Rosebridge leads the way in
supportive measures: Fraser
Friday, April 1, 2005 - John Driscoll
Rosebridge Manor is blazing a bright trail in supportive measures, says Fraser Wilson after attending a seminar Wednesday at the Jasper long-term care home.

“I believe they have developed a number of best practices in supportive measures,” says the OMNI CEO.

Supportive measures is the term used to describe OMNI’s individualized way of supporting residents. They can include everything from tracking behaviours of people with dementia and behaviour problems to music therapy and the numerous little ways, from conversations to bubble baths, in which staff members take time to support an individual resident.

Rosebridge highlighted supportive measures in March, recognizing initiatives by staff members and holding several events including the wind-up seminar to heighten and rekindle the interest in supportive measures.

“We wanted to take time to recognize the individualized care employees provide that improves residents’ quality of life,” explains Rosebridge Administrator Nelly Hobbs.

“What they have accomplished is absolutely phenomenal,” Fraser says. “They are accentuating the humanity in health care, showing incredible courage in embracing supportive measures every day.”

They have established expectations and created systems to make supportive measures sustainable and in the process truly moved from task-oriented to resident-oriented care, he says.

Every new employee at Rosebridge goes through sensitivity training to give them some idea of what residents’ lives are like and are told about the home’s expectations of them, Fraser says. Families are given a regular opportunity to better understand supportive measures.

Family members and a psychiatric outreach nurse at the seminar who visits the home regularly spoke at the seminar, validating the enabling leadership within the home, he says.

Donna Egan, whose husband Arthur has been a resident at the home for two years, sums up her impressions of supportive measures. “People here really care about us and make us feel right at home. They are just so kind.”

Donna, a retired nurse, says she had been involved with two nursing homes in which her parents lived in the 1970s and “I was not impressed.” Rosebridge was not her first choice when she was searching for a home for Arthur who had developed dementia.

She had planned to transfer Arthur to a home about two blocks from where she lives but when a bed became available there, they had decided he would stay at Rosebridge, she says. A member of the family council, Donna says staff members at Rosebridge are easy to talk to “and I’m not afraid to voice my concerns.”

It all starts with Nelly who has shown true leadership in the empowerment of staff, allowing supportive measures advocates Life Enrichment Co-ordinator Kathy Barr, and nurse Heath Heffernan to take the lead at the seminar, Fraser says.

“I came away from that seminar realizing that my dream is becoming a reality,” he says. “With patience, persistence and belief in people, great things will happen.”

Nelly is quick to point out there has always been a team approach to supportive measures at Rosebridge. “We all work together on supportive measures because we all think it’s the right thing to do,” she says. “That way it becomes simple for us.”

To contact the writer, John Driscoll, call (705) 741-4421