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Submitted by Elyse Matson, MA CCC-SLP, Speech Resource
On a recent Saturday in Lehi, Utah, nearly 80 therapists gathered to fulfill our mission to “dignify long-term care in the eyes of the world.” Our amazing team of facilitators included Kelly Alvord, PT; Amanda Grace, OT,; Patty Fantauzzo, COTA/DOR, representing the IDT process; and Elyse Matson, SLP. Milestone and Sunstone leaders Gary Mcgiven and Asa Gardine did an amazing job gathering such a strong group on a Saturday and of course keeping everyone well-fed for the day.

Although the course trainers have taught this course many times, it was truly one of the most inspiring discussions about dementia care! Adding the IDT approach meant great questions and discussion from nursing partners about topics like care planning and the use of the Kardex as well as Quality Measures.
Patty Fantauzzo, who comes from an all-dementia facility, always has amazing examples of personalized dementia care, including cohorting of similar ACL leveled residents, training every member of the facility staff about Allen levels using a lanyard and card with ACL levels, and the use of a shadow box system for personalization of resident spaces.

The breakout sessions allowed therapists from each discipline to delve into the program from their perspective. For example, the SLPs discussed the use of communication support in this population as well as how simple communication tasks can greatly improve the interaction between residents with dementia and caregivers.

The course was made better by all who attended! Thank you so much for an amazing day.

From Cara Koepsel, Therapy Resource, Keystone – North, Texas
At the Healthcare Resort of Plano, something extraordinary happened this month. Our new DOR, Stephanie Wentworth, shared a moment of truth that was definitely worth sharing with others outside of their facility. These moments of truth are happening every day in our facilities but often don’t get shared, and they certainly should be!

One of the Healthcare Resort’s speech therapists, Andrew Royall, approached Stephanie to see if the facility could invest in a piano for their residents. Andrew and fellow therapist and outpatient coordinator Adam Krahl set out to find a piano at a low cost to the facility. They were able to find one that was going to be zero cost to the facility as long as they picked it up and transported it. Adam jumped on it and brought his trailer all the way to the pick-up site to transport this piano back to Plano!

The piano is now in the front area of the facility, and it looks amazing! The joys of music are now accessible to residents, a population that benefits greatly from the ability to connect and reminisce through song. The teamwork they showed to get the piano to the facility, all while yielding a zero-cost asset to the facility, will benefit residents, staff, visitors, and others well beyond just the therapy population! This shows the positive culture of the therapy team at Plano and what it looks like to have passion meet purpose. The culture of loving one another, our residents, and everyone in the whole facility was exemplified through Andrew and Adam and shows that our new leader, Stephanie, is already promoting this culture within her team and the facility!

By Maybelle Hui, OTR/L, PAM, DOR, Mission Hills Post Acute Care, San Diego, CA
I wanted to send some pictures over to show everyone how Mission Hills Post Acute Care has been celebrating! In the last year, we’ve had five “best months ever” for taking care of our long-term residents with our clinical programs.. For our last “best month ever” in October, we decided to share our celebrations with our whole facility. It actually started with one of my therapists suggesting we do some kind of celebration with the CNA staff, as they all work so hard. I wanted to share this celebration with the Nursing staff as well, since we are down to only three Nursing managers holding down the fort at Mission Hills and they are all working well beyond their job duties. One of my other therapists also wanted to include Maintenance and Housekeeping since they also are so integral in keeping our building running. So, with all this, we decided to ask our administrator if we could just make this a facility-wide celebration so everyone could celebrate with us and feel included. And of course, he said yes! 😊

We are so lucky to have this culture of recognition and celebration — one that we’re aware not all departments have — and we wanted to share our successes with our colleagues since they all play a role in the care of our long-term patients. We decided to have a “Boodle Fight,” a practice that originated in the Philippines military, where a big pile of food is served in the middle of a really long table in a mess hall; every hungry soldier eats with their hands, symbolizing camaraderie, brotherhood, and equality in the military. The “fight” in the name refers to the act of grabbing and eating as much as the soldier can before others grab them, otherwise you won’t have any. In retrospect, it is symbolic of what our Rehab department was trying to do with this celebration in the first place!

By Tess Hurley, DPT, Meadow View Nursing & Rehabilitation, Nampa, ID
In autumn 2022, the Meadow View Therapy Department teamed up with maintenance staff and residents to refinish the weathered, wooden outdoor furniture. This project consisted of refurbishing 12 tables and over 20 chairs.

Throughout the crisp and sunny weather, Therapy, maintenance staff, and residents worked together to sand, stain, and seal the wood. The much-used and appreciated outdoor furniture was given new life!

One of our patients stated, “I am so excited that I can hardly sleep!” This project gave residents the opportunity to feel a sense of purpose, achievement, and pride in their work. The group activity doubled as a therapeutic activity, as the residents were able to work on improving their strength and cardiovascular endurance.

The residents also enjoyed getting out of their rooms and having time to socialize with others while working. Each day for over a week, our Therapy staff assisted each patient for an hour. The patients would listen to their favorite tunes, provide valuable sequential advice in regard to the proper steps, and actively participate in the physical task of woodworking — all with smiles on their faces. Our residents enjoyed refinishing the tables, as it gave them an opportunity to contribute to their homes and community by improving an outdoor socializing space. Also, the residents are of a generation in which disposal of useful items is unheard of. Thus, the fact that they helped refurbish existing, functional wood furniture was not only beneficial for their psyches, but it saved Meadow View an estimated $3,500 to replace those items.

Now when our therapists take residents outside to ambulate and exercise, they can use the tables as a way to motivate the residents and remind them of their hard work. The patients responded very positively and stated that it helped them feel more excited about going outside and that they felt more at home. One patient stated, “It felt good to contribute to my home, and it reminded me of my good ol’ days.”

By Jasmine M Bala, OTR/L, DOR, Mystic Park Nursing & Rehabilitation, San Antonio, TX
Customer second! That was the reason I joined the movement. My grandmother instilled this principle in me early in life — that you can’t give what you don’t have. So, you need to love yourself first before you can love other people.

It was February 2019 when I joined the Sonterra Family; Lindsay Fry hired me. I loved my peers and I loved the freedom to be the therapist I wanted to be. However, I think I was too comfortable for a while. Lindsay keeps pushing me to start leading. I remembered telling her I’m allergic to stress … “I can never be a DOR,” I thought.

Then DORiTO came in early 2022. Being a DORiTO opened my eyes. My trip to the Service Center made me see the heart of servant leadership up close and personal. I grasped CAPLICO. I saw the great example of people breathing and living CAPLICO in every way. I saw how ownership works and how beautiful love one another is, and I went home with one goal: to Live CAPLICO.

Great things don’t come easy; it takes time and resilience. Mystic Park was my answered prayer. On October 1, 2022, I transitioned to my new home, Mystic Park. CAPLICO was alive and strong! I was in awe of how everyone worked together and supported each other. People from the Service Center, resources from everywhere, and the cluster family came over to help out. DORs from other facilities came and were treating, evaluating patients, and helping out. When the state came for a full book on our second week, I was never shaken. The support was overwhelming. CAPLICO was there on day one. Lindsay, my constant guide and friend, stood with me and is still standing.

The goal was to build a strong team (we only had two therapists when we started: one COTA and one SLP). We sought to bring in the right people and lay the foundation: CAPLICO. During our first month, we were able to build such a beautiful team. The residents were ecstatic, families were overjoyed, and staff was amazed at how we were able to turn the building around. We saw success story after story after story! Family, staff, and residents continued stopping by to give appreciation for what Rehab was doing. And to top it off, in our first month, we hit our target! Having an ED who has your back is everything! Osiris is awesome! Attached are pictures of our first team building/celebration for a job well-done!

Now I can say I love being a DOR, and I can’t wait to start training, supporting my staff, and growing with them as they find their inner geniuses. After all, we are in the business of building leaders. To Dignify Long Term Care in the Eyes of the World is my WHY. CAPLICO is my HOW.

By Heidi Gulley, PTA/DOR, Kirkwood Manor, New Braunfels, TX
At Kirkwood Manor, we have diverse and robust LTC programming. We believe in individualizing treatment to fit patient-specific needs to improve quality of life. We also tap into the many talents and tools that come with a large rehab staff. We focus on LTC programming to improve the quality of life of our LTC residents, and during our rehab meetings, we discuss new ideas and areas that therapists are passionate about and ways to implement those ideas.

One of our programs is a lymphedema program that is headed up by one of our PTs, Francisco Yap. He has had great success in this area and has greatly improved the quality of life of our residents who benefit from this program. (photo)

Another LTC program that we are also having great success in is revamping our Abilities Care program, updating and ensuring all residents in the facility have an updated life storyboard. This helps greatly with our dementia patients and patients who are more behaviorally challenging. It allows us to reach the patients who never get out of bed and build rapport with them, and then we all celebrate our success stories when we make breakthroughs.

It is a really cool thing to know that we get to be a huge part of this — that the resident who yells and never gets out of bed is now going to activities and having meaningful interactions with others, and that the resident who was unable to use their arms or legs effectively due to edema is now able to function more effectively.

By Celeste Harvey COTA/L, Director of Rehab, Lakeside Nursing & Rehabilitation, San Antonio, TX

Lakeside’s first group experience since the recent acquisition was truly an amazing experience, not only for the staff but most importantly on how the residents interacted with one another. Initially, we as a team were not sure what the outcome would be for our residents. We learned very quickly about the energy and excitement a group can create, and the ability to engage our residents was nothing shy of amazing! We had residents who had not been able to sit up in a wheelchair actually move to the beat of the music. One particular resident was beating the drum as tears ran down his eyes. When we asked why he was crying, he stated, “Happy.” We are able to show our residents that there is a “fun” functional way to do their rehab. I feel confident that I speak for everyone when I say that we as a whole are so happy for the change that has been brought to us by this contagious CAPLICO culture, not only for us as employees but most important, for our dear residents — making them feel that we have their best interests at heart.

By Lindsay Fry, PT, DPT, CKTP, Cert. DN, CTO, Therapy Resource, Keystone – Missions Market, TX

I sat as the DOR at Mystic Park (a new acquisition) for October. Day one I tried to do an evaluation for a resident, Arturo. I introduced myself and said I was a PT, and was going to evaluate him for services. Arturo immediately responded, “I want to dance – play Madonna…Material Girl.” I was just thinking, oh my goodness, I hope this man doesn’t fall. He proceeded to bust a move in the middle of the hallway, singing along to every word. And no…he didn’t fall!

From that day on, Arturo would ask me for a song every time I saw him and, of course, I obliged. Once November came along, I was no longer at the building every day. Arturo would ask Jasmine, the DOR, every day when I was coming back or where I was. He would ask multiple times throughout the day. I decided I would get Arturo a small present since he was so fond of me and keeps asking for me.

Today I went to Mystic Park and gave Arturo this Bluetooth microphone. He immediately asked for Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. The microphone was already hooked up to my phone, so I put it on. He sang and danced throughout the building, showing everyone his new microphone. (Check out the video here). He hasn’t put it down all day. Every time he saw me in the hallway he had a huge smile on his face and gave me a BIG hug and thanked me over and over again. I think he’s going to want to sleep with his microphone LOL!

I can’t believe how much joy this gift brought him. Remember, it’s the little things that matter the most to our residents, and we can make a huge impact on their lives. This is my why.