Category Archive

The Quality First blog is joining its sister blog, AAHSA’s Future of Aging Services blog. Please update your bookmarks to - http://futureofaging.wordpress.com/

How do you let consumers know your organization is quality?

AAHSA members are, of course, quality providers of aging services. However, do we convey that to consumers?

We are looking for ways to help you share your organization’s quality initiatives with consumers. To do so, we want to know what tools would be useful for you.

AAHSA’s hopping on the Facebook bandwagon, and we want you to join us! Click here to join the AAHSA Facebook group.

As a group member, you can connect with your colleagues near and far, watch videos, read the latest news in aging services and find out how AAHSA’s changing the face of aging in America.  Send us your contact information and we’ll make you a friend of AAHSA’s too. Let the social networking begin…

We’re developing a “Tips from the Experts” page of our Web site for consumers looking for guidance on finding and evaluating care and service options for seniors. …and guess who the experts are? Caregivers like you!

Here’s the categories we’re considering:

–How to evaluate a CCRC

–How to evaluate an assisted living residence

–How to evaluate a nursing home

–How to evaluate an adult day services provider

–How to evaluate a home health provider

–How to determine what services are best for an older person

–How to find services in your community

We’ll publish your tips on our Web site with your name and photo.  Let us know if we’re missing any questions or categories and we’ll add them to our site.

I’m looking forward to reading your responses!

First there was the slow food movement, now there is a push for slow medicine.

“Grounded in research at the Dartmouth Medical School, slow medicine encourages physicians to put on the brakes when considering care that may have high risks and limited rewards for the elderly, and it educates patients and families how to push back against emergency room trips and hospitalizations designed for those with treatable illnesses, not the inevitable erosion of advanced age.”

Slow medicine helps older adults make decisions for themselves when it comes to treatment. According to the article quoted above, this mission is much more easily accomplished when a person lives in a retirement community. Healthcare communities, like Kendal at Hanover, develop a relationship with the patient that includes finding out their wishes for their end of life care. The example below demonstrates how slow medicine works.

…at Kendal — which offers a continuum of care, from independent living apartments to a nursing home — death and dying is central to the conversation from Day 1.

So it was natural for Ms. Gieg to stay in touch with Joanne Sandberg-Cook, a nurse practitioner there, during her husband’s out-of-town consultation.

“I think that it is imperative that none of this be rushed!” Ms. Sandberg-Cook wrote in an e-mail message to Ms. Gieg. The doctor the Giegs had chosen, the nurse explained, “tends to be a ‘do-it-now’ kind of guy.” But the Giegs’ circumstances “demand the time to think about all the what-ifs.”

Ms. Sandberg-Cook asked whether Mr. Gieg would want treatment if he was found to have cancer. If not, why go through a biopsy, which might further weaken his voice? Or risk anesthesia, which could accelerate her husband’s dementia?

“Those are the very questions on my mind, too,” Ms. Gieg replied. The Giegs took their time, opted for no further tests or treatment, and Charley came back to the retirement community to die.

Conversely, many people who rely on home and community based health care or use no services at all, may not have the luxury to use the slow medicine movement. They are much more likely to call 911 when having a medical emergency which makes it more difficult for them to use less invasive procedures.

With so many life extending medicines and procedures, our culture can become fixated on living as long as possible without looking at the quality of life of the individual and their wishes. How does your organization balance the wants of the individual with potentially conflicting wants of family members? Does your organization subscribe to the slow medicine movement?

The Pioneer Network has posted the presentations from their Culture Change symposium online. The presentations are on the following topics:

• Private vs. Shared bedrooms in Nursing Homes
• Lighting: Partner in Quality Care Environments
• Nothing is Traditional about Environments in a Traditional Nursing Home
• Low Cost Practical Strategies
• Creating Home in a Nursing Home: Fantasy or Reality?
• National Fire Protection Association: Codes and Standards Making System
• History, Use and Application of NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®
• Strategies to Encourage and Nurture Culture Change
• Culture Change Initiative in Oregon
• Individualized Care Pilot for Nursing Homes
• CMS and Culture Change

Click here to see all of the presentations. Use them in developing your culture change initiatives.

The Colorado Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (CAHSA) honors members who have innovative Quality First programs. 2007 was the third year of the awards. Videos of the award winners are available on their site. Click the links below to view the videos.

The award winners are:

Christian Living Communities; “Pinewood Project”; Click here to watch video

Good Samaritan Society Fort Collins Village; “Video Care Plans”; Click here to watch video

Seniors’ Resource Center; “Strategic Plan”; Click here to watch video

Good Samaritan Society Fort Collins Village; “Character First Movement”; Click here to watch video

Seniors’ Resource Center; “Coordinated Care Model”; Click here to watch video

Marycrest Assisted Living Center; “Traumatic Brain Injury Educational Series”; Click here to watch video

Jewish Family Service of Colorado; “Colorado Senior Connections”; Click here to watch video

May is just around the corner and with it comes Older Americans Month. This year’s theme is Working Together for Strong, Healthy and Supportive Communities. Why not combine your Older Americans Month event with your AAHSA Homecoming event?

The Homecoming toolkit is full of ideas that will work for both celebrations. A few of them are:

• In view of Memorial Day, honor your community’s veterans. If your community doesn’t already do so,
  partner with other civic organizations to plan an event. It’s a good time to have a community-wide picnic.
• Sponsor an interfaith service to honor the oldest members of your community. Partner with your local interfaith council or reach out to several churches and synagogues in your community to schedule an Older Americans Month interfaith worship. Whether you publicize it as an “open” event or issue invitations, be sure to include local leaders and elected offi cials and if it’s feasible, give them the opportunity to offer either comments honoring your seniors or an inspirational message.
• Develop a senior story hour. Many of your residents and seniors have rich memories (some good, some bad and some simply funny) about your community’s history. Ask them to share these memories and the roles they played. Invite your neighbors to hear these stories and to share their own, as well.

Click here to get your materials for Older Americans Month and your AAHSA Homecoming toolkit. Don’t forget to let us know what you are doing so that we can share it with other members.

Happy Earth Day! In honor of the earth, please watch this video. It is discusses how each of us can help save the environment.

To find out more about how you can help, click here. Visit Green Seniors to download fliers and find out what older people are doing to help the environment.

As an organization that puts quality first, you know the importance of telling your story. Use your AAHSA Homecoming Week event to highlight your community involvement; talk about your activities and commitment in your speeches and mention them in your event materials. AAHSA Homecoming Week isn’t simply about hosting one event; it’s about sharing your good work with the community-at-large. Your Quality First initiative works hand in hand with this effort.

Quality First Connections

Highlight Quality First Element #4. Community Involvement by planning:

• Volunteer opportunities
• Social accountability programs that benefit the local community
• Activities with local business or faith organizations
• Public policy activities

Align with Quality First Element #10. Public Trust & Consumer Confidence to earn trust with:

• Residents and families by sharing their stories with your neighbors
• Employees by including them in the festivities
• Trustees and board members by showing them what you do everyday
• The media by teaching them more about your commitment to your community
• Policymakers by developing your relationship with them

Need more information?
Access additional Community Involvement and Public Trust resource materials in the “Resources” section of www.aahsa.org/qualityfirst.

Or find other quick Homecoming Week event ideas at www.AAHSAhomecoming.org.

Don’t forget to click here and let us know what you are doing for Homecoming.

This morning, I attended an insightful session at the Future of Aging Services conference. It was about cultural competency and diversity in aging services. The speakers discussed what cultural competency is, how to foster an inclusive environment and how to manage challenges.

It was inspiring to hear members’ stories. AAHSA members are working hard to make sure everyone in the community has a positive experience. This past summer, I interviewed Mary Devlin, administrator at Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, New York, about their efforts to become more culturally competent. Here are some of the insights she shared:

“Because 35 percent of its residents speak Chinese as their native language, Cabrini wanted to ensure it was adequately providing for this segment of its population. The program started out simply. Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO, noticed upon her arrival in 1991 that residents were eating very little and that their relatives were bringing them food. The center hired a Chinese chef and dietician, and residents began to eat much more. By providing residents food they enjoyed, Cabrini ensured it met residents’ nutritional needs.

“The success of the dietary changes encouraged the center to expand its initiatives. Establishing cultural competency in its programs required that staff be able
to function sufficiently within an environment that incorporates the residents’ cultures. Cabrini hired bilingual staff and taught Chinese to the staff.”

Creating an environment that both staff and residents are able to thrive in is key to being a quality community. What sorts of things are you doing in your community to increase your cultural competency?

From the Changing Aging Blog:

10 Leadership Traits for Building Greatness in Aging Services

1.  Tackle tough problems.

2. Find meaning and purpose in your work.

3. Collaborate, don’t isolate.

4.  Adapt quickly.

5.  Be accountable.

6.  Build trust.  Be honest.

7.  Empower others to lead and to innovate.

8.  Be curious - continually.

9.  Keep growing.

10.  Think widely - see the big picture.

What traits do you think are important for leaders in aging services?