Brianbarrick's Blog

Importance of Smoking Policies

Brian Barrick — Tue, 29 May 2012 02:00:47 +0000

Smoking policies are very important and needed in every assisted living facility. It is apparent that many facilities are not dealing with safety concerns related to smoking and losses adequately. Your policies need to be specific for your facility, not general policies customized for a different assisted living facility. A smoking policy that is not enforced or is not right for your facility can be a serious threat to everyone involved. When creating the policy, think about these questions and many more:

Does your state have certain smoking restrictions?
Are there safe locations to smoke in your facility?
Can residents smoke and carry ignition materials with them?
Are appropriate receptacles available for use?
How often are smokers assed?

What other questions would you add to this list? Post them here!

Art Therapy

Brian Barrick — Mon, 28 May 2012 02:00:24 +0000

Inclusion of art therapy in the Assisted Living Facilities has positive effects on the elderly. Socialization, self-esteem, and memory retrieval are enhanced by the art experience. In addition, the staff and administrators of the Assisted Living Facility find art therapy to be valuable and arranged to continue the program. Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that encourages self-expression through an art for like painting or drawing. Keep an eye out for art therapy interns that can hold a session at your Assisted Living Facility to try out. Programs are affordable at most sites and thus more people would be able to benefit from art therapy.

Carefully Speaking Part 1

Brian Barrick — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:00:57 +0000

For many terminally ill patients, hospice care offers a humane and dignified alternative to conventional medical treatment. It has become an increasingly accepted option for end-of-life care over the past two decades, with approximately 1.5 million Americans receiving hospice services from approximately 5,000 programs. These programs operate within a variety of settings, ranging from home care to hospital inpatient units, assisted living facilities and skilled care organizations. In order to offer consumers great choice, some hospice providers have added new services and levels of care, and/or formed partnerships with aging services organizations. Because of these great growths, there are administrative and clinical risk exposures. Some of these risks include uninformed benefit election, failure to certify patients as terminally ill, inappropriate level of care, denial of access to services, deficient care planning and related documentation, unsupervised volunteer staff, and lack of coordination, which will be explained more in the next blog. By attempting to improve your administrative procedures, clinical documentation, communication and supervision, hospice providers can prevent risks.

Emergency/Disaster Plans

Brian Barrick — Tue, 22 May 2012 02:00:12 +0000

Is your emergency/disaster plan up to date for your assisted living facility? If not, your facility could be at a major risk and if an emergency or disaster arises, you will not be prepared. Preparedness is essential to helping your residents in these stressful times. Your plan should include preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery instructions for all natural and man-made disaster possibilities. Think of these questions and many more when creating your emergency/disaster plans:

Is all essential resource information regularly reviewed and updated for your staff and community?
If your facility has a generator, does it adequately address power loss for all building services?
Do you have an emergency shelter where you, your staff, and the community can be self-sufficient for at least seventy-two hours? (food, hydration, sanitation, keeping cool and warm)
Does the facility regularly conduct drills and exercises?
Are your residents health considered under stressful situations like these?

What questions would you add to this critical list? Post them here!

Penny Carnival

Brian Barrick — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:00:53 +0000

To help the residents raise money for an excursion or activity that they would like to have or attend a penny carnival may be just the fundraiser you need. A penny carnival is a carnival that sells handmade or homemade baked goods along with a few simple games to raise money. Since summer is approaching, this is the best time for the carnival. You could post flyers around your community and on your social networks to be sure that you will get many visitors. The residents will feel fulfilled because they get to work again for something.

TNR and managing the volunteers

Brian Barrick — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:02 +0000

I recently became aware of a TNR program that had a volunteer allegedly place a trap on private property and when the volunteer was confronted on this by the owner of the property, the property owner alleges the volunteer became verbally abusive, intimidating and pushed him. As a result the organization may suffer a lawsuit. What are other TNR programs doing to reduce or eliminate this exposure that can result from volunteers placing traps?

Fire Safety In Your Facility

Brian Barrick — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:00:15 +0000

Every day we sit on the news, another home or building has been destroyed by an uncontrollable fire. These stories are saddening and often depressing. Make sure your adult care home is protected or at least well-trained in the event there is a fire. All healthcare workers must know the facility’s Fire Emergency Plan, the location of fire pull/call boxes, the location of and how to use a fire extinguisher, places of safe shelter and evacuation procedures, all must comply with the adult care home Smoking Policy.

Use the R.A.C.E. protocol which stands for Rescue/Remove, Alarm, Confine, and Extinguishers. You must be able to rescue/remove bed ridden or ill residents and semi-ambulatory residents. If you see smoke or fire use the fire emergency pull station or call box, don’t use elevators, close all doors, and listen for the all-clear code. Confine the area of the fire, this means closing doors and windows when there is a fire to prevent the smoke from spreading. Attempt to extinguish only small fires with the appropriate extinguishers.

P.A.S.S. is another abbreviation to remember with fire safety, but this time it is used as instructions for an extinguisher. This stands for Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep. Pull the pin from the extinguisher handle at the top of the extinguisher, take 3 steps back and aim the horn at the base of the fire, squeeze the top handle to the bottom handle, sweep the nozzle from side to side across the flames. By following these fire safety guidelines your facility and your residents will be prepared and safe.

Sewing Circle

Brian Barrick — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:00:20 +0000

Hobbies that some residents enjoy that are repetitive and a crowd pleaser are sewing. To get the residents together that enjoys this hobbies, first you need to find someone (preferably a staff member) to lead the sewing circle. Next you will need to get the sewing supplies or have the residents bring their own. Your residence will not only have fun with their sewing project, but they’ll have a chance to socialize, laugh, and meet new friends.

Dangers of Mold

Brian Barrick — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:14:19 +0000

Although droughts are very common right now in the US, there have been many storms that have caused water damage for homes across the United States. Water damage is not just a problem because of the stains, but mold can grow and infest homes as well. The water damage must be remediated fast and professionally to prevent mold. If this is not taken care of mold WILL grow, causing harm to your adult care home and residents.

Molds can be very harmful to structures, but even more important, it can be damaging to you and your residents health. Mold grows so easily that all you need are organic food (wood, paper, fabric, etc.), temperature between 68-86 degrees F, and sufficient moisture. The only way to be sure that mold will not grow after water damage is to contact a restoration professional. MOLD WILL NOT GO AWAY ON ITS OWN.

The first warning that mold is growing is the musty “moldy” smell; even a small amount of mold can give off a major odor. This should not be ignored because of the risks, whether it is allergens or other compounds. A small amount of mold, such as mold in bathroom tiles, can usually be removed with special chemicals, but make sure that you dry the area completely after to prevent the mold from regrouping. If you do not feel comfortable handling the mold and if it is a large amount, then a restoration professional can come in and eliminate the mold and make sure that it does not spread to other areas of the building. After all of the work you want to make sure the water will not come back, so it is important to find the root of the water problem and make sure that it is fixed.

Food Safety In Your Facility

Brian Barrick — Tue, 08 May 2012 02:00:48 +0000

There are many food codes to make sure that your assisted living facility is staying legal and sanitary with food. Although these guidelines are long and precise, the can become a basis for establishing best practices in your assisted living facility. Guidelines F-325 and F-371 are listed below, but make sure to research all you can to make sure that you understand exactly what they are stating:

F-325: To meet this regulation the facility must attain food that is approved by Federal, State and local authorities for resident consumption, and follow appropriatesanitation and food handling practices to prevent food-borne illnesses.
F-371: To make sure that you are not cited for inproper sanitation and food-handling, you should know the definitions of these words, cross-contamination, danger zone, dry storage, food contamination, food service/distribution, food borne illness, highly susceptible population, pathogen, potentially hazardous food (PHF), ready-to-eat food, storage, and toxins.
F-Tag 371: This guideline focuses on food borne illness that come about because of lack of personal hygiene, inadequate cooking, and improper food handling. To relieve these problems, F-Tag 371 has 4 general guidelines; correct food handling & preparation, employee health, hand washing, gloves & antimicrobial gel, and hair restains/jewelry/nail polish.

Policies and procedures should be in place to avoid all citations, food-borne illnesses, and improper sanitation and handling of food. All assisted living facilty staff must be trained and sign proper forms to authorize that they will follow the proper procedures for food safety. To make sure that you have the proper procedures, you should check with the CMS and FDA to see if they updated any guidelines. These survey are assesed at your assisted living facilities to try to lessen the number of food-borne illnesses and any sanitation problems that may affect your residents.