A Brief History of Aberdeen Health and Community Services

Aberdeen Health and Community Services was established in 1907 (under the name Victorian Order of Nurses), with one nurse, Miss Lena Grey.  Miss Grey was engaged at a salary of $30 per month plus, “board, washing and costumes", the latter to be covered up to a maximum of $40 a year. That first year's salary of $510 was donated by three generous citizens, Mr. Frank Cockshutt, Mrs. Harry Cockshutt, and Mrs. Robert Schell. 1,385 visits were made in the first year of service.

From 1909 to 1931 much of the work of the VON was directed to halting the spread of TB. Staffing grew to a total of 4 nurses. Unmarried staff were required to ‘live in’ and the nurse made visits by foot, bicycle and public transport. The citizens of Brantford were generous in their support of this valuable community service.

The Branch received its first set of wheels in 1940, given by three generous donors. The nurses were very excited, because they could cover the entire Branch area every day, 365 days a year!

In 1958 as the Branch celebrated its 50th Anniversary of community service, Mr. E. H. Coffey was President of the Board of Leadership. The signing into law of the Homemakers and Nurses Services Act of 1958 provided for nursing and homemaking services to anyone in need of care, with payment to come from the Municipality, as long as the individual met certain criteria. The Branch anticipated a great increase in visits under the able direction of Nurse-in-Charge, Miss Pauline Johnson. However, the year also saw much illness and many resignations among the staff, and the cutback of funding by Brantford Community Chest reduced the Branch to a four nurse operation. Despite the staffing difficulties, 6,867 visits were made with a total expenditure of $26,751.

By 1968, another diversification in service began. Our Branch was responsible for the establishment of the Brant County Home Care Program. A great increase in nursing visits resulted from the new program which provided fully insured health care for acute illnesses. Our nurses therefore had less time to do maternity-related visits and these were gradually relinquished to the Public Health Nursing Division of the Brant County Health Unit.

The decade of the '70's brought additional changes to our organization. In 1970, services were extended to NorfolkCounty and by 1971, to HaldimandCounty.

In 1976, we assumed responsibility for the administration of the Visiting Homemaker Service of Haldimand-Norfolk, which had begun two years earlier under the auspices of the local Health Unit. By 1978, 21,986 hours of homemaking service were being provided by 32 homemakers under the able direction of Mrs. Grace Hill.  Miss Ruby Cuthbert was now the District Director and her staff of 10 full-time and 15 part-time nurses provided 24,489 nursing visits at a cost per visit of $12.49.

The eighties saw additional 'firsts' in the services areas of the Branch. The inception of the Chronic Home Care Program in Brant in 1980, and in Haldimand-Norfolk in 1982 resulted in dramatic increases in service hours and staff in both the nursing and homemaking services.

In 1987 the Branch celebrated the completion of its 80th year of service with another move to a greatly enlarged office on Grey Street. The Branch assumed responsibility for Brant Placement Co-ordination Service in January 1988. The certification of the nursing staff under the Ontario Nurses' Association brought new challenges. The organizational structure of the Branch began to change as the first Departmental Director was hired for the Visiting Homemaker Service.

In 1992, the Branch completed 85 years of community service -- an achievement of survival, commitment and excellence.    

Based on the belief that front-line service delivery to the client should be better co-ordinated, in 1994 we prepared for the future by changing our organizational structure with the integration of Nursing, Homemaking and Alzheimer Respite services into the Department of Client Services.  Supported by the unified leadership and administrative systems, front-line workers, in partnership with other service providers, are able to communicate more clearly about client services, resulting in more holistic care in the community. 

In 1995, our Branch proudly introduced Volunteer Services to BrantCounty, with a beginning focus on palliative care and a later expansion to friendly visiting.  Also in 1995, the Branch created a position dedicated to Total Quality Leadership, to focus on the commitment of enhancing customer service.  In order to prepare for ongoing pressures on the Visiting Nursing and Visiting Homemaking programs, VON launched formal business development activities to diversify the range of services provided to the communities we serve.

During 1995, our organization continued to participate in the ongoing reform of the long term care system.  We were pleased to see a change in government, which removed the threat of forced amalgamation into local multi-service agencies.  Little did we know that the future of community health care services under the Progressive Conservative Party would be equally as challenging as it was under the former New Democratic Party government.  It was most interesting to hear the announcement of the creation of Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) across Ontario, which would join together the current Home Care Programs and Placement Co-ordination Services.  New boards would be appointed to govern the newly created independent organizations, which would establish a competitive bidding process for service provider agencies.