Dignity, Honor, and Respect.
I have been discussing with you how our SilverPoint Core Values have impacted our response to the current COVID-19 crisis over the past few weeks. As of today May 8th, 2020 at 2:00 PM we have no known cases of COVID-19 at our communities. This week, we will cover our last, but by no means least important core value of-
Dignity—We honor and respect people for who they are.
Offering dignity is simply at the heart of what we do at SilverPoint. We constantly remind our team members that our residents each have an individual story to tell, which in turn, directs the way we engage and care for them. There is not a “one size fits all” approach to life in our communities. We are required to do our due diligence and find out who each resident is as a person. We need to discover what are their likes, dislikes, history, family, career, preferences, what makes them happy, anxious, or sad. Treating people with dignity begins with a relationship. In turn, these things will direct how we interact with each resident on an individual level when it comes to activities, dining, and especially providing care.
On a personal level, I hit a major milestone in life this year and turned 50 years old. As I celebrated with my family, I told my two sons that are now 21 and 18, that although my body doesn’t feel the same way it did when I was twenty years old, my mind still believes that I am! I still have the same ambitions, dreams, and feelings that I did when I was their age. I think we need to keep this in mind as we serve the seniors that live in our communities. Although their body may not be able to do the things it could once do, they still have a desire to be needed, appreciated and valued as the individual that they are.
As a result, we need to remember that when we are providing care, we are doing much more than completing a task that is on our job description.
In reality, we are assisting the former teacher that poured her life into her students to be able to take her meds properly so that she remains healthy. We are assisting the former war veteran to stay clean shaven and looking sharp, just as he always did in the past. We are serving the former homemaker who always provided wonderful home cooked meals to her family with delicious and appetizing meals that bring her comfort.
In essence, we are offering dignity and valuing them as the wonderful individual that they are!
So, how is this playing out in our current COVID-19 situation? Beyond or usual efforts in offering dignity, we are also taking these additional measures:
Because the essence of dignity is valuing people, we must begin by valuing life itself. The extended protective measures that we have put into place in recent weeks in safeguarding their health is a vital first step in offering dignity. The additional sanitizing, limiting visitation, screening team members, delivering meals to rooms, and changing the move in process have actually been in an effort to protect the health and lives of the residents we love.
Connection to the ones you love is an essential piece of dignity as well. As a result of the visitation restrictions, we are taking steps to make sure that your loved one remains connected to you. Whether it is a phone call, video chat, or visiting from outside the window of an apartment, we want to make sure that our residents feel connected to the ones they love.
We are also taking steps to make sure we celebrate our residents. We have thrown multiple birthday parties to celebrate new milestones they pass to make sure that they know we love and honor them on their special day.
Beyond celebrating their individual milestones such as birthdays or anniversaries, we are also celebrating things that are important to them culturally. IN the past few weeks, we have celebrated Fiesta in our San Antonio community, which is the biggest festival of the year to life-long residents. We have held Kentucky Derby parties, celebrated Cinco de Mayo, and I know that all of our communities will be taking extra measures to celebrate all of our mothers on Mother’s Day this Sunday!
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather just a few small examples of ways we are trying to honor and value our residents. The dignity piece of what we do is lived out on a moment by moment basis with our residents as individuals. We often remind our team members that our residents do not live in our workplace, but rather we work in their home! It is both our obligation and joy to offer them the dignity that they deserve as long as they live in a SilverPoint community.