Pioneer House Pearls
DECEMBER 2008
December is a busy month for every one and things are no different at Pioneer House. Residents have had a very busy time, shopping at Big W, courtesy of their staff, who volunteer to stay back at work to help our residents buy gifts. This is a wonderful opportunity for residents to shop in a safe, calm and unhurried manner and we are always grateful to Big W for this opportunity.
We have had our Pioneer House Christmas party which was a big success. About 120 people attended and enjoyed carol singing, Father Christmas and lots of delicious food. We are lucky to have lots of volunteers and staff who do lots of behind the scenes work to make everything run smoothly.
Residents also love to see the Christmas lights around the town, and we always make sure we organize trips for this purpose. The Access Taxi is a huge help in enabling residents in wheelchairs and flotation chairs to see the sights, along with everyone else.
During December we have lots of families visiting, especially if they cannot be with their relative on Christmas Day, and this adds to the excitement of the festive season, for residents and staff. Our staff all wear Christmas shirts in December to get everyone in the mood!
On Christmas Day many residents go out and join their families. For those who remain at Pioneer House we have a wonderful Christmas meal with all the extras you would expect on Christmas Day. Residents are able to invite family members to join them and staff often bring their children in to work, to spread the Christmas cheer.
To all our Pioneer Pearls readers, from everyone at Pioneer House, we wish you a very Merry, Happy and Safe Christmas and New Year, and look forward to 2009 with enthusiasm.
Diana Newman
CEO/Director of Nursing
NOVEMBER 2008
It was a real thrill for me to attend the Regional Business Awards in Bourke recently. Pioneer House was a finalist in the Government and Not-for Profit Category and also the Regional Award. I had not visited Bourke previously and found it to be fascinating. The community of Bourke is passionate about their town and very proud of the efforts they make to improve their community, rightly so.
The presentation dinner was the first big event to be held at the new Back o’ Bourke Exhibition Centre, a wonderful new construction that is very contemporary and looks sensational against the back drop of the Darling River. We sat out on the deck looking over the flood plain and river in very pleasant weather.
It was amazing to listen to each category winning business talk about their product/service and the things that they did to earn their awards. There are some very innovative and ‘switched on’ people in the Orana Far West region.
Pioneer House was awarded a “Highly Commended” in our category, a huge thrill. The winner of our category was the Wilcannia child care centre.
We were also delighted on behalf of Rozanna’s pharmacy who received a highly commended award in their category. Rozanna’s provide us with pharmacy services and it was great to see one of our own service providers doing well.
Our congratulations to Imaginations and A1 Earthworx who were winners of their categories. Imaginations Child Care Centre and Pioneer House have developed a relationship this year with children visiting our residents on a regular basis and Pioneer House residents paying an occasional visit to them.
The overall winner was a mining company from Cobar who went from earning $200,000 per week to a million dollars a week! Now that’s a big effort and a bit hard to compete with!
Everyone nominated deserved an award and it is a wonderful thing to be given recognition in this way. Pioneer House Board, Management and Staff are proud of our facility and work hard to provide a service that meets and exceeds the needs and desires of residents and their families. The Clock Awards in Mudgee and the Regional Business Awards are one way to do this and we feel privileged to have participated.
Diana Newman
CEO/Director of Nursing
OCTOBER 2008
As you know, in April of this year, Pioneer House won the coveted Clock Award. This generated a great deal of excitement at Pioneer House. We have just been informed that we are finalists in the Regional Awards. The award presentations will be held in Bourke on the 25th October and, once again, we are thrilled to be part of it.
Our new garden beds and garden sheds are nearing completion. Our Maintenance Man, Tom and two Board members, Chris Blake and Gerry Hennessey have been putting lots of blood, sweat and tears into the project and hope to have it completed this week.
Our Activities Staff have many plans for the garden beds, and have sought lots of advice from our residents. We have purchased a number of items to enable us to produce some wonderful things from our garden produce.
Pioneer House is having its AGM on Monday 20th October and our Chairman, Chris Blake will be retiring from his position as Chairman (luckily, he is remaining on the Board). Chris has steered the Board and Pioneer House through the building of our low care facility and refurbishment of high care. His dedication to Pioneer House and the residents is amazing and we would like to take this opportunity to thank Chris for his work, and for the fantastic support he provides to all the staff at Pioneer House.
Gerry Hennessey is also retiring from the Board and we wish him well. Gerry has been our Public Officer and has carried out this role quietly and well. Thank you, too Gerry for your commitment to Pioneer House.
It is fitting that these two gentlemen have helped to build our garden beds. These very solid structures will remind us of them on a daily basis and bring a sense of purpose and pleasure to our residents. Perhaps they will get our first two jars of chutney!
Our next project will be to install sails in our foyer Courtyard. At present it is lovely in the courtyard, but the fierce summer sun will impact on its use. These are expensive items and PALs will help us. If you can help us, too, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on 6378 1144.
Diana Newman
CEO/Director of Nursing
SEPTEMBER 2008
With the beautiful weather we have had in the last few days, after what seems to have been a very chilly winter, many of our residents have been found basking in the sun of our lovely outdoor areas. Naturally, we are careful about protecting everyone’s skin with sunblock and a hat, but the benefits of sunlight cannot be underestimated.
It has been shown to promote production of Vitamin D, essential for strong bones, which is so important as we age. Brittle bones mean lots of aches and pains, stooping and a high risk of fracture. Who would have thought that the sun can help prevent fractures?
Sunlight is a mood enhancer, as well, and we are lucky to have such a light and airy facility which allows the sun in at a time of year when we appreciate it most, but shields us from the hottest glare. Our activities room and PALs lounge are both north facing and a joy to be in at the moment. Both have wonderful views of Mudgee too!
Earlier this year, we were very lucky to successfully apply for a grant from Family First Credit Union, which we used to create a Sensory Room, in our High Care Dementia Specific Unit. This has recently been completed and provides a lovely room for one to one sessions for residents with dementia.
Our Sensory Room is a place where a resident can spend time with a staff member, stimulating their five senses in a calm and supportive atmosphere. We have visual stimulation, which includes items which provoke memories of earlier times for residents. These can then be used as topics of conversation and allow the resident to evoke memories of lives well lived. We have auditory stimulation, including music and sounds which are soothing and which have relevance to the resident. We have olfactory stimulation, using aromatherapy oils to stimulate memory and provide a calming effect. We also use differently textured objects to stimulate our sense of touch and remind us of other objects of a similar feel. Our sense of taste can be a very evocative sense and we like to discover favourite foods for residents to use for calming effects and as special treats which can also bring back memories. For anyone who is interested, I love chocolate!!
We have noticed a significant effect on the behaviours of some of our residents with dementia since the introduction of our sensory room, and our Activities staff are finding it to be a very worthwhile investment.
One of the most valuable tools a family member can provide for their relative with dementia, in an aged care facility, is a memory book. These books are filled with photos, drawings and items of relevance to the person, perhaps a piece of poetry, letters etc. They form a valuable tool in assisting a resident to settle and reduce distress. The memories they evoke provide us with an opportunity to get to know the resident and to give the resident an opportunity to talk about their lives and the events that shaped them. Often events not spoken of before are raised when looking at a memory book and can be a valuable source of family history for family members. Getting to know a resident significantly impacts on our ability to assist them and manage their behaviours, a vital part of dementia specific care.
Diana Newman, CEO/Director of Nursing
August 2008
Last month I wrote of our wonderful “Dementia Champions” and the fabulous work they are doing. This group has been very ably led by one of our Registered Nurses, who is currently undertaking a Certificate IV in Business Management, along with 9 other staff at Pioneer House.
We offered this course to staff to improve the skills of staff in dealing with Frontline Management issues at the facility and the results have been outstanding. It has provided staff with the confidence and knowledge to initiate innovative ideas and to maintain the momentum.
We are constantly amazed at the ideas some of our staff produce, and the encouragement that other staff are being given by these newly confident staff is also producing some wonderful outcomes. The flow on effect is allowing other staff to become more confident and assume roles of responsibility.
Not only are our staff benefiting, but our most important stakeholders, the residents are also benefiting from our improved service and attention to detail.
Education is important to us at Pioneer House. We believe that education is an important tool to assist staff to improve their practice and the service we provide to residents. We also have access to the Aged Care Channel, which regularly broadcasts programs specific to Aged Care, and which are up to date with contemporary practice.
We have had sessions including Customer Service, Residents’ Rights, Depression in the Elderly, Pain Identification and Management, Elder Abuse: Protecting Residents, to name a few. The programs are interactive, so we are able to ask questions, via phone or fax and have the experts provide us with the answers.
We also have other people providing us with education from the Mudgee community and we are lucky to have the support of other health professionals to achieve this. Most of our staff are looking forward to the Manual Handling and Massage education session scheduled this month, where free back, neck and shoulder massages will be provided for staff whilst they are learning. I have volunteered to be their practice dummy!!!
Massage forms a big part of the therapy programs at Pioneer House. We use it to relax contracted limbs, provide stress relief, and complement pain management, as well as for the sheer pleasure of it! We also have a new exercise bike which is available for residents and staff to improve their fitness (and, yes, to shift those few kilos that seem to creep up on us.)
Massage also forms a part of our Palliative Care program and is proving effective in reducing the amount of pain relieving medication required by residents with terminal illnesses. Massage also provides an opportunity to spend time with each resident and can involve the sharing of thoughts, the provision of information and provides an insight into each resident’s understanding and acceptance, or lack of it, of their illness.
One of the other things that is so important in life is having fun. To this end we schedule a variety of activities for our residents that enable everyone to have fun. Chloe, our dog is an integral part of this, and she provides much joy to nearly everyone with whom she comes in contact. She engages with everyone, and it is not uncommon to find her on the lap of a resident, with both fast asleep. She seems to know when it is OK to be boisterous and when she needs to be quiet and gentle. She has been a wonderful addition to our family, thanks to Rhonda, our RAO, who is her Mum. Chloe does have some little habits that find us with toilet brushes in the foyer, but many residents have toys in their rooms to distract her from this slightly unsavoury behaviour. All in all she is a great joy to all of us.
Diana Newman
CEO/Director of Nursing
July 2008
At Pioneer House we continually strive for improvement in our service to residents. With this in mind we are very excited that some of our staff have become “Dementia Champions”.
Now that we have both Low and High Care Dementia Specific Units, we are faced with fresh challenges in caring for our residents with Dementia. The group of staff who have taken on this special role meet regularly to discuss strategies for meeting the needs of our residents. The members of this group consider individual and group needs and then make recommendations regarding the care of these residents.
The recommendations are well documented and available to all staff to assist them in care delivery. The “Dementia Champions” then provide support and assistance to other staff in managing some of the behavioural issues that arise when a person has dementia.
The staff members who form this group have enthusiasm which knows no bounds. Many of them are devoting their own time, on occasions, to ensure that this group meets its goals and continually strives to improve the quality of life of the residents.
An important aspect of Dementia Care is the provision of activities and we are commencing a program of outings for small groups of residents. We also have a wonderful volunteer who, along with some helpers, runs a Men’s Group each week. The group is making all sorts of fabulous things and participants look forward to this special morning each week.
Our “Dementia Champions” are one of a number of groups at Pioneer House who specialize in specific areas of care. We also have our Continence Management Team, our Occupational Health and Safety Team, our Manual Handling Team and Quality Improvement Team, to name a few.
Volunteers are another special group at Pioneer House. They provide us with valuable assistance in many areas, but most particularly with Activities. Without this fine group of people we would be unable to offer the variety of activities that we currently provide.
We are privileged to have the children from “Imaginations” to visit regularly, to interact with our residents, including some serious fun with bubbles and balls and balloons. The opportunity to spend time with these delightful children is treasured by our residents. The community is an important part of our residents’ lives and we appreciate all opportunities of this nature.
Life at Pioneer House is rarely dull, thanks to the efforts of our staff, volunteers and the community!
Diana Newman
CEO/DON
