Supportive measures includes formal and informal approaches
Monday, June 20, 2005 -- Craig Anderson
Even though supportive measures officially forms the bedrock of OMNI’s personalized approach to problem-solving and individualized care, Karl Samuelson of Garden Terrace sees its informal side as increasingly important to understanding resident issues and emotional states.

Karl finds that the informal side of supportive measures reveals as much about residents as does the more structured, standardized side.

The formal supportive measures pillar at Garden Terrace involves a 10 person supportive measures team representing all the departments in the home. The team meets on a bi-weekly basis – identifying risks and developing action plans. This, along with the underlying humanizing approach of individual care which encourages a holistic appraisal of each resident, comprises Garden Terrace’s formal supportive measures structure.

The informal side at Garden Terrace is a different creative realm, where residents and staff work to find common ground beyond crises and issues which affect quality of life.

THE FORMAL APPROACH
Two recent examples at Garden Terrace stand out in Karl’s mind as testament of how both the formal and informal pillars of supportive measures aid in not only negotiating chronic illness, depression, and spousal estrangement, but also in developing a positive sense of community in the home.

One resident, struggling with a rare brain stem disorder and co-related depression, also found that his moods were greatly affecting his wife, who was still living at home. She found it increasingly difficult to visit her deflated husband as he faced this rare disorder.

Through his tears, frustration and confusion, the man and his wife were exasperated.

“It was a negative emotional circle,” says Karl. The staff felt similarly immobilized.

The first step to breaking the emotional miasma was a seminar the resident, his spouse and staff attended on the rare disorder. Karl says that this significantly reduced the sense of powerlessness that both staff and resident felt.

“With knowledge often comes understanding,” says Karl.

Following this, the resident’s wife became actively involved in his care - this went along way to further reducing his depression. She fed him meals and the two shared a greater sense of rapport and intimacy than before.

“So the supportive measures we provided for the husband was actually also supporting the wife,” says Karl.