Latest news with #MikePowell
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Four N.L. care homes reach national standard for the first time in provincial first
Four personal care homes are now the first in Newfoundland and Labrador to receive national accreditation for their quality of care. Fort Amherst Healthcare announced that all of the company's four facilities have been recognized by Accreditation Canada after a 2-year process of rigorous assessment to bring their operations to a national standard of care. "What the accreditation process does is it holds up a magnifying glass to every piece of your operating procedure," Forth Amherst Healthcare President Mike Powell said at a press conference in St. John's. Fort Amherst Healthcare's Accreditation Manager Cecilia Penney says it also requires facilities to create better systems to document their work, residents' experiences and manage incident reports. More transparency was one of the many recommendations called for in the Auditor General's scathing report on the state of personal care homes in the province. The report found instances of verbal and sexual abuse allegations, residents going missing and death. Some of these incidents are currently under police investigation. The auditor general also expressed concerns that operational standards haven't been updated since 2007. "We're talking about voluntarily adhering to a higher set of standards than what already exists from a provincial regulation perspective, " Powell said. One of these elevated standards is with incident disclosure. When an incident occurs in a personal care home, staff have a protocol to make family or loved ones aware. "I would say that an accreditation approach goes a little bit deeper and it says, how are you engaging with the people that you're disclosing things to?" Powell said. Penney says the process has also brought benefits to staff satisfaction, leading to the creation of a wellness program to reduce burnout.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Nature Conservancy planting 36,000 trees to restore Canaan Valley
DAVIS, (WBOY) — In honor of Earth Week, volunteers with The Nature Conservancy have spent the past three days visiting Canaan Valley to plant thousands of trees. The Nature Conservancy explained that previously, the area was dominated by balsam fir and red spruce, but much of it was cleared out due to agriculture and logging. Restoring Canaan Valley with these native plants is important to restoring the habitat and ensuring the survival of different species, such as the Cheat Mountain salamander and the West Virginia northern flying squirrel. 12 News talked to Mike Powell, Director of Land Management in Stewardship for the Nature Conservancy in West Virginia, who said that as part of the global effort 'Plant a Billion Trees,' the Nature Conservancy is going to plant 36,000 trees in Canaan Valley this year as well as 56,000 trees across West Virginia and 75,000 trees in Appalachians. Cheat River Rail-Trail open for recreation in Kingwood 'We're going to ramp that up next year. So just here in Canaan Valley alone, we have a goal of planting about 150,000 trees next year,' Powell said. Powell explained that Canaan Valley is ecologically important, and that Nature Conservancy research suggests that Canaan Valley 'is actually going to be, and already is, a super highway for species to be able to move up and further north.' He said the Nature Conservancy is restoring Canaan Valley so that species 'have a place to either stay when they find suitable habitat here in a changing climate, or they're able to move further up the mountain or further north to adapt to those changing climate conditions.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
