation will escalate. The concept of acutely elevated risk reinforces the need for a collaborative response from multiple agencies to successfully reduce the level of risk.
Who are the cross-sector
partners in the Situation Table?
The table is made up of a core group of primary agencies
representing social services, police/justice, health services and education.
Ad-hoc agencies are called upon on a case by case basis to provide additional
support to the primary agencies at the table when required.
Members of the Stormont Dundas Glengarry Situation Table
Do partners receive
orientation?
Yes. A training session for member agencies was conducted by
the Community Safety Services sector of the Ministry of Community Safety and
Correctional Services prior to the first Situation Table meeting.
Online training is provided to all members of the Situation
Table through an online training program administered by Wilfred Laurier
University. All Situation Table members are required to sign a
nondisclosure/confidentiality agreement prior to participating in a table
discussion.
How does the
Situation Table work?
The average number of situations brought to the table on a
weekly basis is one. A
Four-Filter Model
of Information Sharing
is used to assess whether a situation meets the
threshold for acutely elevated risk and, therefore, can proceed to wraparound
intervention by relevant agencies.
Following the completion of the fourth filter, an
intervention should take place to address the needs of the individual, family,
or specific group of people and to eliminate or mitigate their risk of harm.
In all cases, if consent was not already provided prior to
the case being brought forward (e.g., to a Situation Table), obtaining consent
to permit any further sharing of personal information in support of providing
services must be a priority of the combined agencies/organizations responding
to the situation.
If upon mounting the intervention, the individual(s) being
offered the services declines, no further action (including further information
sharing) will be taken.
What have been the
outcomes of the Situation Table so far?
The overall goal of the Situation Table is to lower acute elevated
risk (AER) and have the involved party(ies) connected to appropriate services
in an expedited amount of time.
Our data indicates that between May 2nd, 2017 and May 1st,
2018, 85.37% of all situations resulted in the successful mitigation of the risk
where the overall risk has been lowered. This means that 35 out of 41 concluded
AER situations positively impacted the life of a local individual or family.
The breakdown is as follows:
An observed impact has been increased community connections
among service providers. The benefit is that there are enhanced relationships
among all partners and we now have our “go-to” people at various agencies.
There has been some fabulous resource sharing and ideas that are springing
forth from discussions about situations.
To read details of this initiative, read Stormont Dundas Glengarry Situation Table Annual Report.