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Staffing Choices Keep the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging Running Smoothly
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Comments (0)Editor's Note: This article, written by Jill Gilbert, originally appeared as "Staffing up Yields Big Gains" in McKnight's Long Term Care News November 2007 edition.
Despite its limited budget, the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging ranked at the top of our list when it came to finding a nursing home in L.A. that offered specialized dementia care. Gilbert Guide sat down with Molly Forrest, CEO & president of the facility, to talk about spending choices, and how they translate into quality care. Forrest’s thoughts follow.
An evolutionary structure
"Usually in a nursing facility, the nurses are overwhelmed. They don’t have time to spend on important issues that are not directly related to their nursing duties. We restructured the management team to alleviate this issue. The clinical manager takes the doctor’s orders, oversees all of the medical care, and provides follow-up assessments when residents' needs change. The community manager coordinates the activities and social work and also helps with everyday tasks such as replacing light bulbs and repairing wheelchairs.
"Although the state requirement is one social worker for every 120 residents, we also employ a part-time aide so that our social worker can engage more with the families. The state of California requires 3.2 hours per resident per day for nursing; we're at 4.5.
"Most nursing homes have one activity director daily for around 99 patients. We have two activity directors per floor, twelve hours a day. That leaves the nurses free to concentrate on nursing activities."
Environmentally friendly
"We give our staff the support and training they need to do their jobs, and have created an environment that supports what we ask of them. It was important to give the staff a comfortable, enjoyable break room. Ours is equipped with bathrooms and is behind the nurses' station, so that when a staff member is on break, that person is really on break. The people staffing the station are then responsible for fielding any requests. The result: within the first six months of opening, other than retirement and moving, we did not have a single staff member resign."
Read The Los Angeles Jewish Home Keeps Alzheimer's Patients Comfortable Everyday
Posted in: McKnight's Long Term Care Columns
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