LECs complete ActivityPro training
'It will be less time consuming than our method we are using right now': Clarkson
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 -- Jennifer Higgs
OMNI life enrichment co-ordinators (LECs) from long-term care homes across the province will meet today to wrap up their training with ActivityPro, a software program designed to assist their resident activation.
The 16 OMNI LECs are participating in the hands-on training at the Best Western Otonabee Inn in Peterborough.
ActivityPro is designed to assist in resident documentation. Ron Martyn, co-founder of Silver Meridian, developed the computer program.
LECs can use ActivityPro to document individual resident information such as activities they participate in, their health conditions and birthdays. Activities range from one-to-one programming, fitness and physical games.
The first session, held April 11, gave staff an orientation to ActivityPro and provided them with the software disks. The second session May 3 included time for troubleshooting questions and discussed individualized resident programs.
Today’s session focuses on behavioural assessments and how to implement a realistic documentation plan.
Julie Clarkson, West Lake Terrace’s LEC, says ActivityPro allows her to network with other OMNI homes through the sharing of program information.
"We’ve been working in the last couple of months to get our residents and our programs into the software so we can have it up and running and using it to do our charting for the programs that we offer in all the homes," says Clarkson.
She says a huge benefit to using the software includes the reports it can generate for individual resident care. The reports will be a readable tool for family members to see the activities their loved ones are participating in, she says.
The electronic system has the potential to create a more efficient system of tracking, says Clarkson.
"Right now, we’re using manual tick sheets and they are tedious and time-consuming. So once everybody is trained on it, hopefully it will be less time consuming than our method we are using right now."
Darlene Thibault, LEC at Almonte Country Haven, says she has trained the home’s staff how to use the software. She says staff members were already starting to use computers to input data. "My staff are prepared for this," she says.
"I like that fact that it (ActivityPro) adds up all the data for you so it will have all the stats when you need them. I love the program itself," says Thibault.
"I personally think it’s about time that we had something like this in activation. I’m very excited about the whole program."
-- with files from Deron Hamel
