Continuing Care nurse provides care for patients at home on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore

When you meet Lynette Jones, you sense her passion for nursing right away. Jones is a Nova Scotia Health Continuing Care registered nurse (RN) at the Continuing Care Office at Twin Oaks Memorial Hospital in Musquodoboit Harbour. 
 
Nova Scotia Health Continuing Care supports people of all ages who need home care, community care services and long-term care. Jones has been a team member with Continuing Care for the past four years and brings a great deal of experience to her role having worked in a variety of clinical areas since graduating from Memorial University’s School of Nursing in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2016. 
 
Using Twin Oaks Memorial Hospital as their home base, Jones and her colleagues work closely with patients, clients and families to ensure they have access to the supports they need to remain at home as long as possible or return home following a stay in hospital. “I have the best job in the world, I get to visit the beautiful people of the Eastern Shore every day,” said Jones. 
 
The three-person team in Musquodoboit Harbour provides general nursing care, including: IV therapy, infusions, IV antibiotics, central line care, catheter care, medication management, wound care, post-surgery follow-up for joint replacements and other general nursing care. “A big part of keeping people at home, especially for end of life, is making sure their needs are met, and their family is comfortable and managing,” said Jones. “Some of the people we visit regularly have issues with their memory. We make sure they have the appropriate resources and are successfully managing their medications.”
 
To enhance the care they offer clients and patients at home, the team also provides direct referrals to Nova Scotia Health services and clinics (e.g., occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietician support, etc.). “Being part of a larger health organization allows us to directly refer clients to Nova Scotia Health,” said Jones. “I love working with our interprofessional teams to access resources when needed to create a more seamless experience for patients and clients.”
 
Before embarking on her nursing career, Jones worked as a housekeeper at the Geriatric Medicine and Progressive Care Unit at Nova Scotia Health’s Abbie J. Lane Hospital in Halifax as well as Dartmouth General and the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth. Working in housekeeping gave Jones a glimpse into the work that nurses do daily. This exposure ignited her passion for nursing and her desire to make life better and more comfortable for patients.
With encouragement and support from her nurse manager at Abbie J. Lane, Jones began nursing school in her 30’s. “We have some very special people working at Nova Scotia Health that recognize potential in people and really work to build them up and to promote that next line of nurses,” said Jones.
 
Prior to joining Continuing Care, Jones worked as a nurse at the Geriatric Medicine and Progressive Care Unit at Abbie J. Lane Hospital in Halifax for three years. She also worked in the Palliative Care Unit (7A) at the Victoria General Hospital for a year after completing her nursing degree. 
 
Jones’ desire to help others is evident. In sharing about her experience in Palliative Care, she expressed, “There was so much opportunity to provide comfort and closure and make things easier for people, you aren’t just nursing the person, you are nursing the whole family, it was one of my favourite places to work,” said Jones.
 
Jones and her daughter live a few minutes west of the hospital in East Chezzetcook, not far from popular Martinique Beach. “The work-life balance I have in my role enables me to be both a nurse and a mom,” said Jones. “This is the type of job where people stay long term.” 
 
If you or your loved one needs assistance to remain in your home or require support following a recent hospital stay anywhere in Nova Scotia, you can be referred to Nova Scotia Health Continuing Care. For more information or to make a referral, please call 1-800-225-7225 (toll free in Nova Scotia). Continuing care will work with you or your loved one to create a plan of care that is right for you.  For more information, visit https://www.nshealth.ca/continuing-care.