Residential Care Beds

Fraser Health authority is cutting back on the number of temporary beds they bought in various facilities. that means, of course those people in those beds will get priority in the regular beds. that means, that the people waiting on transfer lists,will have to wait even longer.

Does it mean that the number of additional beds that the Liberals promised is now going down?

Winners

Mrs. T. said to me the other day, as we were talking about her maybe moving to an assisted living facility, "Living in my own home, I feel like I am winning."

To me, this underscored so much about what it means to move into any kind of seniors housing--what it can do to self image, about grief and loss, about how we approach the subject with older people, and about respecting their values.

So if you want to figure out how to measure the success or failure of a transition, ask the older person if by moving, they feel like they have won.

Making Services Accessible

I have just spent an hour or two trying to contact different facilities for a client who is looking for housing. It is absolutely amazing how difficult it is to get through to someone. If you know who you are looking for, it is easier, but still hard. I can't imagine what it is like for older people who are trying to figure things out and get information in a timely, easy way.

One facility's phone system told me to press "130," if I wanted to speak to so and so, which I dutifully did. I got a message telling me to press 130 if I wanted to speak to so and so, which I dutifully did, when I got a message telling me to press 130, if I wanted to speak to so and so, which I dutifully did, when I got a message telling me to press 130 if I..well you get the picture.

By that time, it was probably lucky for so and so, that she was inaccessible. She would not have wanted to hear what I had to say.

To me, this is not only an issue of customer service, it is an issue of providers not responding to their client base.

Any care facility, assisted living, or other seniors housing service should regularly review their telephone system to make sure it is working and that people are able to access the information and people they need.

About Guilt

A client of mine whose mother died in a nursing home recently was telling me about what helped her out with her feeling of guilt. She lives far away and only came back here about twice a year. She came back during the last couple days of her mother's life.

" It was when I saw how caring the staff were--how they came into the room and told me stories and shared their sorrow about my mother. It made me see that she was in a place where people cared about her, and that she wasn't alone. It made me realize I hadn't abandoned her, and she was better off there than she would have been in her own home."

So care, when it works, works well

Housing Types

Quick review of the types of housing that is available. Terms vary sometimes and even providers mix up what they are doing. However:

Supportive Housing: Where there are minimal services, including dining room and one to three meals a day. Usually also includes recreation and emergency call systems in units. Units are usually apartments of some kind. Care and nursing services not included.

Assisted Living: Same as Supportive, but Care services to help with ADL (Adtivities of Daily Living) are included . These can include help with bathing, dressing, medication reminders, toileting. In B.C. people ae supposed to be able to direct their own care, and have a maximum need for two services. All asssited living in BC has to be registered with the Assisted Living Registrar . Does not include nursing care. Usually, there is a supervising nurse on staff.

Residential Care: Where nursing care is part of the services provided. Will include help with all ADL, plus help with transferring ( getting from bed to a wheelchair or on and off the toilet, for instance). In the U.S. they call this skilled nursing care when there are rehabilitation services available. These are what are covered by medicare and medicaid.

Campus of Care means a situation in which all or two or more of the above levels of housing are available within the same complex, either in the same building, or in different buildings or wings on a campus type of layout.