Hobbs says presentations
in community may help define Rosebridge in coming year
Tuesday April 8, 2003 Roderick Benns
JASPER Citing the recent success of a presentation to the
Royal Ottawa Hospital, the administrator of Rosebridge Manor suggests the
future
may hold more of the same for this 78-bed long-term care home.
Nelly Hobbs says she would like to see the home do more
presentations with a variety of community partners, particularly in
the psycho-geriatric
vein for which Rosebridge is building a reputation upon. "We should
be highlighting our successes by doing this," notes Nelly.
"Mentoring, helping our other partners... these are
areas where we can be useful," she says.
Nelly is referring to a recent presentation made by
Rosebridge to the Royal Ottawa Hospital on how to offer recreation
programs through
the challenging lens of psycho-geriatric care. "We told them that
their philosophy has to be first and foremost that they should be looking
at the person, not the disorder," says Nelly, drawing on the core
of the supportive measures program.
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RELATED ARTICLE:
Rosebridge to build on leadership position
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Nelly says an industry reader of the OMNIway called
Nelly this week to ask her if she could summarize what the home did
with Royal Ottawa
Hospital. The woman wanted to use the summary in an upcoming senior’s
newsletter. "So we’re making in-roads with this sort of
thing," she notes.
Rosebridge has some other priorities this year as
well. It also wants to develop a "transfer and lift team," according to Nelly. "It’s
part of our recruitment and retention strategy," she says.
The home noticed that last year it had a number of
staff absences (sick days) which could be traced to improper lifting
or equipment
use. "The reality is that clients are getting heavier and we have
had injuries – not major injuries, but injuries nonetheless.
We dedicate a full half day of training during an orientation week
to this issue alone," says Nelly.
The other priority for the home will be developing
its palliative care program more significantly. Soon, St. Vincent
De Paul will be
providing training for 15 Rosebridge staff members, three hours
every Tuesday, for 10 straight weeks. "From this, we’ll
develop a palliative care manual with procedures and policies," says
Nelly.
"Staff are already excellent - very caring. Now we’ll have a great
training program to invest in them," Nelly notes.
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