Our Mission
We provide support to people with HIV/AIDS and HCV (Hepatitis C) who have immediate healthcare needs to realize positive health and wellness outcome through the provision of:
- Transitional Care
- Respite Care
- End of Life Care
The Home with a Heart
The John Gordon Home (JGH) provides a haven for individuals who are experiencing turmoil and significant challenges in their lives due to HIV, HCV, and other complications. A home should be a place of stability where people are loved, and experience compassion and a sense of safety. The John Gordon Home is that place.
JGH is a home where people care. It is a place where people are willing to help, and are committed to empowering individuals, and accepting everyone for who they are.
We provide clients a range of supports, including: referrals; a welcoming residence; and nutritional, recreational, and other supports which allow clients to experience a stable living environment. Here, clients gain time to reflect on the changes they need to make, and to access the services necessary for their wellbeing.
Our clients are individuals who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS or HCV, and who also have immediate health care requirements. Through our services and supports, JGH assists clients in London to realize positive health and wellness outcomes. We support clients through three categories of care including: transitional care, such as short term housing; respite care; and end of life care for those individuals who require palliative support. These services are supported by our wide range of in-house programming.
Meeting the need
John Gordon Home, works in collaboration with community partners to provide a supportive living environment and a continuum of programs and services to people with HIV/AIDS and HCV.
Evidence shows that deaths from AIDS-related causes have significantly decreased. This appears to be directly related to the introduction of HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy.) The leading causes of AIDS-related deaths include mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), pneumonia, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Deaths from non-AIDS related conditions have increased, and are related to the increasing age of the HIV population and the high incidence of co-morbidities like intravenous drug use and Hepatitis B and C (HCV) infection resulting in changes to service directions and resident needs. Drug overdoses, suicide, violence, malignancies, cardiovascular disease, and an increased history of smoking are also significant.
Despite the positive trend that individuals are living longer with HIV, there is still a need for palliative services and care. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines palliative care as an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering and the early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems.
A new pattern is emerging in the care and treatment of individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Individuals increasingly experience periods of health interrupted by bouts of illness that often respond positively to complex new treatments under HAART. Serving individuals with advanced HIV/AIDS, and supporting the exacerbations of their illness, requires the ability to competently assess, refer, and work with multiple agencies and healthcare providers. This combination of palliative and specialized care is at the heart of the supportive services provided by the John Gordon Home (JGH).
Funding
Funding for the John Gordon Home has been provided by the South West Local Health Ingtegration Network. John Gordon home also gratefully acknowledges the Ontario Ministry of Health - Long Term Care/Housing, the Ontario Ministry of Health/AIDS Bureau and the City of London for their funding and support.
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