2020 Best of the Best
July 17, 2020
We are once again participating in a People’s Choice awards contest sponsored by the Observer-Reporter newspaper in Washington County – and we need your help to be nominated as the Best of the Best!
Please take a moment and visit www.O-Rbest.com and nominate Presbyterian SeniorCare Network in the categories of “Best Assisted Living Facility/Nursing Home,” “Best Place to Work,” and “Best Retirement Community.”
Voting begins TODAY -- July 16! Get YOUR NOMINATION in before the July 25th deadline.
Here’s how:
Visit the nomination site by clicking here (or copy and paste this link: http://o-rbest.com/contest#//). This link cannot be opened in Internet Explorer, you will need to use another browser such as Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
- Scroll down and click on “Health”
- Select “Assisted Living* Facility/Nursing Home” and type in “Presbyterian SeniorCare Network”
- Next, in the left hand column, select “People and Places”
- Select “Place to Work” and type in “Presbyterian SeniorCare Network”
- Finally, in the left hand column, select “Home Services”
- Select “Retirement Community” and type in “Presbyterian SeniorCare Network”
Note – if you nominated us last year, the account you created will work for your nominations this year. Simply type in your email address. If you did not nominate us last year, you will be asked to enter your email address and to create a password.
If there are any other categories you wish to nominate our organization in, please feel free! If Presbyterian SeniorCare Network makes it into the Top 5 nominated organizations in our categories, we’ll move on to the next round which is voting.
Thank you for nominating – your nomination helps us to build awareness for all of the great work that happens around our Network each day!
*Just like with our CARF accreditation in assisted living, this nomination applies to personal care; personal care communities are accepted as entries in the category.
- Select “Retirement Community” and type in “Presbyterian SeniorCare Network”
Clever Ways Senior Housing Has Kept Residents Engaged During the Pandemic
May 26, 2020
Creative thinking from three execs in a recent webinar on the topic
By Richard Eisenberg
Part of the The Coronavirus Outbreak: What You Need to Know Special Report
When Senior Living Foresight, a website for senior living community developers and operators, asked if I’d volunteer to host its April 24 Virtual Summit panel: How Senior Housing Is Keeping Residents Engaged in the Pandemic, I agreed. But I was a little dubious about the premise.
After all, we’re well aware of the COVID-19 problems some long-term care communities, their residents and families have been dealing with the virus’ spread; the inability of adult children to see their parents and the temporary halt to congregate dining and activities. As Senior Living Foresight publisher Steve Moran wrote in a wrap-up of the summit:“COVID-19 is hell for senior living.”
But after hearing the session’s panelists describe creative ways their businesses have recalibrated for the pandemic to excite, entertain and energize residents — sometimes, with real challenges — I came away pleasantly surprised. Also, I’m hopeful that these new ways of engaging residents in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s will continue and expand when the coronavirus fades.
A quick caveat: My panelists (and many summit speakers and attendees) represented independent living and life care retirement communities. So their residents tend to be healthier than those in nursing homes.
“We decided to actually Zoom to our residents. And I’m not going to say that’s been an easy journey,”
My panelists were Sara Kyle, director of resident experience at Holiday Retirement Senior Living Communities, which house more than 30,000 people across the country; Kelly Stranburg, wellness director at Mather and Theresa Perry, corporate director of hospitality and wellness services at Acts Retirement-Life’s 26 communities (full disclosure: Acts Retirement-Life is a sponsor of Next Avenue).
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Here’s how they answered my three questions about how they’ve engaged residents during the pandemic and expect to in the future:
What forms of engagement have you implemented for your residents during COVID-19?
Kyle first talked about what she and her colleagues stopped doing. “The whole calendar activities that we typically go off of — you could basically just toss it in the trash because it wasn’t going to work anymore,” she said.
Offering virtual web chat and conferencing services, like Zoom, has become a key way to talk to, and with, residents as well as to offer them instruction and entertainment.
“We decided to actually Zoom to our residents. And I’m not going to say that’s been an easy journey,” said Stranburg. ‘You can’t force tech on people, right?”
Initially, she said, Zoom “seemed a little scary, because we were so curious how many of our residents would actually embrace this. Where were they with their comfort when it comes to technology? And what we discovered is: shame on us.”
In fact, Stranburg noted, “every single week, we see our [Zoom] adoption numbers by our residents tick up.” Now, she added, “we’re offering a variety of exercise programs, mindfulness opportunities, art lectures and poetry groups.”
Sometimes, Mather is reaching out to lecturers and performers who’d been part of its programming before COVID-19. “We’re figuring out ways to embrace their skillsets and talents that our residents love and bringing them into this Zoom world, if you will,” said Stranburg.
Perry echoed this (Acts uses Microsoft Teams, not Zoom), adding that staffers are helping lead the way through YouTube.
“We are definitely leaping into the virtual world as well,” she said. “We have created different ways for our staff to do videos through YouTube… When you have twenty-six communities and thirty fitness staffers, the only way you’re going to connect is through videos, because of the small classes you can have.”
Perry noted that “we have reached more people through virtual fitness than we had in the past.” Some classes are live. “Now we’re taking it to the next level, using our resident portal, and we are making the fitness videos available to do anytime they want.”
One of the panel’s attendees messaged that their community’s Zoom Bingo had gone from 22 people to 100 in two weeks — 25 of the 100 were on screen, 75 played using their phones.
The Touchtown video community engagement platform came up frequently as a huge help. “Touchtown has done a fabulous job of providing us with videos that we can upload to the in-house television, which is the channel [residents] have in their homes, which is important to them,” said Perry.
Stranburg mentioned that, in certain cases, residents who’ve embraced the new technologies during the pandemic have persuaded others to join in. She called this “the power of influence.” A resident who was first resistant might say: “My friend down the hallway called me and they were like, ‘Oh you need to do this with us. It’s really fun,’” Stranburg said.
“We have to continue to explore both sides, technology as well as non-technology for our residents.”
And, she added, “I also think the influence of family has helped. ‘Cause most certainly a lot of the residents I’ve spoken with have shared that they have done FaceTime and Zoom with a family.”
For those refusing to try the technology, some communities have launched phone groups. “They’ve been having conversations, book clubs, basically anything you can think of,” said Perry.
At Mather, Stranburg said, they use “telephone topics,” where anyone can call into the general phone line at a scheduled time to talk about the prearranged topic. Coming up: “10 tips to live well.”
Also recommended: The Institute on Aging’s 24-hour, toll-free Friendship Line, for non-emergency emotional support calls (800-971-0116).
Then there are what Perry called “boredom busters” — puzzles and games her communities hand out every week that can be done in the residents’ homes. “We have to continue to explore both sides, technology as well as non-technology for our residents,” she said.
One problem, however, has been engaging residents with hearing or cognitive issues.
What are some of the best practices you’ve discovered during the pandemic?
“Well-being calls; we call it a concierge service,” said Perry. “We had not done this before. It’s all of our staff calling our independent residents on a daily basis, seven days a week. Basically, we’re just checking in to make sure they’re all right. We’re making sure they have groceries, that they have medications, that they’re communicating with their families and friends. And how we can connect them if they need any help.”
This service also helps draw residents closer to staffers. Sometimes, when a person gets the call, Perry said, “they’re actually answering the phone saying, ‘Hi, Teresa. How are you today? I’m excited that you called me again.” Added Perry: “We’d never anticipated this.”
Stranburg said: “What I’ve really taken away from [the pandemic] is the value in making sure we continue to reinforce communication expectations.”
Kyle reflected with this: “It’s interesting what you do in crisis that you think, goodness, why didn’t we do that earlier?” One of those things Holiday Retirement began is a Bridging Generations website, where volunteers across the country are matched with residents and sign up to be buddies, communicating by phone or email. The volunteers can be any age.
Also, Kyle said, “we’ve gone to hallway activities. The doors of the hallways are absolutely six feet apart, so it’s the perfect spacing. We’re finding that people who never would come down to group exercise love hallway exercise. I saw some broomball going on.”
The pandemic has also shown senior housing operators the hidden talents of some of their staff.
“I didn’t realize we had a classical opera singer,” said Perry. “She has been creating videos for us through YouTube. She explains the opera first and then she sings it. It’s gorgeous.”
When Acts delivers food to residents each night, they add notes from children to their dinner bags.
Some Acts communities have been creating a senior housing version of American Idol. “We call it Acts idol. I love that,” said Perry. After staffers compete for three weeks, residents pick the winner. Next up: “the residents will do this with their talent,” said Perry.
There have also been some successful ideas just to brighten residents’ moods — what Kyle calls “small moments of surprise and delight.”
When Acts delivers food to residents each night, Perry said, they add notes to their dinner bags. “The one thing you’ll hear from the residents is that they get excited about the dinner meal coming because there’s going to be something exciting inside,” said Perry.
Holiday Retirement puts a small flower on dinner trays, along with a note from a staffer. “We’ve had some really emotional connections between staff and residents that have come through pretty big,” said Kyle.
What do you think will be embraced and continued beyond COVID-19?
“The young lady that’s doing the opera? She says she can’t wait for the day that she can actually do it in person, in front of everybody,” said Perry. “I think that would be something we should be tapping into. And hopefully, one day, we can have an audience again and have everybody get back together.”
The Power of Music
May 22, 2019
May is Older Americans Month! Communities that encourage the contributions of older adults are stronger! By engaging and supporting all community members, we recognize that older adults play a key role in the vitality of our neighborhoods, networks, and lives.
This year’s theme, Connect, Create, Contribute, encourages older adults and their communities to:
- Connect with friends, family, and services that support participation.
- Create by engaging in activities that promote learning, health, and personal enrichment.
- Contribute time, talent, and life experience to benefit others.
One awesome example of how we "connect" with our residents, is through the use of an iPod Shuffle. It is said that "music holds a special place in the heart and mind that time can’t erase, even when almost everything else is gone." We believe this, which is why we utilize the Music and Memory Program.
Music Enhances the Lives of Individuals Living with Dementia
Gina Iuliucci, MT-BC, CDP, lifestyle engagement coordinator at the Presbyterian SeniorCare Network Washington campus loves music. In fact, she is a music therapist and shares her love of music with our residents living with dementia to enhance their lives with their favorite tunes.
“We utilize Music and Memory, a non-profit organization that provides personalized digital music to older adults,” says Gina. She, as well as 20 certified team members on our Washington campus, use music technology to comfort our residents living with dementia at times when they could benefit from this type of engagement.
“We have a resident who has aphasia. It is heartbreaking to watch the emotions on her face as she tries to verbalize what she is feeling. To help relieve some of her nervousness, we’ve used Music and Memory; once she begins listening, her anxiety melts away. She is often more relaxed long after the music stops playing,” says Gina.
Music and Memory Executive Director, Dan Cohen founded Music and Memory with a simple idea: if he needed nursing care, he wanted to be able to listen to his favorite ‘60s music. With the popularity of iPods, he brought music into nursing communities. Music and Memory also offers certification for organizations to incorporate therapeutic music as a standard of care; Presbyterian SeniorCare Network is a certified organization.
iPods are provided through Music and Memory, as well as through donations from community members. “Our iPods are programmed to include personalized playlists for each of our residents,” says Gina. To get an idea of the music preferences of each resident, Gina and team will inquire with family members, as well as residents. “Often, a resident may not remember the name of an artist, but can tell you if they like country or big band music. That helps us to narrow the genre and program a list that includes their preferred music,” says Gina.
Music and Memory is offered in the dementia care communities around our Network. Through the program, we are able to give pleasure to persons living with advanced dementia, reduce frustration and late-day confusion, as well as offer an alternative or a reduction to the use of anti-psychotic medications.
When asked if she sees a benefit to Music and Memory, Gina instantly answers, “yes!” “It is an honor to be able to provide personalized music to our residents. When a resident is feeling anxious, as soon as the headphones are placed on their ears, you can see a change in their demeanor. When they are happy, I am happy. It gives me the chills to know that music has made their worries melt away.”
To learn more about the living and care options around Presbyterian SeniorCare Network, visit SrCare.org.
Pictured above, Aggie, enjoying the Music and Memory Program.
Sue Mazur, Aggie’s daughter, says "The special songs from Aggie's past make an immediate connection and allow my mom to connect with family and friends in a way that she wouldn't be able to otherwise." Aggie is a resident in the Woodside Neighborhood at Southminster Place of Presbyterian SeniorCare Network. The Woodside Neighborhood specializes in dementia-specific personal care.