The Person Centered Transformation continues in the Apostles Center for Care

Periodically we post about the changes/improvements to the Apostles Center for Care.  Six months ago we highlighted the improved life enrichment program and ongoing culture changes.  Here is the latest update.

Eight years ago we began a journey to transform our nursing home from cold and institutional to a more home-like, person centered environment.  Those first steps were challenging but they got the ball rolling.  We eliminated the frequent rotating of staff assignments. We eliminated institutional meal service where most of the meals were served on trays that came out of the kitchen.  We eliminated the large fort-like nurses station that separated the staff from the residents.  We began working in smaller teams of staff to care for our elders.

Then in 2010, we began the physical transformation of the Apostles Center.  Moving every wall in the central section, we created two distinct houses, Fickes House and Radcliffe House, each with its own living room dining room, kitchen, spa and sun room.  We created a parlor for small gatherings and care conferences and actual offices for staff to work in (something that was in short supply for the first 24 years).  In the resident rooms, we added a privacy wall, flat screen TVs for each resident, improved lighting and a full bathroom including a shower and heat!  The new Apostles Center featured a kitchen at its very center, making made to order meals for residents at every meal a priority.

The physical changes were breathtaking and created a much nicer environment in which to live and work.  We did not stop there.  We brought in the premier providers of memory support training in the country and trained all of our staff in true person centered training.  The training focused on residents with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia; but the principles applied to everyone.  We had accomplished a lot over a period of about six years.

This past year we have focused even more attention on the Apostles Center to improve our care even more. We installed magnetic locks on all of the doors to provide a more secure environment, minimizing the chances of a resident wandering away as well as keeping out intruders who don't belong.  We implemented a new personal laundry service that allows each resident to have their personal laundry individually washed and folded rather than the old method of sending it to the institutional laundry with the bed linens, towels and washcloths.

We are transforming Fickes House into a true memory support household.  Significantly enhanced Life Enrichment staffing is the core of this transformation; but every staff member will also receive additional training through the SELF program, a series of educational programs that consist of both self learning modules and group activities designed to great increase each caregiver's understanding and ability to meet the needs of residents with memory support needs. We are developing the Fickes House outdoor patio to be a safe and secure outdoor area.

We have implemented a new electronic health record to vastly improve our record keeping, data tracking and response to resident needs.  PointClickCare is the most widely used nursing home electronic health record in the country.  Eventually all aspects of care will be tracked electronically and the need for massive paper charts will decrease dramatically.

We will not stop there.  Over the next year, we will continue to look for better ways to create a more home-like and enjoyable environment for our residents to live and our staff to work.  Together we will make the Apostles Center for Care at Homestead Village a truly home-like experience.

Living in a Compassionate Community

Our mission states it.  We often talk about it.  Homestead Village is a compassionate community.  Residents serve the greater Lancaster community in so many different ways.

One of the best examples of that dedication is the service that Homestead Village residents give to Schreiber Pediatric.  Many Homestead residents volunteer at Schreiber on a regular basis.  Recently, our residents held their third Jewelry "shop" at Schreiber Pediatric, blessing dozens of children and giving them the opportunity to surprise their mothers with beautiful jewelry for Mothers' Day.  It is compassionate for residents of Homestead Village to want to bless the young children being helped by Schreiber; and to think of their mothers, too.

 It was also generous of them to contribute their own jewelry and/or to go out and purchase new jewelry for the shop.

That exemplifies the Homestead Village spirit of compassionate community. From volunteering all around Lancaster county to helping each other, Homestead residents understand the concept of "loving your neighbor."  They display it every day!

Homestead's Role in the Community

Homestead Village is a wonderful community of individuals 62 and older living vibrant and interesting lives, helping each other and helping the greater community.  Homestead Village is a large employer providing full time jobs for over 100 individuals and even more part-time jobs, providing a full range of benefits and creating a great place to work.  Homestead Village is a leading business in our community, paying taxes to the local school district and local municipalities.  Homestead Village is a member of local, state and national associations and a partner with many schools and other institutions to promote education and healthcare in the community.   Homestead Village is a charitable, non-profit, mission driven organization.  Even with all that we contribute, there is ongoing pressure on Homestead to do more, to contribute more and do it with flat or reduced revenue from Medicare and Medicaid.

Unlike most businesses, Homestead Village is a community of citizens as well as a revenue producing non-profit organization.  In reality, Homestead Village has a tremendous effect on the greater Lancaster community as most individual residents contribute and volunteer throughout Lancaster County and then come together as Homestead Village and impact the Lancaster community even more!

All non-profits try to capture and report their impact on the greater community in order to fulfill the charitable nature of the organization.  Homestead Village is no different.  We ask residents to document their volunteer hours while at Homestead Village and we ask residents to contribute to various community assistance projects that we pursue each year.  Another non-profit in our local community is our local fire department.   While they receive some assistance from the municipality, they are dependent on citizen support.  The fire department looks at Homestead Village as a large user of fire and emergency services and asks us to pledge large donations toward their services.  We believe we can have an even greater impact on the fire company if Homestead residents contribute individually to the Rohrerstown Fire Company.  You have numerous avenues to contribute.  If you receive a direct mail request you can respond directly.  Or you can send your contribution to the address below:

Rohrerstown Fire Company
500 Elizabeth Street
Lancaster, PA  17603

The third way to contribute is to drop off a check made out to Rohrerstown Fire Company at the Homestead Village Receptionist Desk.  We will deliver all checks received by the end of May, 2014.

Whatever method you choose, please let Mary Shaeffer know how much you contributed so that we can capture the total positive impact that Homestead Village has on the fire company and on our overall community.

Thank you for all that you do to make Lancaster a better place.

New Electronic Health Record Revolutionizes Care

How hard can it be to move from paper files to electronic health records?  The Homestead Village staff members who are responsible for implementing the new electronic health record are learning first hand!  Paper medical records include physician orders and notes, nursing and other clinical documentation, tests, care plans, medication and treatment records, and caregiver documentation.  For some residents, the paper medical record can grow to mutiple file cabinets!  Each doument has to be filed exertly by our Medical Records Staff so that it can be located when needed.  The biggest problem with paper medical records is that the documentation is hard to track, requiring many other logs and reports to track resident care.

So there is no question that electronic records that automatically alert when results are outside of expected parameters is a tremendous leap forward.  The challenge is that all of the current care plans, diagnosis, documentation, specific data tracking, medication and treatment plans need to be pre-loaded into our new electronic health record, PointClickCare, before it will work.  Our nurses in the Apostles Center, Gelhard House and Supportive Services have been diligently uploading the information for the past three months. We now expect to go live with PointClickcare March 24th.  On that date, everything will change!

Celebrating Leading the Way in Comfort and Care

The recognition wall greets visitors at the front doors of
Radcliffe and Fickes Houses.

In 2008, Homestead Village kicked off a truly ambitious goal to raise $3.25 million dollars to create state of the art households for nursing care and a memory support personal care house. That campaign wrapped up four years later, surpassing its goal.  During that time, an historic recession took place that nearly derailed the campaign.  It is a tribute to the generosity of the Homestead community that the Apostle Center for Care and Westvue were transformed into the wonderful places to live and work that they have become even while the campaign was conducted! Westvue was transformed into the remarkable Gelhard House, a tranquil, home for residents with memory support needs.

The six smaller panels recognize donors at various giving levels.

In February, 2014, during Valentine's Week, the tribute to that that remarkable campaign finally became a reality.  Gracing the entrance to Radcliffe and Fickes House, the beautiful, lit crystal panels honor the many members of the Homestead community that gave generously to allow the transformation to take place.  Serving as a reminder to the fact that a small group of people can make great things happen, the Leading the Way in Comfort and Care campaign recognition wall also serves as a conversation piece for staff and residents as they recognize and remember the many individuals whose names appear on the panels. Each crystal panel is beautifully lit with bright white LED lights, allowing the panels to be illuminated during the day and creating a beautifully glowing tribute at night.  What a remarkable and fitting Valentine's present, reminding all of us of the generous hearts of so many Homestead community members.

Dining Changes Enhance Homestead Village

Newly installed artwork and pendant lights accentuate the popular booths.

Enhanced senior living took a bold step forward with the reopening of the Homestead Dining Room on December 18, 2013.  After many years of casual dining, Homestead Village has created a dining experience that is the best of both worlds - both informal and causal as well as formal.  Each day begins with our outstanding breakfast offerings.  Seat yourself and our friendly servers take your order and bring you one of our many made to order breakfast offerings.

The new lunch time experience features a bright and pleasant food court with choices of chef-prepared made-to-order specials, made to order deli sandwiches, hot entrees and a fantastic salad bar.  Lunch at Homestead is casual; but the food selections are wonderful.  Of special note is the delicious and healthy salad bar.  Efforts have been made to focus on more fresh vegetables and fresh fruit as well as other healthy toppings.  The salad bar will continue to transform into the healthy option our residents, staff  and visitors want.  The chef's action station features a different entree every day.  You choose the ingredients and our staff prepare it before your eyes.

Between lunch and dinner, the dining room is transformed with table cloths and the addition of eight servers, smartly dressed and ready to provide you with a quality dining experience.  Our hostess will seat you and our servers are excited to make your evening meal special.  On Sundays, brunch is a special experience with all you can eat or a la carte choices.  The Sunday Brunch takes advantage of the expanded food court to offer wonderful brunch choices and more actions stations for waffles, omelettes and other specialties.

Some of Homestead's many friendly servers at your service!

Our goal with the new dining room service is to provide the highest quality dining experience for each of the desired dining options.  In addition to the expanded, spacious food court, the dining room has been redesigned to offer a more pleasant dining experience.  The addition of booths and brand new chairs, along with beautiful window treatments result in a beautiful room for dining.  In the near future, a canopy over the sun room will greatly improve the sun room dining experience as well.

Another wonderful benefit of the new dining services is the expanded space allows for improved accessibility for residents with mobility devices.  While motorized scooters must still be parked in the lobby, residents with walkers and wheelchairs have greatly improved accessibility.  Another accessibility improvement is the expanded wait staff, allowing for a greatly improved dining experience for all residents who benefit from assistance in the dining room.

Creating Home

Since 2006, Homestead Village has been working diligently to create the most homelike environments possible in our small houses for care:  Fickes House, Radcliffe House and Gelhard House.

Our culture change started with permanent assignments to make sure that caregivers developed a closer relationship with the elders for whom they care. That closer relationship helps caregivers to better know the wants and needs of their elders.  Our second major initiative focused on the best possible dining experience.  With food, the emphasis is on choice, made to order, natural ingredients, and service when our elders are ready to eat.  Our third initiative in the Apostle Center focused on creating environments that allows our elders to live in a more homelike environment.

  Changes include the addition of showers to every room, the creation of more private rooms and more privacy in semi-private rooms with a small dividing wall and flat screen TVs that face opposite directions to cut down on noise.

In Gelhard House, the improvements focused on creating more common space and adding additional resident rooms so that thirteen elders can be accommodated.  Perhaps Gelhard House's best improvement is is its wonderful life enrichment program.  What makes it special are the staff who focus on creating a loving and caring environment for each resident.

 Improving life enrichment is the number one goal in the immediate future for the Apostle Center for Care.  The Apostle Center's other major initiative is individually washing all personal laundry in the houses.  This improvement will begin in January, 2014.

The journey from very institutional to more homelike care is commonly labeled as a culture change or person centered care transformation.  Our culture change journey is now seven years old.  We have come a long way; but we are no where near finished!

A nursing home or memory support personal care home can never BE home.  Our goal is to make each house comfortable, caring and a pleasant place to live, and if possible, return home as soon as possible.