Session 1: Belvedere and Alzheimer’s Australia Inaugural Session

Belvedere Aged Care & Alzheimer’s Australia – Session 1:

Belvedere staff are embarking on an exciting journey as they beginning the workshops with Alzheimer’s Australia. The first step was to create a Leadership Team whom will be committing to attending all the workshops throughout the year and communicate with all stakeholders (staff, residents and relatives) any improvements or ideas that are generated from the workshops. Staff forming the Leadership Team come from a varied cohort of disciplines (Registered Nurses, Personal Care Attendants, Lifestyle and Administration).

Workshop 1 covered Person Centred Care, what it means to the staff and how they practice Person Centred Care in Belvedere.

The VALUE model and Person Centred Care was explored; allowing the staff to reflect on their own values and their practice. Each staff had to look at what does it look like for them under each element.

Feedback was:

V- Sense of self-worth, listened too, appreciated, honesty, Respect

A-Have a choice of shifts, independence, maintain their identity

L-understand who I am and why I do something, I have skills in certain areas

U-respect authority, know how to talk to one another, respect, teamwork

E- Open environment, being validated, needed social inclusion

Staff reflected on what was important for different people in Belvedere, putting on the hat of each person. This included the organisation, the person living with Dementia, staff and families. This exercise looks at the perspective from a different angle, and one we often find confronting.

Most in the team see the view from the “staff” which is obvious and very normal. Trying to close the gaps, to create a more Relationship Centred approach helps in this exercise. People recognised certain gaps, which in turn may help look at “what do we need to do “in Belvedere.

Gaps the group identified include:

• Social engagement was missing for some residents
• Inclusion of families
• Communication between staff and teamwork
• Roles; do we have roles for residents, do they have a purpose, is there meaning in their daily lives
• Families; how can we meet their needs, do they see what we do
• Dining; do we allow the residents to be involved at meal time, are we “hosts” or support workers?
• Organisation: how can we keep people involved with the bigger picture of our organisations values and policy

What do we do here?

The exercise looks at what does Belvedere look like; a prison, hotel, and hospital or home? Staff identified that at some stage, Belvedere does resemble all of the above. This is a reflective exercise to look at how we can support a more homelike environment. This is to recognise gaps and hopefully find some strategies to close these gaps

Where to from here:

Staff to reflect on this session, and the vision they want for Belvedere.

Before the next workshop, the staff have been asked to focus on their practice and look at what they could do to close some of the gaps recognised within the focus groups. This will be the beginning of formulating the projects. The staff will observe the environment, the engagement of residents, staff communication, and family involvement. Feedback will need to be bought back to group next session for discussion, as a platform for establishing the project groups.

Reflective exercise:

At the end of the session, staff were asked to reflect on their practice, and the what, so what, and now what activity. This exercise helps to recognise what you can do to implement your changed practice. Please complete in your own time

Next workshop is on Tuesday the 1^st of April 2015