Project ECHO
Personal Support Workers
All Teach, All Learn
Building Skills, Knowledge, and Confidence
Project ECHO
Personal care providers are essential healthcare team members who deliver personal care and support to individuals receiving home care. This Project ECHO stream reinforces national standards and best practices outlined in the National Occupational Standard for Personal Care Providers. It offers opportunities to learn new skills, gain knowledge from experts, and connect with peers in home care. This stream is designed to make learning easy, practical, and effective, enhancing professional growth and improving the quality of home care provided.
2027 Theme
Safe Care at Home and in the Community: Personal Support Worker Scope, Client Choice and Risk
Practical Skills, Knowledge and Attitudes for Personal Support Workers
Providing care in a person’s home or community setting can raise complex questions about safety, client choice and a care provider’s responsibilities. Personal Support Workers (PSWs) and personal care providers can benefit from practical guidance to recognize concerns, respond within their scope and know when to seek support.
Informed by Project ECHO participants and frontline Reference Groups, this series will explore topics including abuse and neglect, consent and capacity, refusal of care, dignity of risk, professional boundaries, documentation, reporting and ethical decision-making.
Through expert-led presentations and realistic case studies, participants will explore how to apply these topics in everyday practice while respecting client rights and dignity. Aligned with the National Occupational Standards for Personal Care Providers, this series launches during Canadian Patient Safety Week and connects Healthcare Excellence Canada’s 2026 theme, “What Shapes Safer Care?”, with the realities of providing care at home and in the community.
What Shapes Safer Care at Home? How PSWs Support Safety, Choice, Risk in Care
October 28 | 12:00 – 1:00 pm Eastern Time (check local time zone)
Safer care at home is often shaped by everyday actions: listening, obtaining consent, respecting client choice, recognizing changes, protecting privacy, documenting objectively and speaking up when concerns arise.
This session will explore the PSW role in balancing safety, dignity, risk and client preferences while staying within scope. Participants will develop a practical safety lens to recognize when concerns require documentation, escalation or a review of the care plan, and strengthen practices that support safer care.
Teaching Presenter:
Guest
Healthcare Excellence Canada
Case Study Presenters:
Britt La Brie and LuAnn Lederman, CarePartners
*This teleECHO session is offered in English. Translated captioning available.
Past TeleECHO Learning Sessions
Observation to Action: Responding to Abuse and Neglect in Home Care Clients
May 13, 2026
Laura Tamblyn Watts explored how personal care providers can recognize, respond to, and report abuse, neglect, exploitation, and mistreatment of older adults. She outlined common and less obvious warning signs, distinguished neglect from self-neglect, emphasized trauma-informed inquiry and safety planning, and highlighted the importance of understanding provincial reporting pathways, confidentiality, capacity, and when urgent police involvement may be required.
TeleECHO Session
Expert Presentation Slides
Resources
Learning Snapshot
Consent, Understanding, and Care: Recognizing Mental Capacity for Personal Care Providers
April 15, 2026
Laura Tamblyn Watts highlighted how mental capacity factors in everyday home care, helping personal care providers understand who can make decisions, how capacity can fluctuate, and what informed consent requires. Using practical examples, she clarifies substitute decision-making, powers of attorney, and common misconceptions. The session supports providers to recognize concerns and contribute to safe, respectful, person-centred care.
Recognize, Respond, Report: Substance Use in Home Care Clients
March 25, 2026
Marilyn White-Campbell emphasized that alcohol use in older adults can be hidden due to other symptoms of aging and dementia including poor sleep, self-neglect, memory loss, confusion, falls, tremors, and slurred speech. She highlighted daily drinking above low-risk guidance, visible empties, defensiveness, smoking-related safety risks, and the need for trauma-informed, stigma-reducing communication with clear reporting to the care team.
Seeing the Person Beyond the Behaviour: Responding with Understanding and Care
January 14, 2026
Kim Schryburt-Brown described dementia as changes in memory, thinking, perception, and mood, with responsive behaviours signaling unmet needs. Using Mr. Ng’s case, she showed how anosognosia leads him to believe he doesn’t need help. She emphasized connecting before tasks, reducing anxiety, cueing before touch, preparing the environment, supporting familiar routines, stopping when care feels threatening, and working with the care team and family for safe approaches.
Preventing Wounds, Promoting Comfort
June 17, 2025
Danielle Heisler provided an overview of how pressure injuries develop, including early warning signs and risk areas like heels and sacrum. Justine Lowry shared practical strategies to prevent and manage skin tears through gentle handling and protective clothing. Whitney Kendrick emphasized offloading techniques using posture, cushions, and repositioning to relieve pressure and prevent injury.
TeleECHO Session
Expert Presentation Slides
Learning Snapshot
Recognizing Skin Damage and When to Act
May 28, 2025
Kimberly LeBlanc emphasized the critical role of personal care providers in preventing and identifying skin damage, focusing on pressure injuries, skin tears, and moisture-associated skin damage. She shared practical strategies for skin assessment, repositioning, moisturizing, and reporting. Amanda Connolly followed with a real-world case study, demonstrating how consistent repositioning, barrier use, and family education supported healing in a high-risk client with ALS and compromised skin integrity
Foundations of Skin and Skin Care
May 7, 2025
Maryanne D’Arpino emphasized the critical role that personal care providers play as the first line of defense in skin care. Dr. Gary Sibbald explained how the skin works, how to recognize lesions, and how to prevent problems such as wounds or tears. He shared practical tips that personal care providers can use when caring for people in their homes.
Continue your learning
The Project ECHO Home and Community Care Learning Hub offers a variety of resources for healthcare providers delivering home- and community-based care. Through the hub, you can access:
- On-demand TeleECHO session recordings that feature expert presentations and case-based discussions.
- Presentation slides from subject matter experts.
- Evidence-based resources, including articles and reports supporting clinical practices.
- 10-minute micro-learning courses on key learning content for a selection of TeleECHO topics.
The Palliative Care ECHO Project is supported by a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.
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Established in 1990, the Canadian Home Care Association (CHCA) is a national non-profit membership association dedicated to advancing excellence in home and community care.
General Inquiries: chca@cdnhomecare.ca
Membership Inquiries: membership@cdnhomecare.ca
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