Fall Winter 2017

“Dot-mocracy is a way of decision making at the building level,” said Lara. “We’ve seen it used to answer all types of questions like, ‘What do we want to do for employee morale this month?’ Instead of me making the decision as the executive director, it’s a visual process whereby we have a vocal group, and they are vocal, to say what they want to do.” Lara said that the initial focus of LiveWell was for clinical outcomes, such as managing the number of falls and urinary tract infections. “I think across the board we take good care of folks,” she said. “What is challenging in this work of elder care, is getting and keeping a trained staff and keeping the staff empower and informed.” In addition to the LiveWell collaboration, Lara sees the benefits of regularly meeting with other administrators and sharing ideas for quality improvement. “Learning to collaborate over the years has been critical. I think Oregon is such a leader in pushing for quality, that it’s in our nature for those of us who have been around for a while,” she said.  to share their successes and seek out opportunities to improve the quality of care in each facility. “The idea here is to share best practices, to network, to make friends, and to find out who’s doing what. They are able to pick up a phone or text a friend in a different community to ask about a problem they might be facing. We’re starting to see more of that type of collaboration at a grass-roots level,” said Kohnen Adriance. The Springs Living in Sherwood is a participant in the LiveWell program. Executive Director Judy Lara said they’ve been working with the LiveWell method for about a year. “What we hoped to gain from collaborating with LiveWell was a way to make caregivers feel like a part of the process, to have transparency about how we make decisions and so they don’t feel like it’s top-down. It’s very much a leveling tool,” Lara said. “Dot-mocracy” is a piece of LiveWell that Lara embraces. The process starts when staff place a handful of ideas on a board. From there, caregivers and staff get a dot sticker that they can place next to the idea they support. FEATURE www.ohca.com Fall/Winter 2017 The Oregon Caregiver 9 democratic. It’s participatory; it’s when administrators feel confident delegating to their staff, but are also able to support their staff and be cheerleaders for them. When done well, it’s rubbed off on staff, and they do a much better job and stay longer in their positions,” she said. Training for the LiveWell program happens at CareOregon in several phases. After the introductory training and a follow up session, participants meet quarterly with participants at other communities as part of a learning collaborative. These half-day collaborations enable participants THE SPRINGS AT SHERWOOD HAS AN IDEA CHART FOR BRAINSTORMING, A TOOL THEY UTILIZE FROM THE CAREOREGON LIVEWELL PROGRAM. “THE IDEA HERE IS TO SHARE BEST PRACTICES, TO NETWORK, TO MAKE FRIENDS, AND TO FIND OUT WHO’S DOING WHAT. THEY ARE ABLE TO PICK UP A PHONE OR TEXT A FRIEND IN A DIFFERENT COMMUNITY TO ASK ABOUT A PROBLEM THEY MIGHT BE FACING. WE’RE STARTING TO SEE MORE OF THAT TYPE OF COLLABORATION AT A GRASS-ROOTS LEVEL.”