Category: Archive: Jun 2020

“Choose One” Exercise for Enhancing Relationships

By Kathy Laurenhue, M.A., CHP “Choose One” is a way of learning something about the routines, preferences, and values of others by asking participants if they are more like A or B and following their answers with discussion. What follows is adapted from my book, Getting to Know the Life Stories of Older Adults. Let’s jump right in: Are you more of an early bird or a night owl? If I am your caregiver or teammate, your answer will give me a clue to when you are most alert, most likely to be at your best, and the optimum…

READ MORE

Supporting Staff in Long-Term Care as They Grieve the Deaths of Their Residents from COVID-19

By Mary Kaplan, M.S.W., LCSW Although death, dying, and grief are day-to-day experiences in the working lives of long-term care staff, the recent surge in the numbers of residents in these settings dying from COVID-19 has led to a cumulative burden of ongoing grief. The emotional impact of each loss for these caregivers is compounded by their own risk for contracting and spreading the virus and the lack of organizational attention to their emotional needs. Approximately 40 percent of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 have occurred in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, a statistic that…

READ MORE

Our Devastating Disregard for Elder Care Workers

By Jill Vitale-Aussem, LNHA, MMH, author of Disrupting the Status Quo of Senior Living: A Mindshift This post was originally shared on www.jillvitaleaussem.com and has been re-posted here with permission. View the original post here. I thought perhaps a few of my friends would check out my first blog post, “Nursing Homes Need Support, Not Blame.” To my great surprise, over 144,000 people have read it so far. What that tells me is that our field is in desperate need of validation and support. In the past couple of weeks, negative…

READ MORE

Creating Cultures of Dignity

These days, it feels the whole nation is watching the long-term care communities with an array of emotions: judgement, compassion, sympathy, and sometimes outrage. Living and working under this microscope can weigh heavily on the entire long-term care community. Stress levels begin to run high and relationships among care-partners can become strained. When the outside world makes us feel unworthy of honor and respect, we begin to pass that sentiment on to our teammates and our capacity to build strong relationships begins to diminish. We must look within ourselves and: Believe we matter Know our value Understand our WHY Believe…

READ MORE