BSO team helps resident transition to life at Riverview Manor

Providing social stimulation, discovering interests is enhancing life quality

August 10, 2012 -- Deron Hamel

When a resident recently moved into Riverview Manor, the Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) team discovered she liked magazines, dinosaurs, Cheezies and having her hair dyed red.

These discoveries were made possible by the team spending social time with the resident and discovering her interests to create supports adapting to her preferences.

The supports largely came from ideas the team realized through the Day in the Life assessment tool, which helps caregivers get to know people better.

What did the BSO team discover with this resident?

For starters, Jane, not the resident’s real name, loves magazines. When the resident has magazines, she’ll spend hours calmly turning the pages and looking at the photos, notes registered practical nurse and manager of resident quality Becky Denny.

“Staff makes sure that she has a magazine, and if she doesn’t have one and she starts getting agitated, they’ll provide her with magazines to look at, and they’ll take her to a quiet room,” says Denny.

The team also discovered she doesn’t like to see grey in her hair; she likes her hair coloured red. So, before her grey roots begin to show, staff members dye her hair red.

Staff also learned from the resident that she becomes agitated when eating with others. The solution the team developed was to accompany her to the nurses’ station during mealtimes, which has made dining a more enjoyable experience.

Registered practical nurse (RPN) Angela Johnston says the team always makes sure the resident’s social needs are being met. When it’s time for her to eat, the resident always has a staff member nearby to chat with.

Johnston says two important things she learned about the resident by spending time with her is that she loves Cheezies and was apprehensive at first about eating meat because she believed she was being served dinosaur meat — the resident, it turns out, loves dinosaurs.

Cheezies, notes Johnston, will immediately calm the resident if she experiences agitation. The team also assured the resident she would never be served dinosaur meat and as a sign of good faith they brought her a stuffed dinosaur. She’s now comfortable eating meat.

Interventions like this recently paid off during an outdoor social event at the home the resident attended. She was calm and engaging, throughout the program and had staff members and other residents close by to chat with, notes Johnston.

“She’s now quite happy here,” the RPN says.

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