Everyone is Aging Blog

As I have mentioned, the other communities I have stayed in were independent and assisted living and my accommodations included a full bathroom and kitchen. At first glance my room at Keswick seemed to be equal to most hotels I have stayed in. As I was unpacking my toothbrush in the bathroom, I realized that I didn’t have a shower!

This shouldn’t have been a surprise, because I have been to many nursing homes in my career and very few have rooms with private baths or showers. However, I didn’t bring a robe or anything to cover up on my morning march down the hall! Almost like clockwork a staff member arrived at my room with a gown and toiletries for my stay – like I said it’s a little like a 5 star hotel.

In the morning I headed down the hall for the shower. It was a huge shower with plenty of room, no barriers to entry and the ability to adjust the shower spray in any direction imaginable. If I wasn’t in a hurry, I could have spent a lot more time there. I am a huge proponent of Universal Design, while it might not be feasible for showers and bathrooms to be this large, they should all strive to be accessible. It makes it easier for those with all abilities.

It would be easy to take a negative viewpoint on the experience of having to walk down the hall to take a shower.  However, I have stayed in a few upscale bed and breakfasts where I had to do the same thing.

I know that there are some models of care that are focusing on private baths, and I can see how this will be a great benefit to residents, especially those living in these communities long-term.

 

Once again Jason Popko really got me thinking with his comment on my last post!

When I look at my kids aged 3 and 6 sleeping in their car seats, I am a bit envious. Their seats look incredibly comfortable with extra padding and an ergonomic design to hug your little ones body. These seats make sleeping in a car look better than a bed!. I would definitely pay extra money to have an adult sized car seat on my next cross country flight!

Stroller design is following the same track. The current strollers on the market are also designed with attention to safety and the comfort of the child. Strollers are also designed with special attention to the parent offering adjustable positioning, padding, and countless features designed for ease and convenience.

So what are strollers? They are wheelchairs for people who can’t walk YET. 

So what COULD wheelchairs be? They could be strollers for people who have difficulty walking.  

Most of these people CAN talk, they CAN reason, and they HAVE a history and stories to tell.  When you are strolling with one of these people you have the potential for a rich dialogue and a learning experience.

Our ProAging meeting last week at The Fairfax in Ft. Belvoir, VA featured Ben Cornthwaite, the 30 year old administrator of the nursing home at Greenspring, a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in Springfield, VA.  You can read about some of the details of his project here.

Over 100 senior-serving professionals were treated to Ben’s inspirational account of living as a resident in the nursing home that he manages to better understand how care is delivered and serve as a platform to help him improve as a leader.

The environment, setting, and approach to Ben’s immersion was different from my project. So I was excited to be able to apply his observations to the framework of the 8 Ps that I used to reflect on my project to expand my insights. Nora Nagatani also posted a entry on her blog sharing some of her thoughts about Ben’s presentation, click here to access.

A few of the highlights of Ben’s presentation included:

Ben talked about how he was intimately familiar with so many aspects of the community that he has managed, but was surprised at how much he now saw through the eyes and perspective of a resident.

While Ben was always impressed by the staff and people in his community prior to this project, he was even more impressed from his new vantage point as a resident.

Ben went through this experience living in a wheelchair, and he shared some video of him navigating daily aspects in his room (going to the bathroom, getting clothes out of a dresser and closet) with a bit of difficulty due to the design and layout of the room. He was not fully aware of these issues because the staff does such a good job in taking care of the residents needs. He raised the issue that improved access and design can enable residents to take care of their own needs better if they choose.

Ben helped me become more aware of how our industry can often strive to do everything for our residents and clients, whether they want the services or not. I have a better awareness of how this can sometimes take away one of our primary purposes in life to help ourselves and others.

Ben shared that they were able to improve access with some very inexpensive modifications and by simply moving furniture around.

Ben also gained a new awareness of the disruption that a resident faces in periodic checks and medication administration during the middle of the night. Again, it represents our desire to help our residents without a full awareness of all the implications. Ben commented several times in his presentation that residents and families accept a lot of these practices as “the way it is” and don’t voice their concern or realize that could be an alternative. It speaks to the power that the system and management can unknowingly place over residents.

Again, Ben shared that after reviewing check in and medication disbursement practices they were able to easily enhance and respect the residents lifestyle and independence better.

At the beginning of Ben’s presentation he shared that a “compliment” that he and other nursing homes might receive is that “this place is great - it doesn’t smell”. He pondered how we would all feel if someone came into each of our homes with a similar “compliment”. Ben’s approach and positive attitude to better understand the care that he and his team are providing is remarkable in our industry. We need to celebrate the pioneering efforts of leaders like Ben … and encourage others in his position to learn and follow his example.

 

I have referenced the Draisin bikes several times on this blog. However until last week I had never actually ridden the bikes. At last weeks ProAging meeting I had the opportunity to help valet many senior-serving professionals from the parking lot to the event thanks to John Bruno at Bikes at Vienna. It was fantastic experience!

We were able to provide rides and demos to professionals and residents and everyone loved the bikes. It was great to see all the residents peeking out their windows at us and answering questions about the bikes.

After seeing the look on a residents face that they were actually enjoying a bike ride, I am convinced that these bikes should be standard issue in communities across the country!

Here is a picture of me providing valet service to Nora Nagatani. Nora also did a wonderful post on her blog about the event, click here for access.