Small idea, big outcomes at Pleasant Meadow Manor

Printing room receipt for resident preventing agitation

October 1, 2012 -- Deron Hamel

When a Pleasant Meadow Manor resident living with cognitive impairment recently became agitated because she didn’t understand how she was paying for her room, the Norwood long-term care home’s team came up with an idea — present the resident with a receipt showing her that room has been paid for each month.

The idea is simple but it’s producing an outstanding result — the resident no longer feels anxious about her bill payment and family members are applauding the team for the idea, says Chris Garden, the home’s life enrichment co-ordinator.

“Now, when she goes to the nurses’ station and asks about going home and paying for (her room), we just give her a copy of the receipt and say, ‘Remember, you’re paid in full for your room and board,’ ” Garden explains.

“We treat it like (the resident) is on a vacation and that it has been paid for. It has worked out great. We can’t change her thinking, so we’re going with it.”

Not only has this decreased the resident’s agitation, it has also decreased her exit-seeking. Prior to staff bringing this support forward, Garden says the resident would often try to leave the home and would look for her car.

Another success stemming from this idea is that the resident’s family has been happy by the outcomes this idea has had for their loved one.

“The family is way on board with this — they think we’re geniuses,” Garden chuckles.

Garden says ideas like this can be linked back to one of OMNI Health Care’s core programs — Supportive Measures, which individualizes care, specifically for residents living with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia through a process of identifying factors precipitating feelings of anxiety, agitation and frustration in a resident to better adapt approaches to care in maintaining a restful and secure environment.

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