Janice Hooper is no stranger to being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Qualicum Beach volunteer firefighter faces the possibility she will have to drop everything at a moment’s notice on a daily basis.
That’s one reason she has no problem doing her day job, as a part of the team at Nurse Next Door in Qualicum Beach, where she also finds herself at the business end of a pager 24/7.
“I’m used to it,” she said.
Hooper was on hand at the Health and Wellness fair at the Community Hall in Qualicum Beach recently, along with Peter Coulter, the president of company operations.
The key, Coulter said, is to help seniors stay in their homes for as long as possible.
“We keep seniors living in their homes for as long as they want,” Coulter said. “We do overnights, cooking, cleaning and helping with household needs, so they don’t have to go into a facility. It saves money on health care, allows people to live in their own homes and frees up hospital waiting rooms.”
The Nurse Next Door has 50 branches across the country but this year Qualicum Beach won the award for the best in the country.
“We have the best team in Canada as staff,” he said.