LeadingAge New York Adviser Winter Vol. 1 | Page 20

(continued from page 18)

Care Program at a weight of approximately
325 pounds. She had extensive abdominal
hernias and due to her weight and discomfort
was unable to drive her car, was homebound,
socially isolated and unable to walk; a fall in
her home led to hospitalization. On admission
to our program Mary met with the care team
and learned about the weight loss assistance
services available to her. After evaluating her
options Mary elected not to have gastric bypass
or a lap band procedure, she chose to lose the
weight on her own. Mary engaged the Registered
Dietician for nutritional counseling, rehabilitative
services for an exercise plan and psychological
services for counseling. Mary embraced portion
control and educated herself to make better
food choices, she attended Physical Therapy to
regain her mobility and actively participated in
an exercise program, she also participated in
on-going meetings with a counselor, and twelve
months later, with support from her family and
care team, Mary had lost 125 pounds. Because
of the weight loss Mary was finally a surgical
candidate for repair of the hernias that had
plagued her for years. The surgeon was so
impressed with Mary’s weight loss success he
agreed to perform a panniculectomy to remove
excess skin at her abdominal fold at no cost to
Mary while performing the hernia repairs.
After Mary’s post surgical recovery she returned
home, has begun driving a car again and
has resumed life interests and pursuits. She
continues to visit the program on occasion to
stay in touch with staff and share her ongoing
success. She has not regained the weight.

19

Is there anything you would like to add
related to serving people needing long term
care who are not an aging population?
Two thoughts: Significance of Language and
Physical Plant Design Language. The language
we use when characterizing our organization to
business partners, our Board and the community
is important when trying to change perceptions
and acceptance among all ages of potential
consumers. We do not refer to ourselves as a
nursing home; we are a nursing center. I have
never presented to a group where a single hand
was raised when asked if anyone looked forward
to one day living in a nursing home. The term
nursing home generally evokes negative imagery
attributed to a perception that it is a place where
the aged go to die. There is greater acceptance
of the concept of a nursing center.
We represent ourselves as a residence in
which needed long term care services can be
received whether the individual is 19 or 99
without unreasonable loss of lifestyle. We believe
in relationship building and have permanent
staff assignments to honor resident preference
profiles that reflect normalcy of waking, sleeping,
bathing and eating and social engagement
routines. Preserving the ideal of individuality
makes it possible for younger residents to
preserve identity and accept the environment.
We have tremendous flexibility in our physical
plant layout to convert any 12-bed Family Unit
for homogeneous services to discreet programs
including those that may serve younger, nontraditional patient types. We are well positioned
to meet the needs of any future patient type,
regardless of age.

Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Winter 2015