The Oregon Caregiver SPRING/SUMMER 2024 www.ohca.com 10 FEATURE to improving a resident’s physical state just as much as their mental state. At one of Caring Places’ memory care facilities, staff implemented a program called “Rain Music” for residents. Each resident had their own iPod, set up with a family-curated, personalized playlist of all their favorite songs. “We had one resident… and she came into the community very contracted, very turned into herself,” Pratt remembers. “She could not wheel her own wheelchair, and she was nonverbal. So, we put together an iPod for her based off the songs that her family said she really loved, and she started talking! She started talking about her college days, she would state her preferences, and she even began wheeling her own wheelchair around!” The personalized playlists created by the resident’s family led to a full transformation of the resident’s state of being, exemplifying the importance of incorporating each resident’s personal history into activity planning. From individual assessment tools to leaning on resident’s families for a glimpse into their past, facilities across the state are finding different ways to guarantee that each resident will feel represented in their activity planning. HCBS Impact on Staff It is no secret that with the pandemic came many staffing challenges within the long term care industry. Along with staffing challenges, the pandemic altered resident preferences. Many residents now choose to take their meals in their rooms instead of in the dining room, a habit that started because of COVID-19 regulations but has stuck years later. “I noticed that even after things were opening up, residents were used to being in their rooms, they’re used to being alone, and they didn’t want to come outside for activities or to eat,” Pratt said. “We had to work hard to find out what will interest them to come out, while at the same time accommodating their preferences.” Despite these hurdles, Wingfield of Senior Housing Managers reflects on the benefits that have come from the implementation of HCBS into her facilities. “It has made positive changes. We are now dialing in even more now to the individual and what their capabilities are, and not just using the broad term of ‘dementia’ to describe everyone, because they each had full lives before us,” she said. “I think it has really challenged us to look at residents through a better lens and really focus on what they are capable of.” Wingfield goes on to explain how these rules have created a mindset shift of the staff within these memory care communities. She said, “HCBS has gotten us in the habit of saying, ‘How can we accomplish this request?’ instead of saying, ‘Oh, no, we don’t do that here,’ or, ‘That’s never going to work.’ We are sitting down and finding how we can make things happen, even in a memory care environment, for any individual who can manage it.” » FEATURE, CONT. “HCBS has gotten us in the habit of saying, ‘How can we accomplish this request?’ instead of saying, ‘Oh, no, we don’t do that here,’ or, ‘That’s never going to work.’ We are sitting down and finding how we can make things happen, even in a memory care environment, for any individual who can manage it.” – Billie Wingfield, Senior Housing Managers
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