Heart to Home | Beautiful Fall Weather in Minnesota

We had a fun week at Heart to Home...  Enjoyed walks in the neighborhood, art projects, jumbo crossword puzzles, fresh tomatoes from the garden, barbecues, visiting the local ice cream shop, hair/nail beauty day and relaxing in the gardens.  Here is a picture of a beautiful butterfly that a resident and staff saw while out picking flowers at Mendakota Manor (quick snapshot via cellphone) :)  

Heart to Home | Music Therapy

Had a great music therapy session with Beth from Living Spirit Therapy today.  The residents of Mendota and Mendakota Manor love every minute of it!

Heart to Home | Consistent Assigment and Why it Matters...

What is Consistent Assignment?  

According to NHQualityCampaign.org, Consistent Assignment occurs when residents are consistently cared for by the same caregivers, particularly CNAs and nurses. Consistent assignment has been shown to increase caregivers’ familiarity with residents and to strengthen relationships between caregivers and both residents and their family members.

Why is Consistent Assignment so Important in Long Term Care? 

Many residents of long term care facilities are constantly dealing with changes in themselves as well as their surroundings / environment and caregivers.  All of this change often leads to issues and lapses with care and decreased job satisfaction for staff.  Improper care, staff burnout, neglect, poor nourishment, missed medications, and the inability to deliver person-centered care are all issues that occur when there is a revolving door of staff and nurses and when they are not consistently assigned to the same residents. 

At Heart to Home we have worked hard at creating an environment conducive of consistent assignment.  We orientate each staff member to each resident in great detail.  We discuss residents likes / dislikes, preferences and meet regularly with our core group of CNAs and RNs.  In addition our staffing is done in a consistent manner where each resident is paired with the same staff days, evenings and overnights.  This leads to deep meaningful relationships between staff and residents.  The outcome?  Our staff love their jobs (and it shows!), residents experience person-centered care, low staff turnover, changes in residents condition are addressed more rapidly, improved communication (both staff to staff and staff to family)...  and most importantly it creates a family-model of care where staff care for each resident as carefully and lovingly as a family member...

Heart to Home | 2013 State Fair Party!

We had a wonderful time at our 2013 State Fair Party at Heart to Home.  Residents from Mendota Manor and Mendakota Manor both attended this fun filled event.  It included an ice-cream sundae bar, fruit platters, veggies platters, meat / cheese platters, Sweet Martha's Cookies, corn dogs, a visit from Accordion Pete and his trusty dog and so much more!  Here are some pictures of the event...

 

Mendakota Manor staff and resident put their final touches on their homemade wreath for the State Fair Ribbon Contest.

Relaxing before the party starts...

Paulette Vrem, Director of Nursing posing for a cute picture with a resident at Mendota Manor.

Here is our Ribbon Contest table.  Each year we pair a resident with a staff member and they work on a project over the course of a week or two.  The end products, crafts, baked goods, etc... are then displayed for family, staff and residents to enjoy.  The staff did such a great job completing projects that truly represented the interest of each resident... Well done!

Here are some pictures from our table of food.  Jessica, one our outstanding CNA's also happens to be a graduate of a culinary school.  She put together the dishes for our party and did an amazing job!  The watermelon Donkey Head was a huge hit! 

Look at the beautiful details...  Tomato Flowers, Kiwi Flowers and Strawberry Flowers... Amazing!

This year we actually got our hands on some real Sweet Martha's Cookies!  Needless to say they didn't last long :)



A view of the craft / Ribbon Contest table... 

Residents and staff having fun, goofing around and enjoying the Heart to Home State Fair Party!

The staff at Heart to Home are second to none!  They did such a great job during our party...

Accordion Pete came to perform, which is always a treat.