Coordinated Community Response Teams

Across Alberta, CCRs look different from community to community, as each of them has been developed by grass roots organizations based on local needs and resources. The majority of them meet formally throughout the year, however some CCRs are more informal, and may be constructed as a list of service providers with whom the case manager has developed connections and relationships with, to work with them on a regular basis in support of their community's response to elder abuse.

Some informal CCRs only meet when a need arises, such as the planning of a WEAAD event (the rest of the time they act as a resource to the case manager), while others meet regularly, have protocols, MOUs, and response levels detailed within their formal structure. The commonality is that these groups have all demonstrated some form of commitment to working together with various partners to address elder abuse in some way.

In a survey of AEAAC case managers, respondents stated that all (100%) of their CCRs not only connect to discuss elder abuse, but to discuss other topics related to older adults in their community as well, as so many issues are overlapping or connected. When surveyed, 89% of respondents felt it was valuable having a CCR to support a case manager, and 78% consider CCRs as a benefit to their community. There is some discrepancy about the importance of a CCR between large centres, such as Edmonton and Calgary, versus the smaller cities and rural areas. The more rural and remote the area, the more they value the CCR.

In a January 2023 survey of one community's CCR, 100% of its members said that being a part of the CCR was a valuable use of their time and provided a benefit to them. The most valuable functions, in order of importance (according to the members), were:

• Information sharing
• Networking and relationship building
• Brain storming gaps and how needs may be addressed
• Identifying gaps and needs
• Training and education

There is no standard of practice when it comes to CCRs, as they are grass root structures developed by community to address specific local needs, and as such, the composition and structure of each one is unique. However, they do fulfil common roles in the type of work that they do, including:

• Advocacy (100%)
• Information sharing and networking (100%)
• Education and training (90%)
• Planning and hosting WEAAD events (90%)
• Providing elder abuse response services (support services, information and referral, and specific services such as form filling) (90%)
• Case conferencing and consulting (90%)
• Problem-solving with other organizations (acting as a resource or sounding board) (90%)

The majority (approx. 80%) of AEAAC CCRs currently provide services to an area surrounding their community, such as the rural areas, small towns, hamlets, and villages around them.

Additionally, most CCRs and case managers have been very helpful in consulting with communities and areas near them that they may not be able to directly service, but that they can help through the brainstorming of ideas, acting as a sounding board, and the provision of information and referrals, etc.

Some of the comments we received about CCRs and the importance of having them (as well as case managers) in communities were:

• "They would be described as indispensable."
• "It's a coordinated point of contact…"
• "This has been invaluable for our community and region."
• "(They are a) valuable "community based" response (and) the community sees a need for this role."
• "Networking at meetings increased partnerships."

Some common partners of and on local CCRs that we find throughout the province include:

• Police/law enforcement (peace officers)
• Victim Services/Victim Assistance
• Senior Centres/Senior-serving organizations (i.e., Seniors Outreach)
• Shelters (women's shelters, elder abuse shelters, and sometimes emergency shelters)
• Immigrant serving organizations
• Indigenous/Métis-serving organizations
• Churches/religious organizations
• Domestic and family violence services
• Family and Community Support Services
• Mental health/addiction services
• Alberta Health Services (home care, placement/coordinated access, physicians, nurses)
• Primary Care Networks
• Senior housing facilities/organizations
• Social service organizations (Catholic Social Services, Salvation Army, Mustard Seed, food banks, etc.)

Additionally, some also hold representatives from libraries, legal organizations, Office of the Public Guardian/Office of the Public Trustee, banks, and counselling services, as well as a variety of local organization specific to their community or region.

CCRs throughout the province not only provide a valuable service within their community, but they also connect and support one another through the CCR Community of Practice. This is a valuable resource for CCR coordinators to network, share trends, ask questions of one another, share information and training opportunities, and to discuss practice issues to create common understanding.

Some challenges for our CCRs are:
CCRs in smaller communities often don't have the same access to services or service providers as they would in larger centres, and often fail to have a representative from critical organizations willing to attend, or to see the value in attending CCR meetings. In these instances, case managers and CCRs still work to build key connections and relationships, but they do define it as a gap that they have and need to address.

Additionally, some CCRs are just trying to "stay afloat" while doing this work "off the side of their desk". Without the funding to coordinate CCRs, it is a piece of work that can often "fall off the radar" as there is typically no one organization with a mandate to support a CCR to address elder abuse (or older adult issues in general for that matter). Strengthened support, both financially and in recognition that the work is important, would prove beneficial — helping these communities to continue their much-needed work, and even to grow it in others.