Perhaps you’ve had an experience like this during a hospital stay, clinic visit, or trip to the ER: The physician or nurse comes in and immediately gets to work. They move through their workflow robotically asking questions only about your illness, injury or condition. They seem completely disinterested in you as an individual and simply want to move you through the steps they need to get you out the door.
Now granted, in an emergency situation, there’s no time for chit-chat. But in most care environments, you want a provider who takes at least a little time to understand you as an individual and appreciate your personal fears, hopes, and needs. This skill is often referred to as “bedside manner” — but that phrase doesn’t do justice to the importance of providing personalized care. A good care provider wants to understand who their patient is because it can actually inform the way they deliver care, and it often impacts their treatment plan.
Now imagine being an elderly person in a care home where the caregivers simply go through the motions of providing care without any personal interaction or interest. Day after day after day. This is the scenario we worry about when considering options for our loved ones in the later stages of their lives.
While the first and most important job of a caregiver in a long-term care environment is to provide competent care and keep their residents safe, their job can’t stop there. Deeply caring about each resident as an individual, and understanding their unique needs, goals, and values, is vital to helping residents feel respected and cared for in the wider sense.
We live in a society in which older people are typically viewed through the prism of disability — for what they are no longer capable of doing. They appear weak, slow, and in the way. Whereas some cultures respect elders for their wisdom, knowledge and experience, ours tends to see them as one homogenous group. They’re just old people.
At Legacy Care Home we’re constantly amazed at the stories we hear from our residents about the lives they’ve lived, the experiences they’ve had, and what they’ve learned over the course of their long lives. We believe that both the caregiver and resident benefit from getting to know one another more deeply. Each one of us at LCH has a story about something we learned about a resident through a conversation — something we would have missed if we had only focused on providing basic care.
Our team fondly remembers Elaine, a new resident who had not seen her daughter in several years. It was deeply moving to witness this Elaine see her daughter for the first time in years, shortly after she moved in with us, and it’s been heartwarming to see just how much closer mother and daughter have grown since they’ve reunited.
Another resident, Jackie, worked for the City of Eau Claire for over 35 years. We could tell just how devoted Jackie was to her job, because even though she is impacted by memory loss, she still talks about Eau Claire and tells us stories about her life there.
Edith worked for many years helping people with developmental disabilities. She still volunteers at a local church, preparing sandwiches for people in Minneapolis who are experiencing homelessness.
Steve likes to tell us that when he was little, his family was the only one with his last name in the phonebook. Todayhe says there are hundreds of people with that name.
And finally, one of our most touching experiences involved Stanley, who was with us for just over a year. Stanley’s wife of more than 48 years, Alice, came to Legacy nearly every day to be with him — from the moment he woke up until when he went to bed. It was the most touching display of love any of us have ever witnessed. Alice became a part of our family. Even after Stanley died, she continued to visit the staff and residents she grew close to. Alice continues to visit us to this day.
Why are small observations like these important? How does knowing these kinds of details about our residents’ lives help us provide better care? Because it helps them feel valued as individuals when we show that we care about their experiences. If we simply “take care” of them in the strictly medical sense — and fail to engage them in conversations as valued members of our community — we miss opportunities to build the kind of trust, empathy, and connection that make a care home a “home.”
If your loved one needs care in a home like ours, wouldn’t you want them to be respected for their individuality and cared for by someone who will engage them like they would their own family member? When we say we strive to create a sense of home at LCH, we mean it. But don’t think it’s entirely selfless. We benefit from forming personal connections with our residents, too. It makes our work so much more meaningful and interesting when we share stories with one another.
So, be sure anyplace you’re evaluating for your loved one takes a personal approach to caregiving, and treats their residents like the individuals they are. We consider it an essential part of caregiving at Legacy Care Home.
