Leslie Pedtke’s community had been using personal body alarms with their residents to prevent falls, putting residents’ dignity on the backburner in order to ensure their safety. But staff came to discover that the emotional well-being of the residents was just as important as their physical well-being. Leah, a CNA, spent time living as a resident, which included wearing a body alarm. She absolutely hated wearing it. She said, “I can’t imagine what it must be like to be wearing this thing if you have dementia. It must scare the crap out of them.”

Of course it does! It also inhibits residents from getting a good night’s sleep, which puts them at an even greater risk of falls. The staff in Leslie’s community found that using body alarms can actually cause falls, and took steps to eliminate using them entirely. This became a great lesson for the staff in transforming their culture away from being reactive to situations and adopting more proactive approaches. Eliminating alarms forced staff  to communicate with each other as well as with the residents to get at the heart of what was causing falls.