www.ohca.com SPRING/SUMMER 2024 The Oregon Caregiver 9 FEATURE Managers, LLC, believes in the value of smaller facilities in being able to accommodate the needs of all residents. Nixon states, “We are a fifteen-bed facility, so we can provide 24-hour care for our residents as they are up throughout the night. If a resident wants breakfast at 11:00 a.m., they will get breakfast at that time. If a resident wants dinner at 11:00 p.m., they will get dinner at that time.” She continues, “We can provide that personalization for our residents because we are small and can accommodate them and their choices.” Incorporating a Resident’s History Not all residents may be able to communicate their needs and preferences clearly. In memory care facilities, it is incredibly important to lean on the residents’ families for insight into their likes and dislikes, their employment history, what hobbies they have, and their personality traits. Billie Wingfield, vice president of management services at Senior Housing Managers, explains just how vital this discovery process is in working with residents with dementia. “We embrace each resident and their differences. We do a great job of that through our evaluations and assessments before they even get into the building. We utilize an actual activity assessment tool so that we can deeply learn about our residents and develop a ‘My Story’ for each person, going beyond just what they like to do, but finding out who they were prior to their diagnosis,” she says. “Since we work primarily with folks who have dementia, it can be challenging to know who they were and what they did, so we lean heavily on families and our assessment tools to deep dive and do some discovery.” Through this discovery process, a resident’s diagnosis becomes only a small part of their story, not their entire narrative: an important facet of person-centered care. Through leaning on families to help create individualized activities for residents, Pratt at Caring Places recalls how embracing resident preferences led CONTINUES » Michele Nixon and Billie Wingfield work together at Senior Housing Managers and have dedicated their careers to long term care. “If a resident wants breakfast at 11:00 a.m., they will get breakfast at that time. If a resident wants dinner at 11:00 p.m., they will get dinner at that time. We can provide that personalization for our residents because we are small and can accommodate them and their choices.” – Michele Nixon, Senior Housing Managers
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